Return to TFB Main Page
Return to Current Edition
Texas Agriculture Archive

May 17, 2002

Public or private road? This issue isn't dead!

H.B. 340, the "county road bill" as it is more commonly known in Austin, was one of the biggest private property rights issues that Texas Farm Bureau tackled during the 2001 Session of the Texas Legislature. It would have changed the way a rural county could acquire a private road that they had continuously maintained for at least 10 years prior to 1981.

The counties argued that landowners are in jeopardy across the state from having their access to land cut off by people who own private roads that are used by the public and maintained by the county. Therefore, the counties wanted a quick and easy fix to take possession of these private roads.

H.B. 340 offered the following solution. A county commissioners court would simply draw a map of the roads they owned or had maintained for at least 10 years prior to 1981. If no one objected, the private roads became the county's roads.

The only choice the bill gave a landowner that owned a road on the map was to ask the commissioners to remove their road from the map. If the county refused, the landowner could take the county to district court. This was a complete reversal from current law where the county has to initiate action against the landowner in district court to take private property.

The bill was definitely not what you would call a landowner-friendly piece of legislation. Fortunately, H.B. 340 passed the house but failed in the Senate after much opposition from agricultural organizations, including the Texas Farm Bureau.

However, the issue has not gone away. Speaker of the Texas House Pete Laney charged the House Committee on Land and Resource Management with studying the "issues associated with the ownership and maintenance of rural roads. Assess the benefits of legislation that would clarify ownership and county responsibility for maintenance of those roads." The committee met on April 30 to hear testimony on the issue.

Jim Allison, representing the county judges and commissioners, testified that most of the private roads maintained by the county were never dedicated to the public or conveyed to the county. However, they have been used by the public or maintained by the county for a long period of time. "Herein lies the problem," said Allison.

Under current law, a county has the burden of proof when they want to claim that they have a right to take possession of a private road. The problem arises when a county did not keep adequate maintenance records or the commissioners court cannot find a person who can testify as to the county's maintenance for the road.

Texas Farm Bureau strongly disagrees with any fix for this issue that does not recognize private property rights. Our organization's policy does not excuse the counties from recognizing private property rights simply because they did not keep good maintenance records, or it is difficult to find an eye-witness to the county's maintenance of the road.

The subcommittee will issue a report with their recommendations on resolving this issue for the 2003 Texas Legislature to consider. Our organization will work to ensure the subcommittee's recommendation meets the goals of our state policy.