Bill Text: TX HB2362 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to municipalities and counties that adopt budgets that defund law enforcement agencies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-10 - Considered in Calendars [HB2362 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2362-Comm_Sub.html
87R10019 TYPED | ||
By: Harris, Goldman, et al. | H.B. No. 2362 |
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relating to municipalities and counties that adopt budgets that | ||
defund law enforcement agencies. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 140, Local Government Code, is amended | ||
by adding Sections 140.013 and 140.014 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 140.013. DEFUNDING LOCAL GOVERNMENT. (a) A defunding | ||
local government is a municipality or county: | ||
(1) that adopts a budget for a fiscal year that, in | ||
comparison to the local government's preceding fiscal year, | ||
reduces: | ||
(A) the appropriation to the local government's | ||
law enforcement agency; | ||
(B) the number of peace officers the local | ||
government's law enforcement agency is authorized to employ; | ||
(C) funding for peace officer overtime | ||
compensation for the local government's law enforcement agency; or | ||
(D) funding for the recruitment and training of | ||
new peace officers to fill each vacant peace officer position in the | ||
local government's law enforcement agency; and | ||
(2) for which the criminal justice division of the | ||
governor's office issues a written determination finding that the | ||
local government has taken an action described by Subdivision (1). | ||
(a-1) In making a determination of whether a local | ||
government is a defunding local government according to the budget | ||
adopted for the first fiscal year beginning on or after September 1, | ||
2021, the criminal justice division of the governor's office shall | ||
compare the funding and personnel in that budget to the funding and | ||
personnel in the budget of the preceding fiscal year or the second | ||
preceding fiscal year, whichever is greater. This subsection | ||
expires September 1, 2023. | ||
(b) A local government is considered to be a defunding local | ||
government until the criminal justice division of the governor's | ||
office issues a written determination finding that the local | ||
government has reversed the reductions, adjusted for inflation, | ||
described in Subsection (a)(1). | ||
(c) The criminal justice division of the governor's office | ||
shall: | ||
(1) compute the inflation rate used to make | ||
determinations under Subsection (b) each state fiscal year using a | ||
price index that accurately reports changes in the purchasing power | ||
of the dollar for local governments in this state; and | ||
(2) publish the inflation rate in the Texas Register. | ||
Sec. 140.014. LIMIT ON ANNUAL EXPENDITURES BY DEFUNDING | ||
LOCAL GOVERNMENT. (a) This section applies to a defunding local | ||
government under Section 140.013. | ||
(b) A defunding local government's total expenditures from | ||
all available sources of revenue in a fiscal year may not exceed the | ||
defunding local government's total expenditures from all available | ||
sources of revenue in the defunding local government's fiscal year | ||
immediately preceding the fiscal year during which the criminal | ||
justice division of the governor's office issued the written | ||
determination declaring the local government to be a defunding | ||
local government under Section 140.013. | ||
(c) A local government is no longer considered to be a | ||
defunding local government for purposes of this section when the | ||
criminal justice division of the governor's office issues a written | ||
determination in accordance with Section 140.013(b) finding that | ||
the local government has reversed the reductions described by | ||
Section 140.013(a)(1). | ||
(d) Revenue received from the issuance of bonds approved by | ||
voters or from a grant, donation, or gift is not considered an | ||
available source of revenue for purposes of this section. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 140.013, Local Government Code, as added | ||
by this Act, applies only to the adoption of a budget by a | ||
municipality or county for a fiscal year that begins on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |