Backcountry Pilot • Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised substitute) RUS

Just received the Judiciary Committee's substitute for HB 2839 from Yasmina Platt, who is the AOPA Regional Manager for Central Southwest. She gave a great testimony at the first hearing, and is working hard for all of us to get this done =D>

This is a cut and paste...I did my best to get the formatting back to looking normal, if you want the original copy of the document just let me know. Wording is the same, format's a little different.

Making progress!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to a landowner’s liability for certain aviation activities
on the owner’s land.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 75.001, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subdivision (1-a) and amending
Subdivision (3) to read as follows:

(1-a) "Aviation activities" means the operation,
including taxiing, handling, taking off, flying, or landing, of an
airplane or other aircraft.

(3)"Recreation" means an activity such as:
(A)hunting;
(B)fishing;
(C)swimming;
(D)boating;
(E)camping;
(F)picnicking;
(G)hiking;
(H)pleasure driving, including off-road
motorcycling and off-road automobile driving and the use of
all-terrain vehicles;
(I)nature study, including bird-watching;
(J)cave exploration;
(K)waterskiing and other water sports;
(L)any other activity associated with enjoying
nature or the outdoors;
(M)bicycling and mountain biking;
(N)disc golf;
(O)on-leash and off-leash walking of dogs; [or]
(P)radio control flying and related activities;
or
(Q)aviation activities in connection with the
use of a landing or takeoff area:
(i) that complies with the Federal Aviation
Administration notification requirements under 14 C.F.R. Part 157;
(ii) located on land the owner, lessee, or
occupant of which is not a governmental unit;
(iii) held open to the public for aviation
activities by the owner, lessee, or occupant of the land on which
the landing or takeoff area is located; and
(iv) for the use of which the owner, lessee,
or occupant of the land does not charge.


SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
this Act. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the cause of action
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
Skalywag offline
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

=D> Good deal!
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

Looking forward to this passing. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

Just got this from Yasmina Platt, our Texas AOPA rep.

Good morning!!

I just heard that TX HB2839 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee last night… The bill’s link has not been updated yet though. Let’s hope for a bit of a tailwind now J Rep. Frullo is on the House Calendar Committee so hopefully we can schedule the bill on the House floor sooner than later.

Thanks for everybody’s help. Let’s keep up the good work.

Regards,

Yasmina Platt | Regional Manager, Central Southwest Region

NM, TX, LA, OK, AR, KS, MO, NE and IA
Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

Update. Apparently Rep Frullo's office let out info prematurely, it is not out of commitee yet.

Not sure how you get that wrong.
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

It's official this time, it passed the committee. We are one step closer.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=HB2839
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

What ever happened with this bill? Last update was over a year ago. Did it fizzle?
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

In Texas our legislators only meet once every two years, and only for six months then. It's one way we keep them from screwing everything up. It was blocked in committee by trial lawyers. Waiting for 2015 to try again.
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 to limit liability for private runways

soyAnarchisto wrote:I'd like to see Colorado get on that list pretty soon here. Go CORAC!


Has Colorado ever tried to pass anything like this?
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

The following is from Yasmina Platt, the Regional Manager of the Central Southwest Region for the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA.) Yasmina has been working very closely with us on the Recreational Use Bill to limit landowner liability for recreational aviation use of private property. The intent was to add "Aviation Activities" to the already existing Recreational Use Statute ("RUS"): http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/htm/CP.75.htm

Hello,

HB 750 failed upon adjournment last week: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=HB750. We let it die in Committee because:

1. We, of course, did not like the language the bill had.

2. We couldn’t get to a full agreement with the trial lawyers. After a lot of back and forth, and a lot of give and take from both parties (aviation and trial lawyers), the trial lawyers still had one more item we could not agree to. They wanted to limit the liability protection to single engine, fixed gear aircraft only.

3. Senator Fraser, who was going to carry the bill through the Senate, decided he could not carry the bill anymore after getting a lot of heat from the press on some of his other bills this session (In fact, he has decided not to seek re-election later this year: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/sen-fraser-wont-seek-re-election-next-year.html/), and

4. We could not find any other Senator that late in the game (with less than 2 weeks left) willing to pick up and clean up such a controversial (and still not agreed upon) bill.

We all felt we were better off leaving the existing RUS as is with the potential that “aviation activities” are already covered under Sec. 75.001,(3)(L) "any other activity associated with enjoying nature or the outdoors;" rather than passing a bill that did not have language that we liked or could agree to.

It is too early to say whether or not this will be something we tackle again in two years. If it is, I'll be sure to let you know.

On a better note… we were successful in passing MET tower legislation in the state: http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/May/27/Tower-marking-bill-signed-in-Texas. And we are waiting for Gov Abbott to sign a few more GA-friendly bills. When done, we will write a story about those and you’ll be able to find it here: http://www.aopa.org/Advocacy/Airports-and-State-Advocacy/Central-Southwest. You can also learn about legislation in other states within the region via that last link.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Yasmina Platt | Regional Manager, Central Southwest Region

NM, TX, LA, OK, AR, KS, MO, NE and IA
Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA


The heck with it, I'm going to Alaska. :-)
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Re: Texas Bill HB2839 (Revised Substitute) RUS

Yup, such a dog and pony show this politics. Another win for the ambulance chasers [emoji25]
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