By: Kolkhorst	S.B. No. 1601
	(In the Senate - Filed March 12, 2015; March 23, 2015, read
	first time and referred to Committee on Transportation;
	April 13, 2015, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
	Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 4; April 13, 2015,
	sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
	COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1601	By:  Kolkhorst

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to railroads in this state.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 81.001, Transportation Code, is amended
	by adding Subdivision (3) to read as follows:
	(3)  "High-speed rail" means intercity passenger rail
	service that is reasonably expected to reach speeds of at least 110
	miles per hour.
	SECTION 2.  Section 81.002, Transportation Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	Sec. 81.002.  APPLICABILITY. In this title, a reference to a
	railroad company means [includes]:
	(1)  a railroad initially incorporated before
	September 1, 2007, under former Title 112, Revised Statutes; or
	(2)  any other legal entity operating a railroad,
	including an entity organized under the Texas Business Corporation
	Act or the Texas Corporation Law provisions of the Business
	Organizations Code, that owns or leases:
	(A)  locomotives and passenger or freight rail
	cars; and
	(B)  rights-of-way used for the purposes of
	transporting people or goods by rail between at least two
	terminuses.
	SECTION 3.  Section 112.002, Transportation Code, is amended
	by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(5), a company that
	operates a high-speed rail system may not exercise the power of
	eminent domain for the system.
	SECTION 4.  Section 111.103(a), Transportation Code, is
	repealed.
	SECTION 5.  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, 2015.
	* * * * *