Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2300 Compare Versions

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Old	New		Differences
1	1		86R13069 CJC-F
2		-	By: Morrison, White, Murr, Guillen, H.B. No. 2300
3		-	King of Parker, et al.
	2	+	By: Morrison, et al. H.B. No. 2300
4	3
5	4
6	5		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
7	6		AN ACT
8	7		relating to the creation of the disaster recovery loan program;
9	8		making an appropriation.
10	9		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	10		SECTION 1. Chapter 418, Government Code, is amended by
12	11		adding Subchapter C-1 to read as follows:
13	12		SUBCHAPTER C-1. DISASTER RECOVERY LOAN PROGRAM
14	13		Sec. 418.061. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
15	14		(1) "Account" means the disaster recovery loan account
16	15		created under Section 418.066.
17	16		(2) "Eligible political subdivision" means a county,
18	17		municipality, or school district that meets the qualifications
19	18		prescribed by Section 418.062.
20	19		Sec. 418.062. ELIGIBILITY FOR LOAN. A political
21	20		subdivision may apply to the division for a loan under this
22	21		subchapter if:
23	22		(1) the political subdivision:
24	23		(A) is located wholly or partly in an area
25	24		declared to be a disaster area by the governor or the president of
26	25		the United States; and
27	26		(B) before applying to the division for a loan
28	27		under this subchapter:
29	28		(i) has submitted to the division, within
30	29		15 days of the date of its adoption by the governing body of the
31	30		political subdivision, the political subdivision's operating
32	31		budget for the most recent fiscal year; and
33	32		(ii) has submitted an application for a
34	33		loan from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's community
35	34		disaster loan program;
36	35		(2) an assessment of damages due to the disaster for
37	36		which the declaration was made has been conducted in the political
38	37		subdivision; and
39	38		(3) the division, in consultation with the Federal
40	39		Emergency Management Agency, determines that the estimated cost to
41	40		rebuild the political subdivision's infrastructure damaged in the
42	41		disaster is greater than 50 percent of the political subdivision's
43	42		total revenue for the current year as shown in the most recent
44	43		operating budget of the political subdivision submitted to the
45	44		division under this section.
46	45		Sec. 418.063. DISASTER RECOVERY LOAN PROGRAM. The division
47	46		by rule shall establish a loan program to use money from the account
48	47		to provide short-term loans for disaster recovery projects to
49	48		eligible political subdivisions.
50	49		Sec. 418.064. LOANS. (a) A loan made from the account must
51	50		be subject to the following conditions:
52	51		(1) the loan must be made at or below market interest
53	52		rates for a term not to exceed 10 years; and
54	53		(2) the loan proceeds must be expended by the eligible
55	54		political subdivision solely for disaster recovery projects.
56	55		(b) The comptroller shall credit to the account all
57	56		principal and interest payments on a loan from the account.
58	57		(c) If the term of a loan from the account exceeds two years,
59	58		the state auditor shall, on the second anniversary of the date on
60	59		which the eligible political subdivision received the loan, conduct
61	60		a limited audit of the political subdivision to determine whether
62	61		the political subdivision has the ability to repay the loan under
63	62		the terms of the loan. The division may forgive a loan made to an
64	63		eligible political subdivision if the state auditor determines that
65	64		the political subdivision is unable to repay the loan. The state
66	65		auditor's participation under this subsection is subject to
67	66		approval by the legislative audit committee for inclusion in the
68	67		audit plan under Section 321.013(c).
69	68		Sec. 418.065. APPLICATION FOR LOAN. The division shall
70	69		develop and implement an application process for a loan under this
71	70		subchapter. At a minimum, the application must include:
72	71		(1) a description of the disaster recovery project for
73	72		which the applicant is requesting the loan;
74	73		(2) an estimate of the total cost of the project;
75	74		(3) a statement of the amount of federal money that the
76	75		applicant will receive for the project, or, if that information is
77	76		not available on the date the applicant submits the application, an
78	77		estimate of the amount of that money; and
79	78		(4) evidence that the applicant has staff, policies,
80	79		and procedures in place adequate to complete the project.
81	80		Sec. 418.066. CREATION OF ACCOUNT. (a) The disaster
82	81		recovery loan account is created as an account in the general
83	82		revenue fund with the comptroller, to be administered by the
84	83		division.
85	84		(b) Money in the account may be used only to provide
86	85		short-term loans to eligible political subdivisions in the manner
87	86		provided by this subchapter.
88	87		(c) The account consists of:
89	88		(1) money appropriated, credited, or transferred to
90	89		the account by the legislature;
91	90		(2) money received by the comptroller for the
92	91		repayment of a loan made from the account;
93	92		(3) gifts or grants contributed to the account; and
94	93		(4) interest earned on deposits and investments of the
95	94		account.
96	95		Sec. 418.067. RULES. The division shall adopt rules to
97	96		implement and administer this subchapter. The rules adopted by the
98	97		division to implement this subchapter must include the development
99	98		of a form on which a political subdivision may electronically
100	99		submit its budget to the division.
101	100		SECTION 2. The amount of $60 million is appropriated from
102	101		the general revenue fund to the disaster recovery loan account for
103	102		the state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2021, for the purpose of
104	103		providing short-term loans to political subdivisions affected by a
105	104		disaster in the manner provided by Subchapter C-1, Chapter 418,
106	105		Government Code, as added by this Act.
107	106		SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.