Bill Text: TX HB1 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 3rd Special Session | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relating to transportation funding, expenditures, and finance and the preservation of a sufficient balance in the economic stabilization fund; making an appropriation.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-08-07 - Effective on adoption of const. amendment [HB1 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB1-Enrolled.html
 
 
  H.B. No. 1
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to transportation funding, expenditures, and finance and
  the preservation of a sufficient balance in the economic
  stabilization fund; making an appropriation.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 55.002, Transportation Code, is amended
  by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
         (e)  The commission may use money from the Texas Mobility
  Fund to provide funding, including through a loan, for a port
  security project, a port transportation project, or a project
  eligible for funding under Subsection (c).
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 222, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 222.0031 to read as follows:
         Sec. 222.0031.  REQUIRED REPAYMENT OF BONDS. (a) On or
  before August 31, 2015, the department shall identify and implement
  savings and efficiencies that result in a total savings of at least
  $100 million in funds appropriated to the department for the state
  fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2015. The amount saved is
  appropriated for the state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2015,
  to the department from the source from which the money was
  originally appropriated for the purpose of reducing the principal
  of and interest on bonds and other public securities issued, and
  bond enhancement agreements entered into, by the commission as
  authorized by Section 49-n, Article III, Texas Constitution, as
  proposed by H.J.R. 28, 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003.
         (b)  To make payments required under Subsection (a), the
  department:
               (1)  shall maximize the use of all amounts appropriated
  to the department;
               (2)  may use savings realized through operational
  efficiencies, cost reductions, and cost savings; and
               (3)  may not reduce the amount of funding available for
  transportation projects.
         (c)  Not later than August 31, 2015, the department shall
  report in writing to the legislature on the implementation of this
  section.
         (d)  This section expires September 1, 2015.
         SECTION 3.  Chapter 316, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subchapter H to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER H. PRESERVATION OF SUFFICIENT BALANCE IN
  ECONOMIC STABILIZATION FUND
         Sec. 316.091.  DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "fund" means
  the economic stabilization fund.
         Sec. 316.092.  DETERMINATION OF SUFFICIENT FUND BALANCE.
  (a) Not later than September 1 of each even-numbered year preceding
  the year in which this section expires as provided by Subsection
  (e), the speaker of the house of representatives and the lieutenant
  governor shall appoint a select committee as follows:
               (1)  the speaker of the house of representatives shall
  appoint five members of the house of representatives as members of
  the committee; and
               (2)  the lieutenant governor shall appoint five members
  of the senate as members of the committee.
         (b)  For the purposes of Section 49-g(c-2), Article III,
  Texas Constitution, not later than December 1 of each even-numbered
  year preceding the year in which this section expires as provided by
  Subsection (e), the select committee shall determine and adopt for
  the next state fiscal biennium a sufficient balance of the fund in
  an amount that the committee estimates will ensure an appropriate
  amount of revenue available in the fund. In determining the
  sufficient balance for that fiscal biennium, the committee shall
  consider:
               (1)  the history of fund balances;
               (2)  the history of transfers to the fund;
               (3)  estimated fund balances during that fiscal
  biennium;
               (4)  estimated transfers to the fund to occur during
  that fiscal biennium;
               (5)  information available to the committee regarding
  state highway congestion and funding demands; and
               (6)  any other information requested by the committee
  regarding the state's financial condition.
         (c)  On or before October 1 of each even-numbered year
  preceding the year in which this section expires as provided by
  Subsection (e), the comptroller shall provide to the select
  committee the comptroller's projection of the amounts to be
  transferred to the fund during the next state fiscal biennium.
         (d)  When the select committee has adopted under Subsection
  (b) the amount of the sufficient balance of the fund for a state
  fiscal biennium, the matter of approving that amount shall be
  presented to each house of the legislature in a concurrent
  resolution during the next succeeding regular legislative session.
