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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