By: Gonzales Toureilles (Senate Sponsor - Jackson) H.B. No. 2572
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2009;
May 1, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
Resources; May 12, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 12, 2009, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a gas corporation to use a public
right-of-way.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 121.2025(a), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section or Section
182.025, Tax Code, a municipality may not assess a charge for the
placement, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement,
operation, use, relocation, or removal of a gas pipeline facility
on, along, under, or across a public road, highway, street, alley,
stream, canal, or other public way.
SECTION 2. Section 181.005, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 181.005. AUTHORITY TO LAY AND MAINTAIN LINES. (a) A
gas corporation has the right to lay and maintain lines over, along,
under, and across a public road, a railroad, railroad right-of-way,
an interurban railroad, a street railroad, a canal or stream, or a
municipal street or alley.
(b) The right granted by Subsection (a) relating to the use
of a municipal street or alley is subject to the payment of charges
in accordance with Section 121.2025 of this code and Sections
182.025 and 182.026, Tax Code.
(c) The proposed route of a pipeline and the proposed
location of pipeline related facilities must maximize, to the
extent practicable and economically reasonable, the use of existing
easements and public rights-of-way, including streets, roads,
highways, and utility rights-of-way, if adequate space exists and
the use will not violate, or cause the violation of, any applicable
pipeline safety regulations.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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