BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4661

By: Lopez, Janie

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Federal regulations require space launch operators to establish safety clear zones to protect public safety during spaceflight activities. The bill author has informed the committee that, while operators at federal launch sites such as Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center have the authority to enforce these safety zones, commercial spaceports in Texas do not operate under the same legal framework, leading to uncertainty in enforcing evacuations. The bill author has further informed the committee that unauthorized individuals can refuse to leave designated clear zones along beaches near launch sites, causing operational delays, increasing safety risks, and creating challenges for local law enforcement. H.B. 4661 seeks to clarify enforcement authority and ensure compliance with federal safety measures by providing for the authority of an applicable county commissioners court to order evacuation regarding specified beach areas near commercial spaceports and by establishing a Class B misdemeanor for violating such an evacuation order.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 4661 amends the Natural Resources Code to require the commissioners court of a county bordering on the Gulf of Mexico or its tidewater limits that contains a launch site the construction and operation of which have been approved in a record of decision issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following the preparation of an environmental impact statement by the FAA, for the purposes of protecting the public health, safety, and welfare, to compel by order the evacuation of any unauthorized person from a hazard area, as calculated by the FAA under applicable federal regulations, on a launch date. The bill creates a Class B misdemeanor offense for a person who violates an order adopted under the bill's provisions and enhances the penalty for a subsequent conviction of the offense to a Class A misdemeanor.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.