HB 2572 Signed by Gov

H.B. No. 2572

	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 only if:
	(1) the pipeline complies with:
	(A) all safety regulations adopted by the
	Railroad Commission of Texas and all federal regulations relating
	to pipeline facilities and pipelines; and
	(B) all rules adopted by the Texas Department of
	Transportation or the Railroad Commission of Texas and all federal
	regulations regarding the accommodation of utility facilities on a
	right-of-way, including regulations relating to the horizontal or
	vertical placement of the pipeline; and
	(2) the owner or operator of the pipeline ensures that
	the public right-of-way and any associated facility are promptly
	restored to their former condition of usefulness after the
	installation or maintenance of the pipeline.
	(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) In determining the route of a pipeline within a
	municipality, a gas corporation shall consider using existing
	easements and public rights-of-way, including streets, roads,
	highways, and utility rights-of-way. In deciding whether to use a
	public easement or right-of-way, the gas corporation shall consider
	whether:
	(1) the use is economically practicable;
	(2) adequate space exists; and
	(3) the use will violate, or cause the violation of any
	pipeline safety regulations.
	(d) The Texas Department of Transportation may require the
	owner or operator of a pipeline to relocate the pipeline:
	(1) at the expense of the owner or operator of the
	pipeline, if the pipeline is located on a right-of-way of the state
	highway system;
	(2) at the expense of this state, if the pipeline is
	located on property in which the owner or operator of the pipeline
	has a private interest; or
	(3) in accordance with Section 203.092,
	Transportation Code, at the expense of this state, if the pipeline
	is owned or operated by a gas utility as defined by Section 181.021
	of this code or a common carrier as defined by Chapter 111, Natural
	Resources Code.
	(e) Rules adopted by the Texas Department of Transportation
	regarding horizontal and vertical placement of pipelines must be
	reasonable and, for rights-of-way of the state highway system, must
	provide an appeals process through the Texas Department of
	Transportation.
	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.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2572 was passed by the House on April
	28, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 2572 on May 25, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0,
	1 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2572 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 21, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor SOURCE: Texas Legislature on Line

Texas Legislature adjourns after meltdown in Senate; special session looms

By DAVE MONTGOMERY and AMAN BATHEJA - Fort worth Star Telegram - Mon. June 1, 2009
AUSTIN — The 81st Legislature adjourned Monday night with angry state senators urging Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session to salvage $2 billion in highway transportation money. The money was left in limbo when the House killed legislation to keep the Texas Department of Transportation and four other state agencies operating.

The dust-up dashed hopes for a smooth conclusion to the 140-day biennial session without the need for a special session to deal with unresolved issues or priorities demanded by the governor.

Earlier, on the first day of the hurricane season, lawmakers came through at Perry’s insistence with emergency legislation to replenish a windstorm insurance fund for Gulf Coast residents.

At the center of the dispute was the House’s decision to abandon a "safety net" bill that would have granted a two-year continuance for the Transportation Department, the state Department of Insurance and three other agencies. The safety net legislation for the Transportation Department was considered a stop-gap fix after a more comprehensive bill restructuring the agency died in the waning days of the Legislature.

Before adjourning, House members approved a parliamentary patch-up that they said would keep the Transportation Department operating. But senators condemned that action as insufficient, voting 17-11 to adjourn without voting on it, and denounced the House for killing the transportation bill. That legislation included $2 billion in transportation bonds to fund highway projects across the state.

Senators called on Perry to convene a special session to reauthorize the Transportation Department and clear the way for using the $2 billion in highway construction money.

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle did not directly address the request for a special session, but she disputed the senators’ description of the situation, saying the agencies will be able to continue operating like normal despite the tumultuous conclusion of the session.

'A disaster’

"The action by the House is a disaster," said Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. "Right now, the budget at TxDOT is wrecked and people are going to start losing their jobs" if Perry declines to call a special session.

