81R8183 MCK-F
By: Martinez H.B. No. 3241
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to economic development in the state by creating economic
development opportunities in counties that contain colonias and by
developing the workforce by increasing adult literacy rates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.0663 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.0663. HIGHER EDUCATION COLONIA COUNTIES WORK GROUP.
(a) The board shall establish the colonia counties work group to
study and propose policies and legislation regarding the issues
faced by counties that contain a colonia, as defined by Section
5.1781, Water Code, including issues related to international
trade.
(b) The work group is composed of:
(1) one representative from each institution of higher
education with a center, institute, or other unit of the
institution specializing in issues faced by communities that
contain colonias, as identified by the board; and
(2) the heads of the following agencies or their
designees:
(A) the board;
(B) the Office of Rural Community Affairs;
(C) the Texas Department of Housing and Community
Affairs;
(D) the Texas Water Development Board;
(E) the Texas Department of Transportation;
(F) the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality;
(G) the Texas Workforce Commission;
(H) the Department of State Health Services;
(I) the Health and Human Services Commission;
(J) the General Land Office;
(K) the Texas Education Agency;
(L) the Texas Economic Development and Tourism
Office;
(M) the Office of State-Federal Relations;
(N) the attorney general's office; and
(O) the secretary of state's office.
(c) The colonia counties work group shall:
(1) meet at least quarterly in Austin to discuss
issues faced by counties that contain a colonia;
(2) discuss and evaluate ideas and policies to address
those issues; and
(3) not later than November 1 of each even-numbered
year, submit a report recommending appropriate policies to address
those issues, including any proposals for legislation to implement
the policies, to the presiding officer of each legislative standing
committee with primary jurisdiction over higher education or
economic development.
SECTION 2. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter FF to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER FF. ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY
Sec. 61.981. COOPERATION WITH TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION.
The board shall collaborate with the Texas Workforce Commission to
improve the coordination and implementation of adult education and
literacy services in this state.
SECTION 3. Chapter 481, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter Q to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER Q. TEXAS COLONIA COUNTIES STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
COMMISSION
Sec. 481.301. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Colonia" has the meaning assigned by Section
5.1781, Water Code.
(2) "Commission" means the Texas Colonia Counties
Strategic Investment Commission.
Sec. 481.302. TEXAS COLONIA COUNTIES STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
COMMISSION; MEMBERS. (a) The Texas Colonia Counties Strategic
Investment Commission is composed of the following officers or
their designees:
(1) the lieutenant governor;
(2) the speaker of the house of representatives;
(3) the comptroller;
(4) the commissioner of agriculture;
(5) the chair of the Senate Finance Committee;
(6) the chair of the House Appropriations Committee;
and
(7) the secretary of state.
(b) The lieutenant governor or the lieutenant governor's
designee shall serve as the chair of the commission.
Sec. 481.303. FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION. (a) Not later than
December 1 of each even-numbered year, the commission shall
identify and recommend funding for strategic investment
initiatives in counties that contain a colonia.
(b) The strategic investment initiatives recommended shall
be identified using criteria that include the following:
(1) whether the initiative recommended is the most
significant investment the state can make in a key regional cluster
to produce a sound foundation for economic development;
(2) whether the investment recommended leverages
other significant funds or has an objective and calculable rate of
return;
(3) whether the recommendation is a clearly defined
concept with significant regional support;
(4) whether the concept recommended requires special
investment in order to be accomplished in the near future because
similar and timely funding by local, state, or federal sources in
the normal appropriations process is unlikely; and
(5) whether the investment recommended will increase
the per capita income and decrease the unemployment rate of the
affected area.
Sec. 481.304. REPORT. (a) Not later than December 1 of each
even-numbered year, the commission shall file a report with the
legislature that states the strategic investment initiatives
recommended by the commission during the preceding two-year period
and identify the initiatives that received funding during the
preceding fiscal biennium. The report must include any
recommendations for legislative action the commission considers
appropriate to further the creation or function of the commission.
(b) For the recommended initiatives that received funding
during the biennium in which the report is submitted, the
commission shall evaluate each initiative according to performance
measures identified by the commission and the following performance
measures:
(1) the number of jobs created by the initiative and
the nature of economic development created by the initiative;
(2) the impact of any economic development on wage
rates in any affected metropolitan statistical area;
(3) the wages and benefits paid by employers of the
created jobs compared to the countywide average wage for the
particular industry sector that received funding;
(4) the other funds that were leveraged or the
calculable rate of return from the state's investment in a
particular initiative;
(5) the initiative's ability to attract new industry
and economic development to counties that contain a colonia; and
(6) the duration and quality of the jobs, economic
development, and opportunities created.
