Senate Bill 434 proposed by state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, would efface the...
. Three former commissioners of the Texas General Land Office, two Republicans and one Democrat, question what the first-term senator is up to. The unlikely trio has raised warning flags.
Middleton is an independent oil and gas company owner and climate-change skeptic whose ties to the uber-conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation – he’s a former board member – is reason enough to be skeptical of his bill, basically a proposal to erode GLO authority. If his bill passes, beachfront property owners, not the state agency, would get to decide who can use the beach between their residence and the water.
Former Land Commissioners Garry Mauro , David Dewhurst and Jerry Patterson can tell you why we’re not talking about “land in the rest of the state.” In a, they pointed out that if the property owner can deny access to the public beach easement, beachgoers would have access only to what is known as the “wet beach,” the area between the low tide and the high tide lines.
“Since humans first took to the seas,” he wrote, “they’ve used beaches to land and regroup – to repair ships, sails and fishing nets. Roman and English common law established that tradition as a public right. Of course, that hasn’t stopped the rich and powerful in this country from buying up beachfront property and telling the public they can’t set foot on their private beaches. But not in Texas.”
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