House Bill 792 & Senate Bill 345

On January 11, 2019 companion bills (H.B. 345 & S.B. 792) were filed by Rep. Toth and Sen. Creighton in the Texas House and Senate respectively; each bill states:

​The entire territory of the Jones State Forest must remain natural, scenic, undeveloped, and open in a manner that maintains the tree canopy cover of the forest. No statute, rule, policy, or ordinance may be enforced with respect to the territory of the Jones State Forest, other than a statute, rule, policy, or ordinance that protects and preserves the natural resources, air quality, or water quality of the Jones State Forest.

Recommendations

While Save Jones State Forest supports the intent of these bills, we recommend that the language of the bills be updated to:

•  provide third-party oversight by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and
• require the development of an Environmental Master Plan with public comment.​​

We appreciate the effort of Rep. Thoth and Sen. Creighton have made to protect the Jones State Forest and hope to work with them to further strengthen these bills.

Timeline

1/11/2019 H.B. 345 and S.B. 792 filed in the 86th Texas Legislature.
3/18/2019 Public hearing for H.B. 345
3/20/2019 Public hearing for S.B. 792

Track These Bills

H.B. 792 
• State H.B. 792 Site
• Legislative Tracker
• Current Status

S.B. 345
• State S.B. 345 Site
• Legislative Tracker
​• Current Status