85S10890 JCG-D
By: Villalba H.B. No. 206
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a limit on local government expenditures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 140, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Section 140.012 to read as follows:
Sec. 140.012. LIMIT ON ANNUAL EXPENDITURES. (a) In this
section, "local government" means a municipality or county.
(b) Unless additional expenditures are authorized by a
majority of the local government's voters voting at an election
called for that purpose, a local government's total expenditures
from all available sources of revenue in a fiscal year may not
exceed the greater of:
(1) the amount of total expenditures for the preceding
fiscal year; or
(2) an amount determined by multiplying the amount of
total expenditures from all available sources of revenue in the
preceding fiscal year by the product of:
(A) the sum of one and the estimated average rate
of projected growth of the population that resides in the local
government's geographic boundaries during the period ending on the
last day of the fiscal year and beginning the first day of the
preceding fiscal year; and
(B) the sum of one and the estimated average rate
of monetary inflation in this state during the period described by
Paragraph (A).
(c) For purposes of determining the amount of total
expenditures described by Subsection (b):
(1) a local government shall use, as available, data
published by the United States Census Bureau as a basis for
estimating projected population growth;
(2) not later than May 1 of each year, the comptroller
of public accounts shall make available on the comptroller's
Internet website and submit to the secretary of state for
publication in the Texas Register the rate of monetary inflation in
this state for the preceding year; and
(3) as soon as practicable after receipt of the rate
described by Subdivision (2) from the comptroller, the secretary of
state shall publish that rate in the Texas Register.
(d) This section does not apply to a local government that
does not impose taxes or incur debt.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a fiscal year of a municipality or county that begins on or after
December 1, 2017.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect December 1, 2017.