H.B. No. 2387
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the authority of the General Land Office to undertake
  coastal erosion studies and projects in conjunction with qualified
  project partners.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 33.603(b), (d), (f), and (h), Natural
  Resources Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  The studies and projects shall address:
               (1)  assessment of the feasibility, cost, and financing
  of different methods of avoiding, slowing, or remedying coastal
  erosion;
               (2)  beneficial placement of dredged material where
  appropriate to replenish eroded public beach, bay shore, marsh, and
  dune areas;
               (3)  public beach, bay shore, and marsh nourishment or
  restoration projects using sediments other than material from
  navigational or other dredging projects;
               (4)  guidelines on grain size and toxicity level;
               (5)  the economic, natural resource, and other benefits
  of coastal erosion projects;
               (6)  the protection, revegetation, and restoration of
  dunes;
               (7)  the planting of vegetation as a means of
  inhibiting bay shore erosion and projects developing and
  cultivating disease-resistant vegetation adapted to local
  conditions;
               (8)  the construction or retrofitting of dams, jetties,
  groins, and other impoundment structures, provided that the
  structures include sediment bypassing systems;
               (9)  estimating the quantity and quality of sediment
  trapped by reservoirs, navigation channels, and placement areas and
  identification of other sediment sources;
               (10)  the use of hard or soft structures on bay
  shorelines as a method of avoiding, slowing, or remedying erosion;
               (11)  storm damage mitigation, post-storm damage
  assessment, and debris removal;
               (12)  [, and] removal and relocation of structures from
  public beaches, including the purchase of property located on a
  public beach;
               (13)  the acquisition of property necessary for the
  construction, reconstruction, maintenance, widening, or extension
  of an erosion response project under this subchapter;
               (14) [(12)]  structural shoreline protection projects
  that use innovative technologies designed or engineered to minimize
  beach scour; and
               (15) [(13)]  other studies or projects the
  commissioner considers necessary or appropriate to implement this
  subchapter.
         (d)  Except as provided by Subsections (b)(8) and (14)
  [(12)], this chapter does not authorize the construction or funding
  of a hard structure on or landward of a public beach.
         (f)  Notwithstanding Subsections (c) and (e), each biennium
  the commissioner may undertake at least one erosion response
  [large-scale beach nourishment] project [on a public beach] without
  requiring a qualified project partner to pay a portion of the shared
  project cost if the total cost of the projects that do not have a
  cost share requirement [project] does not exceed one-half
  [one-third] of the total amount appropriated to the land office for
  coastal erosion planning and response.
         (h)  Notwithstanding Subsection (e), the commissioner may
  determine the percentage of the shared project cost a qualified
  project partner must pay for a project undertaken pursuant to
  Subsection (b)(11), (12), or (13) [for removal of debris or
  structures, or relocation of structures from the public beach;
  provided, however, that no money in the account may be used for a
  project undertaken pursuant to Subsection (b)(11) to purchase real
  property or reimburse a property owner for the purchase of real
  property].
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2387 was passed by the House on April
  15, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 146, Nays 0, 1 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2387 was passed by the Senate on May
  19, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor