By: Watson S.B. No. 1644
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operations of certain metropolitan rapid transit
authorities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 451.133(a), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) An authority may not spend for capital improvements
money in excess of the amounts [total amount] allocated for major
capital expenditures in the annual budgets [budget].
SECTION 2. Section 451.362, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
follows:
(a) Notwithstanding other provisions of this chapter and
except as provided by Subsections (c), [and] (d), and (e), the
board, by order or resolution, may issue bonds that are secured by
revenue or taxes of the authority if the bonds:
(1) have a term of not more than 12 months; and
(2) are payable only from revenue or taxes received on
or after the date of their issuance and before the end of the fiscal
year following the fiscal year in which the bonds are issued.
(e) In an authority confirmed before July 1, 1985, in which
the principal municipality has a population of less than one
million, bonds may have a term of not more than 15 years. The bonds
are payable only from fee revenue received on or after the date the
bonds are issued.
SECTION 3. Sections 451.455(h) and (i), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(h) The number of accidents per 100,000 miles is computed by
multiplying the annual number of accidents by 100,000 and dividing
the product by the number of miles for all service, including
charter and nonrevenue service, [directly operated by the
authority] for the same period. In this subsection, "accident"
includes:
(1) a collision that involves an authority's revenue
vehicle, other than a lawfully parked revenue vehicle, and that
results in property damage, injury, or death; and
(2) an incident that results in the injury or death of
a person on board or boarding or alighting from an authority's
revenue vehicle.
(i) The number of miles between mechanical road calls is
computed by dividing the annual number of miles for all service
[directly operated by an authority], including charter and
nonrevenue service, by the number of mechanical road calls for the
same period. In this subsection, "mechanical road call" means an
interruption in revenue service that is caused by revenue vehicle
equipment failure that requires assistance from a person other than
the vehicle operator before the vehicle can be operated normally.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.