By: Lucio S.B. No. 1551
(Martinez)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of affordable housing and other services
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 12, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 394A to read as follows:
CHAPTER 394A. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY COLONIA AND REGIONAL
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE
Sec. 394A.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Development council" means the Lower Rio Grande
Valley Development Council.
(2) "Planning council" means the research and advisory
council established under Section 394A.004.
Sec. 394A.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to
Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy Counties and the Lower Rio Grande
Valley Development Council.
Sec. 394A.003. POWERS AND DUTIES OF DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.
In administering this chapter, the development council shall:
(1) employ or contract for staff to support the
planning council;
(2) maintain on its website:
(A) a list of associations representing
low-income persons and colonias; and
(B) all minutes and other records related to the
meetings of the planning council; and
(3) approve the housing and colonia improvement plan
adopted by the planning council under Section 394A.005.
Sec. 394A.004. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PLANNING COUNCIL.
(a) The planning council is a research and advisory council of the
development council.
(b) In carrying out its responsibilities under this
chapter, the planning council shall:
(1) provide for the maximum feasible participation of
persons of low, very low, and extremely low income and residents of
colonias in the development of the housing and colonia improvement
plan under Section 394A.005;
(2) coordinate with local, state, and federal
agencies, as needed;
(3) conduct public meetings and hold public hearings;
(4) develop, adopt, and submit for approval by the
development council a housing and colonia improvement plan as
required by Section 394A.005; and
(5) develop and review recommendations related to
meeting the region's affordable housing needs, providing colonia
residents with adequate public services, and improving living
conditions in colonias and low-income neighborhoods in the region
as provided in Section 394A.005.
Sec. 394A.005. HOUSING AND COLONIA IMPROVEMENT PLAN.
Provided sufficient resources are available, the planning council
shall develop and adopt a housing and colonia improvement plan to
address the region's affordable housing needs and the provision of
adequate public services in colonias. In developing and adopting
the plan, the planning council shall provide a recommendation for
or against establishing or implementing:
(1) a periodic regional assessment of living
conditions in colonias and low-income neighborhoods that includes
an assessment of public services and facilities and housing
availability, affordability, conditions, needs, and market demand;
(2) a coordinated regional affordable housing plan
that encourages the production of both owner and renter occupied
housing, addressing housing program allocations, housing policies,
and community development policies impacting housing and
prioritizing assistance to the worst-case housing needs of
homeowners and renters;
(3) an agreement with the secretary of state to assign
colonia ombudspersons currently working in the region to cooperate
with the development council to carry out affordable housing
programs;
(4) an agreement by which the colonia ombudspersons
support the development council by producing, updating, and
maintaining an accurate publicly available database of colonias
that documents the availability, conditions, and adequacy of
housing and public services in those colonias, including
streetlights, storm drainage, garbage collection, public
transportation, roads, sidewalks, and distance to essential
services, including schools, hospitals, and grocery stores;
(5) a process for ensuring compliance with existing
model subdivision rules in colonias and new subdivisions, including
a survey of the effectiveness of existing model subdivision rules
and an examination of health and safety conditions in subdivisions
developed under existing rules;
(6) a process by which the development council may
recommend to the counties in its jurisdiction any necessary changes
to model subdivision rules needed to:
(A) protect the health, safety, and financial
condition of the residents of affected subdivisions and colonias;
and
(B) ensure that colonias are provided
infrastructure that will facilitate their annexation into adjacent
incorporated municipalities;
(7) a process to investigate issues of noncompliance
with the model subdivision rules and refer noncompliance issues to
the appropriate county attorney or the Texas attorney general;
(8) a process by which colonia residents may petition
to initiate a legal action to enforce model subdivision rules;
(9) a regional hiring plan that provides for outreach
to workers and qualified businesses, job training activities,
compliance certification, and reporting requirements for hiring
for projects using any financial assistance provided by the
development council;
(10) a program to improve the administration of the
money reserved under the community development block grant colonia
set aside;
(11) a program by which the Texas Department of
Transportation and the Department of Public Safety of the State of
Texas cooperate with the development council to identify funding
resources, placing a priority on identifying existing regional
funding for colonia public safety programs;
(12) a regional authority to administer programs
implemented based on recommendations made under this section;
(13) a process by which residents of a colonia may
petition to enact a restrictive covenant in the colonia that
provides for:
(A) residential or commercial building standards
or codes;
(B) maximum impervious cover on a lot;
(C) permitted land uses;
(D) non-permitted nuisances;
(E) a program and fee for solid waste services to
be paid by residents and property owners; or
(F) a program and fee for street lighting to be
paid by residents and property owners;
(14) a colonia improvement district to facilitate
comprehensive planning for housing, community development needs,
public infrastructure, and public services in colonias through:
(A) establishment of a management district to
carry out functions permitted under state law;
(B) adoption of a binding land use plan governing
permitted land uses;
(C) establishment of minimum standards for
residential and nonresidential structures and a contract with a
municipality or county to enforce those standards; and
(D) establishment and administration of a tax
increment reinvestment zone or tax increment financing to fund
housing improvements and repairs or provide public services and
facilities;
(15) a comprehensive needs assessment and planning
study that employs community planners to work in cooperation with
colonia residents, county officials, and officials from adjacent
municipalities to assess housing, public services, and public
infrastructure needs, including:
(A) essential public services;
(B) transportation;
(C) solid waste disposal;
(D) drainage;
(E) land use regulation;
