BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4036

By: Walle

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Inconsistency between the Uniform Grant and Contract Management Act and grant standards of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) creates confusion for TWDB customers, as well as staff, who may use or work across many financial assistance programs. There have been calls to provide consistency in grant standards, eliminate redundancies, and improve efficiency for all financial assistance programs administered by the TWDB. C.S.H.B. 4036 seeks to heed these calls by exempting certain contracts from the Uniform Grant and Contract Management Act.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4036 amends the Water Code to exempt the following from the Uniform Grant and Contract Management Act:

·         a contract under provisions relating to the flood infrastructure fund;

·         a contract for financial assistance made available from the Texas infrastructure resiliency fund; and

·         a contract under the agricultural water conservation bond program.

C.S.H.B. 4036 makes the changes in law made by the bill apply only to a contract entered into on or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4036 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a procedural provision applying the bill's changes only to a contract entered into on or after the bill's effective date.