85R13358 CJC-D
By: Lucio S.B. No. 1679
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use of the fund for veterans' assistance to support
veterans county service offices.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 434.017(c) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(c) Money in the fund may only be appropriated to the Texas
Veterans Commission. The commission shall use 30 percent of the
money appropriated to the commission under this subsection to
provide annual support payments to counties that maintain a
veterans county service office as authorized under Section
434.0321. The remainder of the money [Money] appropriated under
this subsection shall be used to:
(1) make grants to address veterans' needs;
(2) administer the fund; and
(3) analyze and investigate data received from the
federal Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS)
that is administered by the Administration for Children and
Families of the United States Department of Health and Human
Services.
(d) The Texas Veterans Commission may adopt rules governing
the award of grants by the commission under this section. The
commission shall adopt rules governing the support payments
required under Subsection (c).
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 434, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 434.0321 to read as follows:
Sec. 434.0321. SUPPORT FROM COMMISSION. (a) A county that
maintains an office as provided by Section 434.032 is entitled to an
annual support payment from the commission.
(b) A support payment under Subsection (a) may be used by
the county only to:
(1) fund the office maintained by that county;
(2) pay costs related to the operation and
administration of programs offered by the office in that county;
and
(3) pay the salary of the county's officer and, if
applicable, the salary of an assistant officer.
(c) The commission by rule shall determine the time and
manner in which the support payments required under this section
are made to the counties entitled to a payment. The commission's
rules must require the amount of the support payment received by a
county to be commensurate with the number of veterans that the
county's office serves.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.