H.B. No. 30
AN ACT
relating to the transfer of certain appropriations to the Texas
Education Agency and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the
adjustment of appropriations for public school finance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) The amount of $351,000,000 of the
unencumbered appropriations from the general revenue fund for the
state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2019, made by S.B. 1, Acts
of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017 (the General
Appropriations Act), to the Health and Human Services Commission is
transferred to the Texas Education Agency to be used by the agency
during that state fiscal biennium as follows:
(1) $150,000,000 is allocated to fund financial
hardship grants under Subchapter H, Chapter 42, Education Code, as
added by H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called Session,
2017, or similar legislation that enacts a new hardship grant
program for the benefit of school districts that would otherwise
experience a significant loss of revenue during the 2017-2018 or
2018-2019 school year;
(2) $60,000,000 is allocated to fund payments to
open-enrollment charter schools under Section 12.106(d), Education
Code, as added by H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called
Session, 2017, or similar legislation that provides for funding to
open-enrollment charter schools for instructional facilities;
(3) $60,000,000 is allocated for the existing debt
allotment under Section 46.032, Education Code, as amended by H.B.
21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 2017, or
similar legislation that increases the level of funding under that
allotment;
(4) $41,000,000 is allocated for the small-sized
district adjustment under Section 42.103, Education Code, as
amended by H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called
Session, 2017, or similar legislation that addresses the
entitlement under that adjustment for certain school districts that
contain less than 300 square miles;
(5) $20,000,000 is allocated to be used to award
grants authorized under Section 29.026, Education Code, as added by
H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 2017, or
similar legislation that enacts a program to award grants to school
districts and open-enrollment charter schools that provide
innovative services to students with autism; and
(6) $20,000,000 is allocated to be used to award
grants authorized under Section 29.027, Education Code, as added by
H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 2017, or
similar legislation that enacts a program to award grants to school
districts and open-enrollment charter schools that provide
innovative services to students with dyslexia.
(b) The Health and Human Services Commission shall identify
the strategies and objectives out of which the transfer under
Subsection (a) of this section is to be made. If the commission
makes the amount of appropriations transferred under Subsection (a)
of this section available by delaying until the state fiscal
biennium beginning September 1, 2019, the monthly capitation
payments otherwise due in August 2019 to managed care organizations
that contract with the commission to provide health care services
to Medicaid recipients, the commission shall make the delayed
payments as soon as possible out of available money appropriated to
the commission for that state fiscal biennium.
(c) Notwithstanding the sum-certain appropriations
specified in Rider 3, Chapter 605 (S.B. 1), Acts of the 85th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2017 (the General Appropriations
Act), to the bill pattern of the appropriations to the Texas
Education Agency, the Legislative Budget Board shall determine the
sum-certain appropriation to the Foundation School Program for each
year of the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2017,
based on the amount specified in that rider, the other provisions of
the General Appropriations Act, and other law, including the
provisions of this Act.
(d) If H.B. 21, Acts of the 85th Legislature, 1st Called
Session, 2017, or another similar Act that addresses additional
funding under the public school finance system for the components
described in Subsection (a) of this section also transfers and
allocates to those components the amount of unencumbered
appropriations in the manner provided by that subsection, the
transfer and allocation under Subsection (a) of this section does
not occur.
SECTION 2. (a) The amount of $212,000,000 of the
unencumbered appropriations from the general revenue fund for the
state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2019, made by S.B. 1, Acts
of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017 (the General
Appropriations Act), to the Health and Human Services Commission is
transferred to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and may be
used by the retirement system during that state fiscal biennium to
increase school districts' recruitment and retention of school
teachers and provide support to participants in the Texas Public
School Employees Group Insurance Program authorized by Chapter
1575, Insurance Code. The Health and Human Services Commission
shall identify the strategies and objectives out of which the
transfer is to be made.
(b) The Teacher Retirement System of Texas may use the money
transferred under Subsection (a) of this section to:
(1) decrease the premiums and deductibles that would
otherwise be paid during the 2018 and 2019 plan years by
participants in the Texas Public School Employees Group Insurance
Program authorized by Chapter 1575, Insurance Code; and
(2) reduce costs for an enrolled adult child with a
mental disability or a physical incapacity during the 2018 and 2019
plan years.
(c) The Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall determine
the most efficient allocation of the money transferred under
Subsection (a) of this section to achieve the maximum benefit for
participants in the program.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect only if the 85th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 2017, enacts H.B. 21 or another
similar Act that addresses additional funding under the public
school finance system for the components described in Section 1 of
this Act and H.B. 21 or that similar Act becomes law. If H.B. 21 or
another similar Act described by this section does not become law,
this Act has no effect.
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 30 was passed by the House on August
7, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 131, Nays 13, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 30 on August 15, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 118, Nays
24, 1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 30 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on August 15, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 26,
Nays 5.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor