2023 Texas Statutes › Natural Resources Code › Title 2 - Public Domain › Subtitle C - Administration › Chapter 33 - Management of Coastal Public Land › Subchapter D. Rights in Coastal Public Land › Section 33.136. Property Rights: Preservation of Littoral Rights

Sec. 33.136.  PROPERTY RIGHTS:  PRESERVATION OF LITTORAL RIGHTS.  (a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a person may not undertake an action on or immediately landward of a public beach or submerged land, including state mineral lands, relating to erosion response that will cause or contribute to shoreline alteration before the person has conducted and filed a coastal boundary survey in the same manner as the survey of public land required by Chapter 21 and any applicable rule of the commissioner and has obtained any required lease or other instrument from the commissioner or board, as applicable.  A person is not required to obtain a lease or other instrument from the commissioner or board if the action is confined to land owned by a navigation district or municipality.  On filing of the survey, the shoreline depicted on the survey is a fixed line for the purpose of locating a shoreline boundary, subject to movement landward of that line.  A coastal boundary survey conducted under this section may not be filed until the commissioner gives notice of approval under Subsection (c).
(b)  The survey must contain the following statement:  "NOTICE:  This survey was performed in accordance with Section 33.136, Natural Resources Code, for the purpose of evidencing the location of the shoreline in the area depicted in this survey as that shoreline existed before commencement of erosion response activity, as required by Chapter 33, Natural Resources Code.  The line depicted on this survey fixes the shoreline for the purpose of locating a shoreline boundary, subject to movement landward as provided by Section 33.136, Natural Resources Code."
(c)  Within 30 days after the date the commissioner approves a coastal boundary survey under this section, the commissioner shall provide notice of that approval by:
(1)  publication in the Texas Register;
(2)  publication for two consecutive weeks on the Internet website of the land office; and
(3)  filing a copy of the approval in the archives and records division of the land office.
(d)  A person who claims title to permanent school fund land as a result of accretion, reliction, or avulsion in the coastal zone on or after September 1, 1999, must, in order to prevail in the claim, prove that:
(1)  a change in the shoreline has occurred;
(2)  the change did not occur as a result of the claimant's actions, the action of any predecessor in title, the action of any grantee, assignee, licensee, or person authorized by the claimant to use the claimant's land, or an erosion response activity;  and
(3)  the claimant is entitled to benefit from the change.
(e)  An upland owner who, because of erosion response activity undertaken by the commissioner, ceases to hold title to land that extends to the shoreline as altered by the erosion response activity is entitled to continue to exercise all littoral rights possessed by that owner before the date the erosion response activity commenced, including rights of ingress, egress, boating, bathing, and fishing.
(f)  In this section, "erosion response" means an action intended to address coastal erosion, mitigate the effect of coastal erosion, or maintain or enhance beach stability or width.  The term includes:
(1)  beach nourishment;
(2)  sediment management;
(3)  beneficial use of dredged material;
(4)  construction of breakwaters;
(5)  dune creation or enhancement;  and
(6)  revegetation.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 938, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.  Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 508, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
Amended by:
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 3 (S.B. 903), Sec. 4, eff. September 1, 2015.