People may not build or keep structures or facilities on state land without the required state easement, lease, permit, or other instrument. Violations can trigger daily penalties and removal-cost recovery.
Sec. 51.302. PROHIBITION AND PENALTY. (a) No person may construct or maintain any structure or facility on land owned by the state, nor may any person who has not acquired a proper easement, lease, permit, or other instrument from the state as required by this chapter or Chapter 33 and who owns or possesses a facility or structure that is now located on or across state land continue in possession of the land unless he obtains from the commissioner or the board an easement, lease, permit, or other instrument required by this chapter or Chapter 33 for the land on which the facility or structure is to be constructed or is located. (b) A person who constructs, maintains, owns, or possesses a facility or structure on state land without a proper easement or lease from the state under this chapter or under Chapter 33 of this code is liable for a penalty of not less than $50 or more than $1,000 a day for each day that a violation occurs. The penalty shall be recovered by the commissioner under Section 51.3021 of this code or in a civil action by the attorney general. (c) A person who owns, maintains, or possesses an unauthorized facility or structure is, for purposes of this section, the person who last owned, maintained, or possessed the facility or structure. (d) The commissioner or attorney general may also recover from a person who constructs, maintains, owns, or possesses a facility or structure on state land without the proper easement the costs to the state of removing that facility or structure under Section 51.3021 of this code. (e) Penalties and costs recovered under this section shall be deposited in the special fund established under Sections 52.297 and 53.155 of this code. (f) This section is cumulative of all other applicable penalties or enforcement provisions of this code. (g) In lieu of seeking administrative penalties or removal of the facility or structure under Section 51.3021 of this code, the commissioner may elect to accept ownership of the facility or structure as a fixture and may exercise the state's rights as owner of the facility or structure by filing notice of such ownership in the real property records of the county in which the facility or structure is located. For facilities or structures located on coastal public land and connected with the ownership of adjacent littoral property, notice of ownership shall be filed in the county in which the adjacent littoral property is located. Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2440, ch. 871, art. I, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977. Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 624, Sec. 39, eff. Sept. 1, 1985; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 465, Sec. 1, eff. June 11, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 991, Sec. 16, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 280, Sec. 28, eff. June 18, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 387 (S.B. 654), Sec. 13, eff. June 15, 2007.