Author Topic: Texas Legislature considers a mix of outdoors-related bills  (Read 441 times)

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Texas Legislature considers a mix of outdoors-related bills
« on: March 17, 2019, 01:35:19 am »
Houston Chronicle by Shannon Tompkins 3/16/2019

Dozens of the more than 7,000 bills filed for consideration during this year’s 86th regular session of the Texas Legislature focus on issues tied to fishing, hunting, camping, boating and other outdoor recreation or the natural resources underpinning those activities.

Among them are proposals that would mandate use of emergency engine cutoff switches on most powerboats, significantly increase criminal penalties for extreme boating-while-intoxicated charges and flagrant commercial fishing violations, exempt most persons taking feral hogs on private land from hunting license requirements, and allow the state to charge a fee to participate in an increasingly popular deer-management program.

Also, a half-dozen or so bills center squarely on ensuring a reliable and significant source of funding for Texas’ chronically underfunded state parks system, including proposals to allow Texans to vote on an amendment to the state constitution that would dedicate a portion of the state sales tax to Texas parks.

Only a few of those proposals have made much headway, not unusual as the Legislature typically gets off to a slow start. But as the biennial 140-day session approaches its midway mark, expect the pace to gather steam as the session barrels toward its May 27 close.

Cutoff-switch mandate

One of the handful of outdoors-related bills that has cleared an early hurdle is aimed at improving boating safety. Two identical bills — HB 337 by Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, and SB 210 by Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels — would require the operators of powerboats less than 26 feet in length and equipped by the manufacturer with an engine cutoff switch to have that switch attached to them when the boat is underway.

Engine cutoff-switches — often called kill switches — are designed to shut off a boat’s engine when the switch is activated. The switches usually are attached via a lanyard with one end attached to the boat’s electrical system and the other to the operator’s wrist, belt or life jacket. If the operator is thrown from the helm or boat while it is underway, the lanyard pulls a plug that immediately kills the engine, preventing severe and often fatal injuries that occur when persons thrown out of the suddenly driverless vessel are struck by the craft or the engine’s propeller.

A tragic incident in 2012, which resulted in the death of Kali Gorzell, a young San Antonio woman killed when she fell over the front of a boat and was struck by the boat’s propeller, was a major factor in generating the legislation. Similar legislation introduced by Larson during the 2017 Legislature passed the Texas House but died in the Texas Senate.

Last week, the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism approved HB 337, recommending that it be considered for passage by the full House. SB 210, the Senate version of the bill, is scheduled for a March 18 hearing.

No hearing has yet been set for another water safety bill, which focuseson boating while intoxicated. HB 1811, by Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Kerrville, would increase the penalty for those found boating while intoxicated and having a blood alcohol level of 0.15 — almost twice the 0.08 level current defining intoxication — or more to a Class A misdemeanor. Currently, a first offense of boating while intoxicated, no matter the level of intoxication, is a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of $2,000 in fines and as much as 180 days in jail. Penalties for a Class A misdemeanor are a maximum of $4,000 and a year in jail.

Penalties for taking oysters from closed areas, violating undersize oyster rules or possessing a cargo of oysters in which 30 percent or more are under the 3-inch minimum would be significantly increased under two identical pieces of legislation filed this session. HB 2321 by Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, and SB 761 by Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen, are aimed at addressing what has been increasingly frequent repeat violations of those regulations by some commercial oyster fishers and the violation’s modest penalties under current law.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/outdoors/article/Texas-Legislature-considers-a-mix-of-13693456.php