  The resolution must be presented for a vote in each house of the
  legislature not later than the 30th day of that legislative
  session, must be approved by a vote of a majority of the members of
  each house, and must be finally approved by each house not later
  than the 45th day of that legislative session. If a resolution
  finally approved under this subsection is amended during the
  legislative process to provide for a different sufficient balance
  of the fund than that adopted under Subsection (b), that different
  balance is the sufficient balance adopted under this section for
  purposes of Section 316.093. If a resolution finally approved
  under this subsection does not provide for a different sufficient
  balance of the fund or if a resolution is not finally approved as
  provided by this subsection, the sufficient balance adopted under
  Subsection (b) is the sufficient balance adopted under this section
  for purposes of Section 316.093.
         (e)  This section expires December 31, 2024.
         Sec. 316.093.  ADJUSTMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL ALLOCATIONS TO
  FUND AND STATE HIGHWAY FUND. (a) Before the comptroller makes
  transfers for a state fiscal year in accordance with Section
  49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, the comptroller shall
  determine whether the sum of the balance of the fund on the
  preceding August 31, any projected transfer to the fund under
  Section 49-g(b) of that article, and any projected transfer to the
  fund under Section 49-g(c) of that article in accordance with the
  allocations for the transfer as provided by Section 49-g(c-1) of
  that article is less than the sufficient balance adopted under
  Section 316.092.
         (b)  If the sum described by Subsection (a) is less than the
  sufficient balance adopted under Section 316.092, the comptroller
  shall reduce the allocation to the state highway fund provided by
  Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, and increase the
  allocation to the economic stabilization fund, in an equal amount,
  until the sufficient balance adopted under Section 316.092 is
  achieved.
         (c)  If under Section 316.092 a sufficient balance has not
  been adopted for the comptroller to consider under this section,
  the comptroller shall adjust the allocation of amounts to be
  transferred to the fund and to the state highway fund provided by
  Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, so that the total
  of those amounts is transferred to the economic stabilization fund,
  except that the comptroller shall reduce a transfer made under this
  subsection as necessary to prevent the amount in the fund from
  exceeding the limit in effect for that biennium under Section
  49-g(g) of that article.
         (d)  As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
  section, the speaker of the house of representatives and the
  lieutenant governor shall appoint a select committee in the manner
  required by Section 316.092(a), and that committee shall determine
  and adopt a sufficient balance of the fund applicable to the
  transfers to be made under Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas
  Constitution, for the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
  2014, and a sufficient balance of the fund applicable to the
  transfers to be made under that subsection for the next fiscal
  biennium. The comptroller may not make the transfers required
  under Section 49-g of that article for the state fiscal year
  beginning September 1, 2014, until the committee has adopted a
  sufficient balance under this subsection. The process described by
  Section 316.092(d) does not apply to those transfers. However, if
  the committee has not adopted the balance before the 30th day after
  the effective date of this section, the comptroller shall make that
  transfer on the 30th day after the effective date of this section in
  accordance with Subsection (c). This subsection expires September
  1, 2015.
         (e)  For the purposes of Section 49-g(c-2), Article III,
  Texas Constitution, the comptroller shall adjust the allocation
  provided by Section 49-g(c-1) of that article of amounts to be
  transferred to the fund and to the state highway fund under Section
  49-g(c) of that article in a state fiscal year beginning on or after
  September 1, 2025, so that the total of those amounts is transferred
  to the economic stabilization fund, except that the comptroller
  shall reduce a transfer made under this subsection as necessary to
  prevent the amount in the fund from exceeding the limit in effect
  for that biennium under Section 49-g(g) of that article.
         (f)  Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and this subsection expire
  December 31, 2024.
         Sec. 316.094.  ALLOCATION OF CERTAIN AMOUNTS TRANSFERRED TO
  STATE HIGHWAY FUND. Amounts transferred to the state highway fund
  under Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, when
  appropriated, must be used and allocated throughout the state by
  the Texas Department of Transportation consistent with existing
  formulas adopted by the Texas Transportation Commission.
