By: Huffman, Creighton, Springer S.B. No. 23
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2021; March 11, 2021, read
first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
April 7, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; April 7, 2021,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 23 By: Creighton
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an election to approve a reduction or reallocation of
funding or resources for certain municipal or county law
enforcement agencies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 4, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 135 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 135. ELECTION FOR REDUCTION OF FUNDING OR RESOURCES FOR
PRIMARY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
Sec. 135.001. ELECTION REQUIRED. (a) Except as provided by
Section 135.002, a municipality or county shall hold an election in
accordance with this chapter if the municipality or county proposes
to adopt a budget for a fiscal year that, compared to the budget
adopted by the municipality or county for the preceding fiscal
year:
(1) reduces for the law enforcement agency with
primary responsibility for policing, criminal investigation, and
answering calls for service:
(A) for a fiscal year in which the overall amount
of the budget is equal to or greater than the amount for the
preceding fiscal year, the appropriation to the agency;
(B) for a fiscal year in which the overall amount
of the budget is less than the amount for the preceding fiscal year,
the appropriation to the agency as a percentage of the total budget;
(C) the number of peace officer positions,
excluding detention officer positions; or
(D) the amount of funding per peace officer for
the recruitment and training of new peace officers to fill vacant
and new peace officer positions in the agency; or
(2) reallocates funding or resources to another law
enforcement agency.
(b) A municipality or county may not adopt a budget with a
proposed reduction or reallocation described by Subsection (a)
until the municipality or county receives voter approval for the
proposed reduction or reallocation at an election held for that
purpose. The municipality or county may, at any time, order the
election to be held on the 30th day after the date the municipality
or county orders the election. Section 41.001, Election Code, does
not apply to an election under this subsection.
(c) For purposes of this section, a municipal or county
budget does not include:
(1) a one-time extraordinary expense, as determined by
the comptroller, that is outside the normal costs of operating a law
enforcement agency, including purchasing a fleet of law enforcement
vehicles or constructing an additional training academy; or
(2) a donation or state or federal grant to the
municipality's or county's law enforcement agency.
Sec. 135.002. DISASTER EXCEPTION. Section 135.001 does not
apply to a municipal or county budget adopted for a fiscal year in
which, or the two fiscal years following the fiscal year in which, a
significant budget reduction from the preceding fiscal year was
caused by a disaster, including a tornado, hurricane, flood,
wildfire, or other calamity, but not including a drought, epidemic,
or pandemic, in an area of the municipality or county that was the
subject of a disaster declaration by the governor under Chapter
418, Government Code, or by the president of the United States.
Sec. 135.003. BALLOT PROPOSITION REQUIREMENTS. A
municipality or county holding an election under this chapter shall
ensure that the ballot proposition for the election includes, as
applicable:
(1) a detailed explanation of each proposed reduction;
(2) the amount of each proposed reduction;
(3) the recipient of reallocated funding or resources;
(4) the impact on the local tax rate, if any; and
(5) the expected length of time that the proposed
reduction or reallocation will remain in effect.
Sec. 135.004. USE OF PUBLIC MONEY FOR CAMPAIGN PROHIBITED.
A municipality or county holding an election under this chapter may
not use public money on promotional campaigns or advocacy related
to the proposed reduction or reallocation. This section may not be
construed to prevent a municipal or county official or employee
from communicating factual information about a proposed budget or
the reasoning behind a proposed budget to the voters in the
municipality or county.
Sec. 135.005. COMPLAINT. (a) A person who believes that a
municipality or county has adopted a budget with a proposed
reduction or reallocation described by Section 135.001(a) without
the required voter approval and who resides in the municipality or
county may file a complaint with the criminal justice division of
the office of the governor.
(b) The criminal justice division of the office of the
governor shall determine whether a complaint filed under Subsection
(a) is potentially valid or frivolous or false.
(c) The criminal justice division of the office of the
governor shall provide written notice of a potentially valid
complaint filed under Subsection (a) to the municipality or county
that is the subject of the complaint. The division shall provide
the municipality or county an opportunity to correct the action
that is the subject of the complaint before referring the complaint
to the comptroller.
Sec. 135.006. COMPTROLLER INVESTIGATION; TAX RATE
LIMITATION. (a) On request by the criminal justice division of the
office of the governor, the comptroller shall determine whether a
municipality or county has adopted a budget with a proposed
reduction or reallocation described by Section 135.001(a) without
the required voter approval. The comptroller shall issue a written
determination to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the
house of representatives, and governing body of the municipality or
county.
(b) The comptroller may require a municipality or county to
submit information for the current or preceding fiscal year to
assist the comptroller's investigation under this section.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, if the comptroller
determines that a municipality or county adopted a budget with a
proposed reduction or reallocation described by Section 135.001(a)
without the required voter approval, the municipality or county may
not adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the municipality's or
county's no-new-revenue tax rate until the earlier of:
(1) the date the comptroller issues a written
determination that the municipality or county has, as applicable:
(A) adopted a budget that reverses each funding
reduction, adjusted for inflation, and personnel reduction that was
a subject of the determination; or
(B) restored all reallocated funding and
resources that were subjects of the determination to the original
law enforcement agency; or
(2) the date on which each reduction and reallocation
that was a subject of the determination has been approved in an
election held in accordance with this chapter.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022.
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