Senators were told that the agency can continue to operate until September 2010, giving Perry adequate time to call lawmakers back to Austin if he agrees that it’s necessary.

Senators expressed outrage that the House abruptly adjourned without passing a resolution that would have permitted the use of the bonds.

"They went sine die [adjourned] after destroying four and a half months of work that passed through this body," said Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay.

In other action, the Senate sent to the governor a $1.9 billion school funding bill that includes a one-time $800 pay raise for teachers.

It was the first expansion of public school financing since 1948 that wasn’t mandated by a court order, said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the Senate Education Committee chairwoman. She described the measure

"as one of the finest pieces of legislation this Legislature has done in a very long time."

The House and Senate adjourned Monday evening after days of turbulence that included a bill-killing parliamentary slowdown in the House and a threatened filibuster in the Senate.

"Some days I thought would never end, and some weeks flew by," Speaker Joe Straus said before adjourning the House on a motion from Rep. Charlie Geren, R- Fort Worth.

After a weekend when many bills seemed to zoom through both chambers, things often slowed to a crawl Monday. During long delays between votes, members on the House floor signed "thank you" cards or used their laptops to check news sites or watch funny videos.

Senators did their part to avoid a special session by sending Perry legislation to fund windstorm insurance coverage for Gulf Coast counties. Perry had threatened to call a special session if lawmakers failed to bolster the insurance fund. The bill passed the House earlier.

A 'miracle’ comeback

Some of the most emotional moments on the session’s last day centered on the return of Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, just weeks after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed in a Capitol elevator. Lawmakers had feared the worst when Geren, Kuempel’s close friend, told House members early on that their colleague was in a medical coma.

The chamber erupted in applause and cheers as Geren wheeled Kuempel onto the House floor.

"It’s good to be here," Kuempel said with a broad smile, right before receiving a kiss on the cheek from Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller.

Many expressed amazement that Kuempel made it back in time for the end of the session. "It’s a miracle," said Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, shaking his head in disbelief.

Voter ID battle

Compared to bitterly confrontational sessions of previous years, the 81st Legislature was relatively tame as Straus, a moderate Republican from San Antonio, sought to steer the almost evenly divided House on a bipartisan course after replacing former Speaker Tom Craddick, who was ousted.

But the tranquility dissolved in the closing days as Democrats staged a five-day parliamentary slowdown that successfully killed a voter-identification bill. Hundreds of other bills caught in the crossfire also died.

The voter ID issue, which will likely return in the 2011 session, was easily the most volatile partisan issue in both chambers.

Lingering bitterness from the fight over the voter ID bill was still evident Monday.

"I hope that the people of Texas will be able to look back at this session as the moment when members put their foot down and stopped the House leadership from pushing partisan priorities over the needs of Texas families," said Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth.

House Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith, R-Euless, said,

"I think it went marvelously well in that the House functioned as a remarkably civil body until the last few days," referring to the impasse over voter ID legislation

.
DAVE MONTGOMERY, 512-476-4294 AMAN BATHEJA, 817-390-7695

If you want to watch high comedy - tune into the Texas Senate today (Sun. May 31) at 1

By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - May 31, 2009
Antics in Austin, are similar to those in families. We usually know what isn't going to work before we decide to go on an pull it anyway.
Republicans knew that the Democrats weren't going to swallow their Voter ID Bill.
They pushed it anyway and wouldn't budge.
Democrats held their ground.
Most of the bills that some Republicans didn't want which were popular with many constituents of members of both sides of the aisle were already dead in committee.
Yet political posturing of those on the right is a spin saying that these initiatives died because of the bad Democrats. Those on the left think the stubborness of the Republicans over Voter ID was the culprit.

Now they are scrambling to try to get the differences worked out between the two houses.
Yesterday's telecast of the Texas Senate shows them scrambling:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/?yr=2009

This afternoon's Senate Session starts live at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Click here to see it.
It requires Real Player which can be downloaded free on the Texas Legislature On Line Site.
The archives shows the clubbing that occurred in the House last week where legislators on both sides of the aisle stretched out the process by discussing mundane things in their debate. After Republicans understood that the Democrats would stretch up to the last minute before passing the bills on the calendar, they went along and played straight man to the Democrats and occasionally switching roles.

