Bill Text: TX SB898 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the ownership and local regulation of trees and timber.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-28 - Referred to Agriculture, Water, & Rural Affairs [SB898 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB898-Introduced.html
| 85R9251 SLB-F | ||
| By: Bettencourt | S.B. No. 898 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
| 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) "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. | ||
| Sec. 154.002. OWNERSHIP OF TREES AND TIMBER. A landowner | ||
| owns all trees and timber located on the landowner's land as a part | ||
| of the 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) Notwithstanding any other law, a municipality may not | ||
| regulate the trimming or removal of trees or timber in the | ||
| extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality. | ||
| (c) This section does not affect the authority of a county | ||
| to regulate the cutting of trees under Section 240.909, Local | ||
| Government Code. | ||
| (d) This section does not apply to the facilities or | ||
| operations of an electric utility or a transmission and | ||
| distribution utility, as those terms are defined by Section 31.002, | ||
| Utilities Code. | ||
| Sec. 154.004. APPLICABILITY TO TREE TRIMMING OR REMOVAL IN | ||
| UTILITY RIGHT-OF-WAY. This chapter does not apply to the trimming | ||
| or removal of a tree in the easement or right-of-way of a pipeline | ||
| or utility line. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
