Texas Senate Bill 434 Could Make Public Beaches a Thing of the Past
I don't jump into the political arena much just because I think arguing about politics is a complete waste of time. You're defending a bunch of people that do nothing but blame each other for what's "wrong" with the country but do nothing to fix the issue at hand. This is why the world laughs at us because of the nincompoops we have in office. And yes, I'm referring to BOTH Democrats and Republicans. This senate bill being introduced in Texas is a perfect example of the moronic actions our government likes to take, eliminating public beaches in Texas.
Senate Bill 434
Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston introduced this gem (that's sarcasm in case you couldn't tell) of a bill in the Texas Senate, Senate Bill 434. In a nutshell, the bill would eliminate the 1959 Texas Open Beaches Act and take authority away from the Texas General Land Office in determining the boundaries of a public beach. This would allow a property owner to deny beach access from the line of vegetation to the high tide mark. What that means for us summer beach goers is that we'd only have access to the so-called "wet beach," the area between the low and high tide lines.
If this bill passes, you could very well see fenced off areas of the beach and/or no trespassing signs. The only way to get around this would be to sue the upland property owner because that's what we want to do on a vacation.
Hurtful to Everyone
While this bill seems to be something that favors beachfront property owners, it doesn't. The bill would make it the landowners responsibility for the upkeep of the beach, something that coastal city governments already do. This bill, if passed, would also eliminate two renourishment projects on Jamaica Beach and Galveston Island, two very popular beach destinations for tourists and vacationers alike (caller.com).
Contact Your Representatives
The only way to not allow this bill to pass is to call your representatives in Austin. Yeah, I think they're useless but maybe with enough outcry, they'll actually listen to us for once and not allow this stupidity to go through.