         SECTION 4.  (a) The speaker of the house of representatives
  shall appoint nine members to a House Select Committee on
  Transportation Funding, Expenditures, and Finance and designate
  one member as chair. The lieutenant governor shall appoint nine
  members to a Senate Select Committee on Transportation Funding,
  Expenditures, and Finance and designate one member as chair. The
  speaker and lieutenant governor shall make the appointments not
  later than November 30, 2013.
         (b)  The committees established under this section may meet
  separately at the call of the chair of the committee or jointly at
  the call of both chairs. In joint meetings, the chairs shall act as
  joint chairs.
         (c)  The committees established under this section, meeting
  separately or jointly, shall review, study, and evaluate:
               (1)  the future reliability of all current state
  transportation funding sources;
               (2)  alternatives that may increase available state
  funding for surface transportation, including an examination of
  increases to current surface-transportation-related funding
  streams and possible diversions of
  non-surface-transportation-related funding streams toward surface
  transportation funding;
               (3)  the use of debt financing in state transportation
  funding, including the uses of the Texas Mobility Fund, and the
  effects on long-term transportation planning of using debt
  financing;
               (4)  alternative transportation funding options in use
  nationally and internationally;
               (5)  current and historic appropriations to the Texas
  Department of Transportation, including:
                     (A)  whether that agency's budget structure best
  maximizes the application of limited public funds toward highway
  maintenance and construction;
                     (B)  whether there are opportunities to reduce the
  use of money from the state highway fund by that agency for
  activities not related to highway maintenance and construction,
  including such uses as employee salaries and benefits; and
                     (C)  possible benefits of developing a budget for
  that agency for the 2016-2017 state fiscal biennium using
  zero-based budgeting principles;
               (6)  the uses of the state highway fund for agencies
  other than the Texas Department of Transportation, including and
  emphasizing the use of that fund for the Department of Public Safety
  of the State of Texas; and
               (7)  the original purpose of the economic stabilization
  fund established by Section 49-g, Article III, Texas Constitution,
  whether that purpose remains relevant, and whether it remains
  appropriate to continue using the net amount of oil and gas
  production taxes received in the 1987 state fiscal year as the basis
  for making general revenue transfers to the economic stabilization
  fund.
         (d)  Following consideration of the factors described by
  Subsection (c) of this section, the committees established under
  this section shall jointly adopt recommendations related to the
  reviewed subjects and shall provide a written report of the
  committees' recommendations on the reviewed subjects to the
  legislature not later than November 1, 2014.
         (e)  The committees established under this section may
  exercise any power of a committee of their respective chambers and
  any powers of a joint committee. For the purposes of this section,
  the committees established under this section are considered a
  joint committee and the cost of operation of each committee may be
  borne in the same manner as the cost of a joint committee. The Texas
  Legislative Council may provide funding for the operations of the
  committees. To the extent not inconsistent with this section, the
  joint rules adopted by the 83rd Legislature for the administration
  of joint interim legislative study committees apply to the
  committees established under this section.
         (f)  This section expires January 13, 2015.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately on the final
  canvass of the election on the constitutional amendment proposed by
  S.J.R. No. 1, 83rd Legislature, 3rd Called Session, 2013, but only
  if that amendment is approved by the voters. If that amendment is
  not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1 was passed by the House on August 5,
  2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 129, Nays 1, 1 present, not
  voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
  No. 1 on August 5, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 124, Nays 2, 1
  present, not voting; passed subject to the provisions of Article
  III, Section 49a, of the Constitution of the State of Texas.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on August 5, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 26,
  Nays 1; passed subject to the provisions of Article III, Section
  49a, of the Constitution of the State of Texas.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
         I certify that the amounts appropriated in the herein H.B.
  No. 1, 3rd Called Session of the 83rd Legislature, are within
  amounts estimated to be available in the affected fund.
  Certified_____________________
  ______________________________
  Comptroller of Public Accounts 
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor       
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