Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas House Bill HB2623 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Oliveira, Lucio III, Anderson H.B. No. 2623
2	2	(Senate Sponsor - Lucio)
3	3	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013;
4	4	April 29, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
5	5	Administration; May 8, 2013, reported favorably by the following
6	6	vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 8, 2013, sent to printer.)
7	7
8	8
9	9	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
10	10	AN ACT
11	11	relating to the authority of certain counties and the General Land
12	12	Office to temporarily close a beach or beach access point.
13	13	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
14	14	SECTION 1. Section 61.001, Natural Resources Code, is
15	15	amended by adding Subdivision (4-a) to read as follows:
16	16	(4-a) "Launch" and "space flight activities" have the
17	17	meanings assigned by Section 100A.001, Civil Practice and Remedies
18	18	Code.
19	19	SECTION 2. Section 61.011(d), Natural Resources Code, is
20	20	amended to read as follows:
21	21	(d) The commissioner shall promulgate rules, consistent
22	22	with the policies established in this section, on the following
23	23	matters only:
24	24	(1) acquisition by local governments or other
25	25	appropriate entities or public dedication of access ways sufficient
26	26	to provide adequate public ingress and egress to and from the beach
27	27	within the area described in Subdivision (6);
28	28	(2) protection of the public easement from erosion or
29	29	reduction caused by development or other activities on adjacent
30	30	land and beach cleanup and maintenance;
31	31	(3) local government prohibitions of vehicular
32	32	traffic on public beaches, provision of off-beach parking, the use
33	33	on a public beach of a golf cart, as defined by Section 502.001,
34	34	Transportation Code, for the transportation of a person with a
35	35	physical disability, and other minimum measures needed to mitigate
36	36	for any adverse effect on public access and dune areas;
37	37	(4) imposition of beach access, user, or parking fees
38	38	and reasonable exercises of the police power by local governments
39	39	with respect to public beaches;
40	40	(5) contents and certification of beach access and use
41	41	plans and standards for local government review of construction on
42	42	land adjacent to and landward of public beaches, including
43	43	procedures for expedited review of beach access and use plans under
44	44	Section 61.015;
45	45	(6) construction on land adjacent to and landward of
46	46	public beaches and lying in the area either up to the first public
47	47	road generally parallel to the beach or to any closer public road
48	48	not parallel to the beach, or to within 1,000 feet of mean high
49	49	tide, whichever is greater, that affects or may affect public
50	50	access to and use of public beaches;
51	51	(7) the temporary suspension under Section 61.0185 of
52	52	enforcement of the prohibition against encroachments on and
53	53	interferences with the public beach easement and the ability of a
54	54	property owner to make repairs to a house while a suspension is in
55	55	effect;
56	56	(8) the determination of the line of vegetation or
57	57	natural line of vegetation;
58	58	(9) the factors to be considered in determining
59	59	whether a structure, improvement, obstruction, barrier, or hazard
60	60	on the public beach:
61	61	(A) constitutes an imminent hazard to safety,
62	62	health, or public welfare; or
63	63	(B) substantially interferes with the free and
64	64	unrestricted right of the public to enter or leave the public beach
65	65	or traverse any part of the public beach; [and]
66	66	(10) the procedures for determining whether a
67	67	structure is not insurable property for purposes of Section
68	68	2210.004, Insurance Code, because of the factors listed in
69	69	Subsection (h) of that section; and
70	70	(11) the closure of beaches for space flight
71	71	activities.
72	72	SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 61, Natural Resources
73	73	Code, is amended by adding Section 61.132 to read as follows:
74	74	Sec. 61.132. CLOSING OF BEACHES FOR SPACE FLIGHT
75	75	ACTIVITIES. (a) This section applies only to a county bordering on
76	76	the Gulf of Mexico or its tidewater limits that contains a launch
77	77	site the construction and operation of which have been approved in a
78	78	record of decision issued by the Federal Aviation Administration
79	79	following the preparation of an environmental impact statement by
80	80	that administration.
81	81	(b) A person planning to conduct a launch in a county to
82	82	which this section applies must submit to the commissioners court
83	83	proposed primary and backup launch dates for the launch.
84	84	(c) To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the
85	85	commissioners court by order may temporarily close a beach in
86	86	reasonable proximity to the launch site or access points to the
87	87	beach in the county on a primary or backup launch date, subject to
88	88	Subsection (d).
89	89	(d) The commissioners court may not close a beach or access
90	90	points to the beach on a primary launch date consisting of any of
91	91	the following days without the approval of the land office:
92	92	(1) the Saturday or Sunday preceding Memorial Day;
93	93	(2) Memorial Day;
94	94	(3) July 4;
95	95	(4) Labor Day; or
96	96	(5) a Saturday or Sunday that is after Memorial Day but
97	97	before Labor Day.
98	98	(e) The commissioners court must comply with the county's
99	99	beach access and use plan adopted and certified under Section
100	100	61.015 and dune protection plan adopted and certified under Chapter
101	101	63 when closing a beach or access point under this section.
102	102	(f) The land office may:
103	103	(1) approve or deny a beach or access point closure
104	104	request under Subsection (d);
105	105	(2) enter into a memorandum of agreement with the
106	106	commissioners court of a county to which this section applies to
107	107	govern beach and access point closures made under this section; and
108	108	(3) adopt rules to govern beach and access point
109	109	closures made under this section.
110	110	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
111	111	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
112	112	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
113	113	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
114	114	Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
115	115	* * * * *