Bill Text: TX HB4609 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to a study by the Texas A&M Forest Service of the potential effects of wildfires in this state.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-24 - Removed from local & uncontested calendar [HB4609 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB4609-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Ashby (Senate Sponsor - Kolkhorst) | H.B. No. 4609 | |
| (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2023; | ||
| May 5, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Water, | ||
| Agriculture & Rural Affairs; May 19, 2023, reported favorably by | ||
| the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 19, 2023, sent to printer.) | ||
| COMMITTEE VOTE | ||
| YeaNayAbsentPNV | ||
| PerryX | ||
| HancockX | ||
| BlancoX | ||
| FloresX | ||
| GutierrezX | ||
| JohnsonX | ||
| KolkhorstX | ||
| SparksX | ||
| SpringerX | ||
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| relating to a study by the Texas A&M Forest Service of the potential | ||
| effects of wildfires in this state. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: | ||
| (1) "Fuel loading" means the amount of combustible | ||
| material in a defined space expressed quantitatively in terms of | ||
| weight of fuel per unit area. | ||
| (2) "Service" means the Texas A&M Forest Service. | ||
| SECTION 2. STUDY. (a) The service shall conduct a study to | ||
| determine the status and condition of fuel loading in wildfire risk | ||
| zones in this state and the corresponding risk of wildfire to the | ||
| residents, homes, businesses, and ecology of this state. | ||
| (b) In conducting the study, the service shall: | ||
| (1) establish wildfire risk zones based on fuel | ||
| loading and the risk of wildfire to the residents, homes, | ||
| businesses, and ecology of this state within geographic areas | ||
| defined by the service; and | ||
| (2) solicit and consider information from: | ||
| (A) the Department of Public Safety; | ||
| (B) the Department of Agriculture, including the | ||
| Prescribed Burning Board; | ||
| (C) the Texas Division of Emergency Management; | ||
| (D) the Parks and Wildlife Department; | ||
| (E) the Texas Commission on Environmental | ||
| Quality; | ||
| (F) the State Soil and Water Conservation Board; | ||
| (G) the comptroller of public accounts; and | ||
| (H) other natural resource representatives as | ||
| necessary. | ||
| (c) The study must: | ||
| (1) for each wildfire risk zone established under | ||
| Subsection (b)(1) of this section, consider: | ||
| (A) the risk that fuel loading poses; | ||
| (B) the projected loss of life, property, and | ||
| natural resources should a wildfire occur in the zone; | ||
| (C) the financial impact of costs associated | ||
| with: | ||
| (i) reconstruction in the zone after a | ||
| wildfire; | ||
| (ii) potential loss of production in the | ||
| natural resource and agricultural industries in the zone after a | ||
| wildfire; and | ||
| (iii) fuel loading mitigation and asset | ||
| hardening in the zone; and | ||
| (D) whether the money invested in fuel loading | ||
| mitigation in the zone exceeds or is less than the value of property | ||
| protected by the investment and the amount of the excess or | ||
| shortage; | ||
| (2) assess the overall economic benefits to this state | ||
| of: | ||
| (A) prescribed burning; | ||
| (B) fuel loading control for wildfire | ||
| prevention; and | ||
| (C) public investment in fuel loading reduction | ||
| projects; and | ||
| (3) recommend changes to existing law to ensure that | ||
| public and private natural resource managers have the authority and | ||
| ability to appropriately mitigate fuel loading risks in each | ||
| established risk zone. | ||
| SECTION 3. REPORT. Not later than December 1, 2024, the | ||
| service shall submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the | ||
| speaker of the house of representatives, and each standing | ||
| committee of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over the | ||
| service or another state agency from which information is solicited | ||
| under this Act a written report that includes a summary of the study | ||
| and any legislative recommendations based on the study. | ||
| SECTION 4. EXPIRATION. This Act expires May 1, 2025. | ||
| SECTION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 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, 2023. | ||
| * * * * * | ||