(F) building codes;
(G) health codes;
(H) hazardous conditions;
(I) provisions of utilities;
(J) public safety;
(K) sidewalks;
(L) elimination of blight;
(M) streetlights;
(N) energy savings and efficiencies;
(O) parks and recreational facilities; and
(P) development of underutilized or abandoned
property;
(16) a program to facilitate the cooperation of
colonia residents and adjacent municipalities to provide planning
and financial assistance to encourage the annexation of the colonia
by a municipality when appropriate and consistent with the
interests and desires of the residents;
(17) a program of cooperation between the development
council and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
for the direction of the activities of colonia self-help centers;
(18) a program to designate one or more areas within
the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality as an enhanced
urban residential development district to:
(A) prevent the proliferation of substandard
colonias and suburban sprawl in unincorporated areas; and
(B) promote quality, affordable, and orderly
residential development through building standards, land use
planning, and financial incentives for public improvements and
housing assistance;
(19) a colonia land bank to provide affordable housing
in any part of the region served by the development council;
(20) a comprehensive regional drainage plan to:
(A) establish reasonable and appropriate
standards for storm water protection for colonias and development
districts;
(B) examine and consider low-impact and
alternative approaches to storm water protection to reduce costs
and speed the provision of protection to colonias;
(C) mitigate storm water flooding within
colonias;
(D) develop cost estimates for each colonia in
the region for the provision of storm water protection in the
colonia, including appropriately engineered storm water drainage
that connects with the regional drainage system; and
(E) identify, apply for, secure, and administer
grants and other funding to carry out any plan developed under this
section;
(21) a plan to cooperate with the Public Utility
Commission of Texas, local public housing authorities, affordable
housing providers, and homeowners to establish, evaluate, and
report on an energy self-sufficiency program to:
(A) evaluate appropriate technologies, including
solar, wind, geothermal, and fuel cell, for very low-income
households in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and create a
demonstration program to implement one or more of the technologies
in the region;
(B) evaluate power purchase agreements with
respect to public housing authorities and owner and rental housing
occupied by households of very low and extremely low income; and
(C) prioritize households of very low and
extremely low income for participation in the program; and
(22) in cooperation with the Texas Department of
Housing and Community Affairs, a process to provide through the
qualified allocation plan any regional scoring incentives
necessary to ensure that low-income housing tax credits are awarded
to developments in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region.
Sec. 394A.006. QUALIFICATIONS OF PLANNING COUNCIL MEMBERS.
(a) The development council shall appoint to the planning council
from each county, any part of which is located in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley:
(1) the county judge;
(2) the mayor of the most populous municipality;
(3) an elected official from a municipality not
described by Subdivision (2);
(4) a resident of a colonia;
(5) a representative of a nonprofit organization
representing colonia residents; and
(6) a person of extremely low or very low income living
in an incorporated area.
(b) At least one member selected under Subsection (a)(3)
must be from a municipality with a population of less than 5,000.
(c) Members selected under Subsections (a)(1), (2), and (3)
may designate another elected official from their jurisdiction to
represent them at meetings of the planning council other than for
purposes of voting for the adoption of the housing and colonia
improvement plan under Section 394A.005.
Sec. 394A.007. MEETINGS OF PLANNING COUNCIL. (a) Meetings
of the planning council are subject to the open meetings law,
Chapter 551, Government Code. Planning council members shall
receive training in the requirements of that chapter.
(b) The planning council:
(1) may hold meetings when called by the presiding
officer or seven of the members;
(2) shall keep minutes of meetings;
(3) shall post on the development council's website
not later than the third day before the date of a planning council
meeting all materials provided to the planning council that are
relevant to a matter proposed for discussion at the meeting;
(4) shall make available in hard copy format to the
members of the public in attendance at the meeting any materials
provided to the planning council by the development council at a
planning council meeting;
(5) shall provide for public comment for each item on
the planning council's agenda at the meeting; and
(6) shall adopt rules that give the public a
reasonable amount of time for testimony at meetings.
Sec. 394A.008. ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND PLAN;
HEARING REQUIRED. (a) Before adopting the housing and colonia
improvement plan developed under Section 394A.005 and in an area
that is convenient and proximate to large populations of colonia
residents, the planning council shall hold a public hearing in each
county any part of which is located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
(b) Hearings may not be held earlier than 5:30 p.m.
(c) The planning council shall mail a notice of the hearing
in English and Spanish to any association listed on the development
council website that represents low-income persons and colonias.
(d) Professional simultaneous translation from English to
Spanish and from Spanish to English shall be provided at the
hearing.
SECTION 2. (a) If sufficient funding is not available, the
Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council is not required to
appoint an advisory council to develop and adopt the plan required
by Section 394A.005, Local Government Code, as added by this Act.
If sufficient funding to develop and adopt the plan is not
available, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council shall
provide to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of
the house of representatives, and the committee in each house of the
legislature that has primary jurisdiction over housing matters a
statement that the council is unable to implement Chapter 394A,
Local Government Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Subject to Subsection (a) of this section, not later
than March 1, 2015, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council
shall provide to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker
of the house of representatives, and the committee in each house of
the legislature that has primary jurisdiction over housing matters
the report and recommendations developed under Chapter 394A, Local
Government Code, as added by this Act, and make recommendations
regarding additional authority needed to achieve the purposes of
that chapter.
SECTION 3. 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, 2013.