From the Chronicle:
A Texas House panel on Monday debated where private property rights end and public beaches begin, as lawmakers considered a proposed constitutional amendment and another measure that could reverse two contentious state Supreme Court rulings on coastline boundaries.
Rep. Harold Dutton is sponsoring an amendment and companion bill that would more clearly define boundaries for public beaches and hold them in a public trust. The amendment means the law would become impervious to future court challenges should it be approved by Texas voters and added to the state Constitution.
Both are in response to a 2010 Texas Supreme Court ruling on the Open Beaches Act that found if an act of nature erodes a beach, the landowner's right to the remaining property is not diminished by state law — even if it is now part of the beach. A federal appeals court questioned that decision, but the court reaffirmed it last year.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit that was filed after Hurricane Rita pounded the Texas shoreline in 2005, eroding the sand and leaving Carol Severance's home on a sandy beach along Galveston Island's West Beach. The state ordered Severance to demolish her home, saying her land was now considered a public beach. Instead, Severance sued.
Dutton, D-Houston, said Monday that since 1959, the Open Beaches Act has stated that a beach up to the vegetation line is state property and therefore open to the public.
In the Severance case, Texas argued that its right to the land automatically shifts with the sand, but the court disagreed.
