By: Pickett H.B. No. 1
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1:
By: Phillips C.S.H.B. No. 1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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. 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 2. (a) 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, 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 appropriations committee as
members of the committee; and
(2) the lieutenant governor shall appoint five members
of the senate finance committee 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, 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, 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) The sufficient fund balance adopted by the select
committee under Subsection (b) may be adjusted by filing a
resolution proposing that a different amount be adopted as the
sufficient fund balance. The resolution must be filed not later
than the 30th day of the regular legislative session that begins
after the date the sufficient fund balance is adopted by the
committee, and must be approved by a majority of the members of both
houses of the legislature not later than the 60th day of that
legislative session or the resolution has no effect. If the
resolution is approved as provided by this subsection, the amount
of the sufficient fund balance specified in the resolution is
adopted and supersedes the balance adopted by the committee under
Subsection (b).
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. 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.
Sec. 316.094. ALLOCATION OF CERTAIN AMOUNTS TRANSFERRED TO
STATE HIGHWAY FUND. (a) 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.
(b) This section takes effect immediately on the final
canvass of the election on the constitutional amendment proposed by
the 83rd Legislature, 3rd Called Session, 2013, to provide for the
transfer of certain general revenue to the economic stabilization
fund and to the state highway fund and for the dedication of the
revenue transferred to the state highway fund, but only if that
amendment is approved by the voters. If that amendment is not
approved by the voters, this section has no effect.
SECTION 3. (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 4. Except as otherwise provided by this Act:
(1) 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; and
(2) if this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.