Sec. 481.305. FUNDING; GIFTS AND GRANTS. (a) In addition
to any amount appropriated by the legislature, the commission may
request state agencies to apply for available funds from the
federal government or any other public or private entity. The
commission may also solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations
from private sources on the state's behalf. The use of a gift,
grant, or donation solicited under this section must be consistent
with the purposes of the commission.
(b) The commission shall review and may require reports of
state agencies that receive appropriations, gifts, grants,
donations, funds, or endowments as a result of the commission's
recommendations.
(c) The commission may also study counties classified by the
federal government as persistent poverty counties to determine
strategic development needs and opportunities.
SECTION 4. Chapter 775, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 775.006 to read as follows:
Sec. 775.006. ADOPTION OF RULES WITH ADVERSE ECONOMIC
EFFECT. (a) In this section, "colonia" has the meaning assigned by
Section 5.1781, Water Code.
(b) An agency considering adoption of a rule that may have
an adverse economic effect on businesses in a county that contains a
colonia shall reduce that effect if legal and feasible, considering
the purpose of the statute under which the rule is to be adopted.
(c) To reduce an adverse effect on those businesses, an
agency may:
(1) establish separate compliance or reporting
requirements for businesses in a county that contains a colonia;
(2) use performance standards in place of design
standards for businesses in a county that contains a colonia; or
(3) exempt businesses in a county that contains a
colonia from all or part of the rule.
(d) Before adopting a rule that may have an adverse economic
effect on businesses in a county that contains a colonia, an agency
shall prepare:
(1) an economic impact statement that estimates the
number of those businesses subject to the proposed rule, projects
the economic impact of the rule on those businesses, and describes
alternative methods of achieving the purpose of the proposed rule;
and
(2) a regulatory flexibility analysis that includes
the agency's consideration of alternative methods of achieving the
purpose of the proposed rule.
(e) The analysis prepared under Subsection (d)(2) must
consider, if consistent with the health, safety, and environmental
and economic welfare of the state, the use of regulatory methods
that will accomplish the objectives of applicable rules while
minimizing adverse impacts on businesses in a county that contains
a colonia. The agency must include in the analysis several proposed
methods of reducing the adverse impact of a proposed rule on those
businesses.
(f) The agency shall include the economic impact statement
and regulatory flexibility analysis as part of the notice of the
proposed rule that the agency files with the secretary of state for
publication in the Texas Register and shall provide copies to the
standing committee of each house of the legislature that is charged
with reviewing the proposed rule.
(g) This section does not apply to a rule adopted under
Title 2, Tax Code.
(h) The attorney general, in consultation with the
comptroller, shall prepare guidelines to assist an agency:
(1) in determining a proposed rule's potential adverse
economic effects on businesses in a county that contains a colonia;
and
(2) in identifying and evaluating alternative methods
of achieving the purpose of a proposed rule.
SECTION 5. Section 2303.406(d), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The maximum number of enterprise projects that the bank
may designate for each nominating body during any biennium is:
(1) four, plus two additional bonus projects the bank
may award in a municipality or county with a population of less than
250,000 and four additional bonus projects the bank may award in a
municipality or county that contains a colonia, as defined by
Section 5.1781, Water Code; or
(2) six, if the nominating body is the governing body
of a municipality or county with a population of 250,000 or more,
plus four additional bonus projects in such a municipality or
county that contains a colonia, as defined by Section 5.1781, Water
Code.
SECTION 6. Section 301.171, Labor Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 301.171. COOPERATION WITH TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY AND
HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD TO IMPROVE ADULT EDUCATION AND
LITERACY SERVICES. The commission shall:
(1) collaborate with the Texas Education Agency and
the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to improve the
coordination and implementation of adult education and literacy
services in this state; and
(2) develop, in coordination with the Texas Education
Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, literacy
services with a focus on professional, vocational, and workforce
skill development.
SECTION 7. Subchapter J, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 301.172 to read as follows:
Sec. 301.172. FEDERAL LITERACY PROGRAMS. The commission
shall:
(1) identify opportunities for federal funding of
adult education and literacy programs, including waivers to federal
requirements and restrictions; and
(2) apply for available waivers to the Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Section 2801 et seq.), or other
federal programs, to transfer funds between adult, youth, and
dislocated worker programs if:
(A) the commission determines that a waiver would
benefit literacy programs;
(B) a local workforce development board requests
in writing that the commission apply for the waiver; and
(C) the county to which the waiver applies
contains a colonia, as defined by Section 5.1781, Water Code.
SECTION 8. Section 303.003(f), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(f) The Texas Engineering Extension Service shall focus the
service's training activities under this chapter on programs that:
(1) are statewide in nature; [or]
(2) are not available from a local junior college
district, a local technical college, or a consortium of junior
college districts; or
(3) are offered in a county that contains a colonia.
SECTION 9. This Act controls over any conflicting
provisions of law.
SECTION 10. 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.