By: Morrison, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Kolkhorst) H.B. No. 2696
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 17, 2021;
May 17, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
May 21, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to eligibility for a loan under the disaster recovery loan
program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 418.062, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 418.062. ELIGIBILITY FOR LOAN. (a) A political
subdivision may apply to the division for a loan under this
subchapter if:
(1) the political subdivision:
(A) is located wholly or partly in an area
declared to be a disaster area by the governor or the president of
the United States; and
(B) before applying to the division for a loan
under this subchapter, submits[:
[(i) has submitted] to the division[,
within 15 days of the date of its adoption by the governing body of
the political subdivision,] the political subdivision's operating
budget for the most recent fiscal year; [and
[(ii) has submitted an application for a
loan from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's community
disaster loan program;]
(2) an assessment of damages due to the disaster for
which the declaration was made has been conducted in the political
subdivision; and
(3) the division[, in consultation with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency,] determines that the political
subdivision's estimated cost to appropriately respond to [rebuild
the political subdivision's infrastructure damaged in] the
disaster is greater than 50 percent of the political subdivision's
total revenue for the current year as shown in the most recent
operating budget of the political subdivision submitted to the
division under this section.
(b) The division may consult with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency in making the determination required under
Subsection (a)(3).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a loan the application for which is filed on or after the
effective date of this Act. A loan the application for which is
filed before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date
on which the application was filed, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. 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. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
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