83R8483 SLB-F
 
  By: Kolkhorst H.B. No. 1377
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the ownership and local regulation of trees and timber.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Title 6, Natural Resources Code, is amended by
  adding Chapter 154 to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 154. OWNERSHIP AND LOCAL REGULATION OF TREES AND TIMBER
         Sec. 154.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Governmental entity" means a political
  subdivision of the state, including:
                     (A)  a municipality; and
                     (B)  a county.
               (2)  "Mature tree" means a tree greater than 10 inches
  in girth measured 4-1/2 feet above the natural grade.
               (3)  "Mitigation fee" means a fee assessed by a
  governmental entity for the removal of a tree.
               (4)  "Removal of a tree" means the harvesting, cutting,
  or destruction of a tree, including the damaging of a tree in a way
  that will cause the death of the tree on or before the first
  anniversary of the date of the damage, as determined by a
  governmental entity.
               (5)  "Replacement tree" means a tree of not less than
  three inches in girth measured 4-1/2 feet above the natural grade
  that is planted to replace a tree removed from a landowner's land.
         Sec. 154.002.  OWNERSHIP OF TREES AND TIMBER. A landowner
  owns all trees and timber located on the landowner's land as real
  property until cut or otherwise removed from the land, unless
  otherwise provided by a contract, bill of sale, deed, mortgage,
  deed of trust, or other legally binding document.
         Sec. 154.003.  LOCAL REGULATION OF TREES AND TIMBER. (a) A
  governmental entity may not prohibit a landowner from trimming or
  removing trees or timber located on the landowner's land.
         (b)  A governmental entity may, if authorized by other state
  law and subject to the limitations of that law, assess a mitigation
  fee against a landowner for the removal of a mature tree on the
  landowner's land. A mitigation fee:
               (1)  must be proportional to the value of the mature
  tree removed;
               (2)  may not exceed $100 per inch of girth of the mature
  tree removed measured at 4-1/2 feet above the natural grade; and
               (3)  may be used only in the jurisdiction in which the
  fee is collected and only for the purpose of tree planting and other
  related activities.
         (c)  A landowner is entitled to plant a replacement tree at
  the landowner's expense instead of paying a mitigation fee. A
  landowner who chooses to plant a replacement tree is not required to
  plant a number of replacement trees whose total girth is greater
  than the total girth of all the mature trees to which the mitigation
  fee would have applied.
         (d)  Notwithstanding any other law, a municipality may not
  regulate the trimming or removal of trees or timber in the
  extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality.
         (e)  Subsection (d) does not apply to a municipality whose
  extraterritorial jurisdiction is adjacent to or includes all or
  part of a federal military base in active use as of September 1,
  2013.
         (f)  This section does not affect the authority of a county
  to regulate the cutting of trees under Section 240.909, Local
  Government Code.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.