Texas House Video Archives can be seen here. Select links for dates late in May to witness the chubbing. It's the "let's stay home and not run over the border to Oklahoma" tactics which had the same result.

By Mike Ward , Ben Wear - AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF - Sunday, May 31, 2009

TxDOT dispute flares anew
A push to let Austin and other metropolitan areas raise gasoline taxes and to phase out red-light enforcement cameras died Saturday as part of a legislative deal hammered out on Texas Department of Transportation operations.

In retaliation, two key senators who supported the local-option tax measure said they may push to kill the TxDOT bill when it comes up for Senate debate today — a move that could put $2 billion for road projects out of reach and that would end TxDOT's authority to build more build more private toll roads.

Meanwhile, House and Senate negotiators announced a deal on windstorm insurance coverage for coastal areas, an issue that Gov. Rick Perry has warned could cause a special session if left unresolved.

"We have an agreed-to deal," said Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, one of the negotiators. "Special session very unlikely."

However, the negotiators were waiting for the final printing of the bill and held back details.

The developments were part of daylong drama that unfolded at the Capitol, as Perry vetoed his first bill of this session in a dispute over how state laws are written and interpreted and as other issues died and were revived in frantic horse-trading.

Passed and sent to the governor was a change in the state's college admission law to allow the University of Texas at Austin to fill three-quarters of its freshmen classes with the top 10 percent of Texas high school students and the remaining 25 percent with whomever UT administrators decide.

Dead or nearly dead: New openness mandates for electric cooperatives in Texas, including the troubled Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

Still uncertain: The fate of the Texas Racing Commission, which could be shuttered if an agreement is not reached.

Also endangered was a clean-air bill that, among other things, proposes incentives to cut emissions from manufacturing and power plant facilities, promotes energy-efficient appliances, and expands air-technology grants. Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, the bill's sponsor, said he and Senate leaders were seeking to attach the provisions to another bill to keep the initiative alive.

In other developments, the House approved the state's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the troubled institutions for Texans with mental disabilities. Under the agreement, Texas will have to improve health care and investigate reports of abuse and neglect more quickly at the 13 facilities known as state schools.

The Senate has already approved the settlement.

A record number of conference committees — more than 200 — scrambled Saturday to meet end-of-session deadlines. Lawmakers worked much of the day at their desks filling out and filing an avalanche of green-colored paperwork that harried aides whisked back and forth between wings of the statehouse.

Houston Democrat John Whitmire, the longest-serving senator, said the frantic activity was historic: "I've been here for 36 years and have not seen anything like this, not even a close second."

The reason for the last-minute scramble is the stalling of debate last week by House Democrats that killed a voter identification bill in a partisan fight. To save hundreds of bills before a procedural deadline that meant certain death, the Senate tacked on hundreds of amendments to almost as many House bills — a move that triggered the last-minute rush that began Friday.

On the TxDOT bill, one of the most high-profile and contentious of the legislative session, the so-called local-option tax was dropped after proponents of the change came up one vote short in the House-Senate conference committee negotiating a final version.

The provision would have allowed county commissioners in metro areas to call elections to impose a local gas tax of up to 10 cents a gallon or raise driver's license and registration fees. That money would be targeted to specific road or rail projects named on the ballot.

Conservative groups had argued that the provision was tantamount to legislators voting to raise taxes, a position that resonated in the House, which did not have local-option language in the version of the bill it passed.

The House version would have banned new or extended red-light camera contracts after June 1. The conference committee proposes using the Senate version, which would allow those caught by cameras to take a driver safety course rather than paying a $75 fine. Given the cost and effort to take such a class, however, many people might opt to simply pay the fine.

