By: RodrÃguez S.B. No. 593
(In the Senate - Filed January 24, 2017; February 8, 2017,
read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
Relations; April 5, 2017, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 5, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the governance of certain housing authorities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 392.031(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A commissioner may not be an officer or employee of the
municipality. A commissioner may be:
(1) a tenant of a public project over which the housing
authority has jurisdiction; or
(2) a [person who is a] recipient of housing
assistance administered through the authority's housing choice
voucher program or project-based rental assistance program.
SECTION 2. Section 392.0331, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (b), (b-2), (g), and (h-1) and
adding Subsection (b-3) to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (b-1)
and (b-2), in appointing commissioners under Section 392.031, a
municipality with a municipal housing authority composed of five
commissioners shall appoint at least one commissioner to the
authority who is a tenant of a public housing project over which the
authority has jurisdiction. Except as provided by Subsection
(b-3) [(b-2)], in appointing commissioners under Section 392.031, a
municipality with a municipal housing authority composed of seven
or more commissioners shall appoint at least two commissioners to
the authority who are tenants of a public housing project over which
the authority has jurisdiction.
(b-2) This subsection applies only to a municipality that
has a population over 600,000 and is located adjacent to the
international border of this state. In appointing commissioners
under Section 392.031, a municipality described by this subsection
that has a municipal housing authority composed of five
commissioners shall appoint at least one commissioner to the
authority who is:
(1) a tenant of a public housing project over which the
authority has jurisdiction; or
(2) a recipient of housing assistance administered
through the authority's housing choice voucher program or
project-based rental assistance program.
(b-3) In appointing commissioners under Section 392.031, a
municipality that has a population over two million and a municipal
housing authority composed of seven or more commissioners shall
appoint at least two commissioners to the authority who are:
(1) tenants of a public housing project over which the
authority has jurisdiction; or
(2) recipients of housing assistance administered
through the authority's housing choice voucher program.
(g) A commissioner appointed under this section may not
participate:
(1) in any vote or discussion concerning the
termination of:
(A) the commissioner's occupancy rights in
public housing;
(B) the commissioner's rights to housing
assistance administered through a housing choice voucher program or
a project-based rental assistance program; or
(C) the rights of any person related in the first
degree by consanguinity to the commissioner with respect to the
person's occupancy rights in public housing or right to receive
housing assistance administered through a housing choice voucher
program or a project-based rental assistance program; or
(2) in a grievance or administrative hearing in which
the commissioner or a person related in the first degree by
consanguinity to the commissioner is a party.
(h-1) If a commissioner appointed under this section as a
recipient of housing assistance administered through the
authority's housing choice voucher program or project-based rental
assistance program ceases to receive that assistance, a majority of
the other commissioners shall decide whether to request that a new
commissioner be appointed. A majority of the commissioners may
decide to allow the commissioner to serve the remaining portion of
the commissioner's term.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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