By: Patrick S.B. No. 39
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the condemnation of conservation easements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Property Code, is
amended by adding Section 21.0122 to read as follows:
Sec. 21.0122. CONSERVATION EASEMENT BY OPERATION OF LAW.
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the application of any
law, rule, policy, ordinance, or regulation promulgated under the
Government Code, Local Government Code, Natural Resources Code,
Transportation Code or Water Code that has the effect of requiring
that more than 55 percent of the surface area of an owner's private
real property remain in a natural or undeveloped state, exclusive
of the 100-year floodplain as determined by an agency of the federal
government is a conservation easement, the establishment and
enforcement of which requires:
(1) the consent of the owner under Chapter 183,
Natural Resources Code; or
(2) the exercise of the power of eminent domain under
this chapter.
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to:
(1) the lawful forfeiture or seizure of contraband, as
defined by Article 59.01, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(2) the lawful seizure of property as evidence of a
crime or violation of law;
(3) the authority of a municipality, a county, another
political subdivision, the state, or an agency of the state with
respect to the implementation or enforcement of an ordinance, rule,
or statutory standard adopted under:
(A) the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16
U.S.C. Section 1451 et seq.); or
(B) Subtitle E, Title 2, Natural Resources Code;
(4) a permit, order, rule, regulation, or other action
issued, adopted, or undertaken by a municipality, a county, another
political subdivision, the state, or an agency of the state in
connection with the laws described by Subdivisions (3)(A) and (B);
(5) the enforcement or implementation of Subchapter B,
Chapter 61, Natural Resources Code, as that subchapter existed on
September 1, 1995, or to the enforcement or implementation of any
rule or similar measure adopted under that subchapter and in
existence on September 1, 1995; or
(6) an action taken by a political subdivision to
ensure compliance with on-site sewage facility regulations adopted
by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(7) an action by a municipality whose extraterritorial
jurisdiction is immediately adjacent to or includes all or part of a
federal military installation in active use as of September 1,
2013.
SECTION 2. 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, 2013.