HOUSE BILL 2425 HOUSE AUTHOR: McCall
EFFECTIVE: See below SENATE SPONSOR: Duncan
House Bill 2425 amends various provisions of state law relating to state and local fiscal matters and makes certain appropriations. Among other provisions, the bill allows The Texas A&M University System to use previously authorized bond authority for financing permanent improvements other than those originally intended. House Bill 2425 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to establish quarterly deadlines for remitting various court-imposed community supervision fees to the comptroller. The bill amends the Education Code to change the payment date for the final annual payments from the foundation school fund to category two and category three school districts, allows the comptroller to suspend enrollment in the prepaid higher education tuition program, and makes changes to the senior college plan to limit the amount that a college or university may accept as payment in full of a beneficiary's required tuition and fees.
House Bill 2425 amends and adds provisions to the Education Code, Local Government Code, and Government Code authorizing energy-saving and water-saving performance contracts for public education and higher education facilities, local government facilities, and state agencies in which the estimated savings in utility costs from specific measures are guaranteed to offset the measures' costs over a specified period. The bill expands the use of electronic funds transfers by the comptroller for payment of membership dues to eligible state employee organizations, and it authorizes the comptroller to conduct performance reviews of public junior colleges and general academic teaching institutions at the request of the governor, the Legislative Budget Board, or the institution or, in certain cases, on the comptroller's initiative. It adds semiconductors and nanotechnology as areas in which eligible products or businesses are given preference for financing through the product development and small business incubators program, and it moves the program board from the office of the comptroller to the office of the governor. The bill allows the comptroller to invest funds that are not deposited in state depositories in pooled funds established by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, and it amends provisions relating to merit increases and one-time merit payments to classified employees. It increases the vacation leave that an employee receives each month and the number of hours of vacation leave that may be carried forward to the next fiscal year. House Bill 2425 removes some of the restrictions on the uses of the Texas Capital Trust Fund, and it requires the entire unencumbered balance of the trust fund to be transferred to the general revenue fund at the end of each fiscal biennium. Effective July 1, 2004, the bill increases the interest rate on an overdue payment to a vendor, or an overdue payment by a vendor to a subcontractor or other provider, from one percent to one percent plus the prime rate as of a certain date.
House Bill 2425 amends the Insurance Code to require the comptroller to allocate premium tax credits, rather than certified capital, to certified capital companies that file claims. The bill increases the percentage of the total vested premium tax credit earned by a certified investor that the investor may take in a year from 10 percent to 25 percent, and it increases the total premium tax credit that all certified investors in certified capital companies may take in a year from $20 million to $50 million. The bill amends the Local Government Code to exempt state property from local infrastructure fees. House Bill 2425 amends various Tax Code provisions relating to the right of a person who files a claim for a tax refund to a hearing and taxpayers' suits for payments made under protest. It amends and adds provisions to the Simplified Sales and Use Tax Administration Act, including provisions relating to certified service providers, and it requires unanimous agreement by the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, and the comptroller before the comptroller enters into a streamlined sales tax agreement with other states. The bill clarifies which food products are exempt from the sales and use tax, exempts certain biotechnology cleanrooms and related equipment from the sales and use tax, and specifies the methods to be used for determining the market value of gas at the mouth of a well.
Effective July 1, 2004, House Bill 2425 amends provisions relating to the location where a sale of tangible personal property and telecommunications services is consummated for sales tax collection purposes. It requires the comptroller to study the economic costs to political subdivisions of this state of changing the sourcing law relating to the sale of tangible personal property to comply with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and to file a report with the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, and legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over the comptroller not later than December 31, 2004. House Bill 2425 amends the Transportation Code to require a county to file a report with the comptroller that accounts for how money allocated to the county from the county and road district highway fund was spent. The bill repeals various statutes and makes numerous conforming changes.
The governor vetoed the provision appropriating to the comptroller the amount needed from the general revenue fund to return any available cash that was transferred to that fund from a fund outside the state treasury and to maintain the equity of the fund from which the transfer was made.
House Bill 2425 takes effect June 20, 2003, except for provisions relating to the increase in the interest rate on an overdue payment to a vendor and the consummation of the sale of tangible personal property and telecommunications services, which take effect July 1, 2004; provisions relating to certified service providers, the administration and collection of the sales and use tax, and participation in a streamlined sales and use tax agreement, which take effect October 1, 2003; and provisions relating to tax-exempt food products, which take effect October 1, 2004.
Reason Given for Veto: "In accordance with Article IV, Section 14 of the Texas Constitution, individual items of appropriation objected to shall be of no force or effect. The remaining portions of the bill shall be effective according to its terms. . . . These appropriations exceed the amount necessary at this time to reimburse anticipated borrowing."