Sec. 66.46. EASEMENTS ON UNIVERSITY LAND. (a) The board of regents of The University of Texas System may execute grants of easements or other interests in property for rights-of-way or access across land that belongs to the state but is dedicated to the support and maintenance of The University of Texas System for telephone, telegraph, electric transmission, and powerlines, for oil pipelines, gas pipelines, sulphur pipelines, and other electric lines and pipelines of any nature, and for irrigation canals, laterals, and water pipelines.

(b) The board of regents may execute grants of easements for the erection and maintenance of electric substations, pumping stations, loading racks, and tank farms on university land, and for any other purpose the board determines to be in the best interest of the permanent university fund land.

(c) In addition to the purposes for which grants of easements may be executed under Subsections (a) and (b), the board of regents may execute grants of easements on university land for any other purpose and on any terms it considers to be in the best interest of the permanent university fund land.

(d) An easement under this section may not be granted for a term that is longer than 10 years, but the easement may be renewed by the board of regents. The rent to be charged for an easement under this section shall be an amount agreed to by the grantee and the board.

(e) Income received from university land under this section shall be credited to the available university fund.

(f) Payments under this subchapter that are past due shall bear interest at a rate equal to the rate imposed by the comptroller under Section 111.060, Tax Code, for delinquent payments due the state, except that if the board of regents enters into an agreement with the grantee of the easement specifying a lower rate, the payments bear interest at that lower rate.

(g) Each easement granted under this section shall be recorded in the county clerk's office of the county in which the land is located, and the recording fee shall be paid by the person who obtains the easement. The person who obtains the easement shall furnish to the board of regents a certified copy of the easement.

(h) No person may construct or maintain any structure or facility on land dedicated to the support and maintenance of The University of Texas System, nor may any person who has not acquired a proper easement, lease, permit, or other instrument from the board of regents and who owns or possesses a facility or structure that is now located on or across land dedicated to the support and maintenance of The University of Texas System continue in possession of the land unless the person obtains from the board an easement, lease, permit, or other instrument for the land on which the facility or structure is to be constructed or is located.

(i) A person who constructs, maintains, owns, or possesses a facility or structure on university land without a proper easement or lease is liable for a penalty of not less than $50 or more than $1,000 a day for each day that a violation occurs. The penalty shall be recovered on behalf of the board of regents in a civil action by the attorney general.

(j) A person who owns, maintains, or possesses an unauthorized facility or structure is, for purposes of this section, the person who last owned, maintained, or possessed the facility or structure.

(k) A person who constructs, maintains, owns, or possesses a facility or structure on university land without the proper easement or lease is liable to the board of regents for the costs of removing that facility or structure.

(l) This section does not affect the authority of the board of regents under Section 66.41.

(m) The board of regents shall establish procedures by which a person seeking an easement or other interest under this section may seek relief from a rate or damage schedule that the person believes does not represent the fair market value of the interest being sought.

Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2438, ch. 871, art. I, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977. Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 624, Sec. 36, eff. Sept. 1, 1985.

Transferred from Natural Resources Code, Section 51.293 and amended by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 387 (S.B. 654), Sec. 6, eff. June 15, 2007.

Amended by:

Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 34 (S.B. 873), Sec. 1, eff. May 9, 2011.