81R4363 CAS-D
By: Turner of Tarrant H.B. No. 1017
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to grants to certain school districts and countywide
public school transportation systems to be used to pay costs in
purchasing school buses capable of using natural gas or propane as
fuel.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 34, Education Code, is amended by adding
Section 34.0051 to read as follows:
Sec. 34.0051. GRANT PROGRAM FOR PURCHASE OF BUSES USING
NATURAL GAS OR PROPANE FUEL. (a) The commissioner by rule shall
establish a program under which the commissioner may award to
school districts and to countywide public school transportation
systems grants to be used to pay costs in purchasing school buses
capable of using natural gas or propane as fuel to replace school
buses that use diesel fuel.
(b) The program established under Subsection (a) must
provide for:
(1) awarding a grant only to a school district or
countywide transportation system located in whole or in part in an
area designated as a nonattainment area under Section 107(d) of the
federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section 7407(d));
(2) ensuring that grant money is used by a district or
countywide transportation system only in purchasing a school bus
capable of using natural gas or propane as fuel to replace a school
bus that uses diesel fuel; and
(3) limiting the amount of the grant to an amount that
is the lesser of:
(A) $40,000; and
(B) the difference, as determined under
commissioner rule, between the average cost of a school bus capable
of using natural gas or propane as fuel and a substantially similar
school bus that uses diesel fuel.
(c) Subsection (b)(2) includes the purchase of a school bus
in the manner provided by Section 34.005 or 45.001(a)(1)(D).
(d) A grant awarded under this section is in addition to a
transportation allotment under Section 42.155.
(e) A grant awarded under this section shall be paid for
with funds appropriated to the agency that may be used for that
purpose.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.