As legislators worked Saturday, Perry vetoed Senate Bill 2038, an attempt to clarify how the courts and executive branch agencies interpret changes to state law that are intended to be nonsubstantive.

Perry told lawmakers that if they intend a law to accomplish a specific purpose, they should write it clearly enough to do that, not use a re-codification bill

While both the Senate and House approved the measure by wide margins, Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said he does not expect that the Legislature will try and override the veto

. Read more in the Austin American Statesman

aturday, May 30, 2009, 06:18 PM

Postcards By MIke Ward - Austin American Statesman - Sat., May 30, 2009
Read more in the Austin American Statesman
Conferees to extend their work

By a unanimous vote, the Texas Senate just extended its deadline for the more than 180 conference committees to wrap up their work.

From tonight at midnight to tomorrow at midnight.

That means the Senate on Monday likely will be approving dozens of conference committee reports — the final versions of bills — where they were supposed to just do minor corrections to a few bills.

Senate Administration Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, told senators a few minutes ago that 131 House bills loaded up with Senate amendments are still in conference — meaning they are still in negotiation with House members.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Williams said.

The vote to waive the rule and extend tonight;s deadline was 31-0. A four-fifths vote of at least 25 senators was required.

Earlier today, the Senate started appointing conference committees on at least 182 bills, not counting the four dozen or so that were already at work.

Lawmakers in both chambers have said the number of conference committees this session is unprecedented in recent memory, all because of a vote-stalling maneuver in the House last week over a voter identification bill. That delayed action on hundreds of bills, prompting the Senate to tack them on as amendments to House bills — a move that has created a procedural logjam in a session to ends at midnight Monday.

All day today, the Senate Chamber has been abuzz with negotiations and conference committee meetings between lawmakers, almost frantic in its pace, as lawmakers scramble to come up with final versions of bills by their deadlines.

No word yet on whether the House will extend its deadline at midnight tonight for filing the final versions of all bills.

Paper is flying everywhere in the House and Senate as Conference Committees work to meet deadline

By Mike Ward - Saturday, May 30, 2009,
Read More in the Austin American Statesman

182 more conference committees

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst just announced that the Texas Senate has received requests from the House for 182 conference committees to work out last-minute details on pending bills.

That’s correct, 182 — surely a record, since the Senate already had authorized more than four dozen by last night.

Before midnight tonight, all the conference committees must have their deals worked out on final language for bills, and have their report filed with the House.

Otherwise, bills die.

It’s going to be a busy afternoon — and evening.

In the Senate, Administration Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, just suggested that senators remain at their desks throughout the afternoon to get the Senate’s paperwork on the conference committees approved and sent promptly back to the House.

Paper is flying everywhere, and the Senate just took the unusual step of allowing up to two staff members for each senator onto the floor to handle the rush of signing and sorting.

Conference Committee Named For Eminent Domain
On ANOTHER Front.. and this may be the new Eminent Domain Bill SB-18 turned Resolution with a RIDER attached for University Research Institutions

HJR 14 Corte et al. SP: Duncan in Conference Cmte.

HJR 14 Corte et al. SP: Duncan

Caption: Proposing a constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking of property for transfer to a private entity for certain purposes.
5-30 House refused to concur in Senate amendments and requested the appointment of a Conference Committee.
5-30 House conferees appointed: Corte, Chair; Bonnen, Hilderbran, Pena, Woolley.

HOUSE Conferees:
Frank Corte, Chair #122 Corte Frank.Corte@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0646 & Fax: 512) 463-0893

Dennis Bonnen #25 Bonnen Dennis.Bonnen@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0564 & Fax: 512) 463-8414

Harvey Hilderbran #53 Hilderbran Harvey.Hilderbran@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0536 & Fax: 512) 463-1449

Aaron Pena #40 Peña Aaron.Peña@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0426 & Fax: 512) 463-0043

Beverly Woolley #136 Woolley Beverly.Woolley@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0696 & Fax: 512) 463-9333

SENATE Conferees:
Appointed (05/30/2009)

Duncan (Chair) Duncan, Robert
(512) 463-0128 & Fax: (512) 463-2424
Robert.Duncan@Senate.State.Tx.US

Estes Estes, Craig (512) 463-0130 & Fax: (512) 463-8874
Craig.Estes@Senate.State.Tx.US

Hegar Glenn Hegar Glenn.Hegar@Senate.State.Tx.US
(512) 463-0118 & Fax: (512) 475-3736

Van de Putte Van de Putte, Leticia
(512) 463-0126 & Fax: (512) 463-2114

Leticia.VandePutte@Senate.State.Tx.US
Whitmire Whitmire, John
512) 463-0115 & Fax: (713) 864-5287

John.Whitmire@Senate.State.Tx.US

CHIP bill no longer on the table

Children's health care measure, along with windstorm insurance plan, dies as session's end nears
By R. G. RATCLIFFE - Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau - May 29, 2009
AUSTIN — Lawmakers entered the endgame of the 81st Legislature Thursday still struggling to avoid a special session on windstorm insurance — while also trying in vain to salvage expansion of health care for low-income Texas children.

Gov. Rick Perry suggested Thursday that he might veto the Children’s Health Insurance Program bill, assuming it survived the legislative maze necessary to reach his desk. The bill would make available subsidized health insurance for an additional 80,000 Texas children by raising eligibility for CHIP to 300 percent of poverty, or a maximum income of $66,540 a year for a family of four.

“I would probably not be in favor of that expansion, even if it came to my desk. The members know that,” Perry said. “That’s not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of Texas.”

CHIP and windstorm insurance reform were among hundreds of measures killed earlier this week by an extended House debate of minor bills to avoid controversial voter identification legislation. The Senate worked until about 3 a.m. Thursday reviving many of the dead bills, like CHIP, by putting them on other bills as amendments.
‘We have the money’

Then late Thursday, the House sent the bill back to the Senate, claiming the CHIP provision to revive the amendment was not germane, all but killing it.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he believes there may be ways to resurrect the measure one more time, if the House will agree by a two-thirds vote.

“We have the money in the budget for CHIP,” Dewhurst said. The program is expected to cost the state $43.2 million over the next two years, but draw in 72 cents in federal money for every dollar spent.

Perry has told lawmakers he will call a special legislative session if the windstorm insurance bill does not pass. The governor, whose political fund has received $205,000 from the insurance industry since he took office, declared the windstorm insurance reform an emergency item in 2007 and again this year.

Hurricanes Ike and Dolly in 2008 busted the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association with an expected $2 billion in payouts. TWIA provides windstorm insurance for homeowners who cannot find private coverage — which includes all of 14 coastal counties and part of Harris County.

Perry denied pressuring lawmakers to settle TWIA.

“We are working to get a solution,” Perry said. “Whether I would put it into the ‘applying pressure’ category, we just speak truth to power.”

The outcome of the debate could determine whether the TWIA rates go up significantly.

“The problem is, who is going to pay for it? And that’s why it’s a statewide issue,” said House sponsor Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.
Small companies fearful

Insurance companies want the system reformed because under current law they can be hit with unlimited assessments to make TWIA solvent. Though they would get tax credits from the state, they claim it could force small insurance companies into insolvency.

But the Senate’s approach to the problem could cause insurance rates to rise as much as 40 percent for TWIA customers. The House would raise TWIA rates, but in the case of a major catastrophe homeowners across Texas would have to subsidize the costs.

“If you’re helping the coastal people too much, the inland people start squawking,” state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said. “If you charge the insurance companies too much, then there are people who say you are hurting the viability of the insurance market.”

House negotiator Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said lawmakers may not have time to reach a consensus.

“It’s still a little bit of a long shot,” Smithee said.

San Antonio Express-News reporter Gary Scharrer contributed to this story.
Read more in the Houston Chronicle