HOUSE AUTHOR: Pickett |
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EFFECTIVE: See below |
SENATE SPONSOR: Averitt |
House Bill 3442 enacts or amends various measures relating to certain expenditures, charges, and other financial matters of certain governmental entities. The bill authorizes the natural resources agencies funded under Article VI of the General Appropriations Act to reduce or recover expenditures through certain administrative and licensing efficiency measures, changes in program eligibility requirements, and outsourcing. The bill repeals the chapter in the Occupations Code that regulated equine riding stables and requires the Texas Animal Health Commission to reduce all related expenditures. It amends the Utilities Code to allow administrative hearings in contested utility cases to be conducted by members of the railroad commission or by railroad commission hearings examiners, and it allows the State Office of Administrative Hearings to charge the commission an annual rate for hearings conducted by the office or an hourly rate if no appropriation is made for the annual rate.
House Bill 3442 amends the Agriculture Code to allow the Texas Department of Agriculture to use a portion of any fees collected for processing animals transported in international trade to maintain or repair the department's export-import processing facilities. The bill allows the Texas Animal Health Commission to charge a fee for an inspection to be used to prevent communicable diseases among livestock, fowl, and other animals. It extends the interval between mandatory inspection and testing of weights or measures for correctness by a sealer from three to four years.
House Bill 3442 amends the Water Code to limit to $75 the fee for processing an expedited letter from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality stating the total depth of surface casing needed when drilling wells to protect usable ground waters in the state. The bill makes the reimbursement from the petroleum storage tank remediation account to the owner or operator of a petroleum storage tank system contingent on the availability of sufficient funds.
House Bill 3442 amends the Parks and Wildlife Code to require the deposit of vessel and outboard motor titling fees into the game, fish, and water safety account. It requires the Parks and Wildlife Department on a monthly basis to transfer to the state parks account 15 percent of all fees collected for vessel registration, manufacturer or dealer licensing, and titling. It exempts a vessel that is numbered and documented by the United States Coast Guard from the state requirement regulating the size and placement of a vessel identification number.
House Bill 3442 requires a dealer, distributor, or manufacturer of a vessel or outboard motor to be licensed and issued a number by the department. The bill sets the fee for a number at $500, sets the license term at two years, and allows the license to be transferred under certain restricted circumstances. The bill exempts from dealer licensing regulations the sale of outboard motors with a five horsepower or less rating, nonmotorized vessels, and certain other vessels less than 12 feet in length with a five horsepower or less rating.
House Bill 3442 removes the issuance of a marine document by the Bureau of Customs as a cause for canceling and voiding a certificate of number for the same vessel. The bill allows an applicant for a certificate of title to appeal the department's refusal to issue the certificate by filing a bond, provides that the bond expires after three years, and requires the department to return an expired bond and to issue a certificate of title on return of the expired bond; it also allows the department to define situations in which a certificate of title may be issued after the filing of a bond. A person who is not licensed as a dealer, distributor, or manufacturer must obtain a certificate of number or title before the number or title may be transferred.
House Bill 3442 repeals Subchapters N and Q, Chapter 43, Parks and Wildlife Code, relating to the freshwater trout stamp and the muzzleloader hunting stamp, and it adds a new chapter creating the freshwater fishing stamp, requiring that net receipts from stamp fees be used for freshwater fish hatcheries or the stocking of game fish in public waters, and establishing a Class C misdemeanor offense for fishing in fresh waters without a freshwater fishing stamp. These provisions, which take effect September 1, 2004, expire September 1, 2014.
House Bill 3442 transfers the powers and duties of the Railroad Commission of Texas regarding quarry and pit safety and commission employees whose primary duties relate to quarry and pit safety to the Texas Department of Transportation. The bill requires the commission to adopt a system of fees to be assessed annually against railroads and operators of natural gas distribution pipelines and natural gas master metered pipelines, with fee revenues to be used for the rail safety program and the pipeline safety program, respectively.
House Bill 3442 amends the Agriculture Code to add two gubernatorial appointees to the State Soil and Water Conservation Board. It requires the board to file a semiannual report with the governor and the legislature's presiding officers on the board's budget areas of responsibility and oversight of water conservation districts. The bill requires the state auditor to conduct a management audit and an evaluation of the board's administrative budget and to file the report with the governor and the legislature's presiding officers not later than March 1, 2004.
The bill also requires the board to administer the brush control program with the assistance of local soil and water conservation districts and to consult with the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texas Water Development Board on the effects of the program on agriculture and on water quantity. It requires the board, in ranking areas in need of a brush control program, to consider, among other established criteria, the amount of water produced by a project and the severity of water shortage in those areas; it also deletes provisions relating to the designation of critical needs areas. House Bill 3442 amends various provisions relating to cost-sharing participation by the state in a joint brush control project.
House Bill 3442 amends the Occupations Code to increase the fee for the issuance or renewal of a certificate of registration for a landscape architect, interior designer, land surveyor, or property tax consultant by $200. Of each fee increase collected, $50 must be deposited in the foundation school fund and $150 must be deposited in the general revenue fund.
House Bill 3442 amends the Government Code to require a state agency with 500 or more full-time equivalent employees to adjust its human resources employee-to-staff ratio to not more than one human resources employee for every 85 staff members. The bill requires the State Council on Competitive Government to conduct a feasibility study to determine the cost-effectiveness of consolidating or contracting for the human resources functions of smaller state agencies. The bill requires the larger agencies to comply not later than January 1, 2004.
House Bill 3442 amends the Government Code to set the manager-to-staff ratio for state executive agencies that employ more than 100 full-time employees as follows: not later than March 31, 2004, achieve a manager-to-staff ratio of not more than 1 to 8; not later than August 31, 2005, achieve a manager-to-staff ratio of not more than 1 to 9; not later than August 31, 2006, achieve a manager-to-staff ratio of not more than 1 to 10; and not later than August 31, 2007, achieve a manager-to-staff ratio of not more than 1 to 11. House Bill 3442 allows any state agency to offer a one-time recruitment or retention payment of up to $5,000 for new hires or current employees in certain classified positions, under certain conditions.
House Bill 3442 amends the Natural Resources Code to provide that the oil-field cleanup regulatory fees on oil and gas are in addition to and independent of any liability for the taxes imposed for oil or gas production and that the oil and gas tax exemptions and reductions in certain Tax Code provisions do not affect the imposition of the cleanup regulatory fees.
House Bill 3442 amends provisions of the Water Code to authorize the Water Development Board to establish a linked deposit program for loans from the state water pollution control revolving fund to persons for nonpoint source pollution control projects. It requires project certification by the director of the local soil and water conservation district, requires the board to monitor compliance with program requirements, and limits the amount of a program loan to $250,000. The bill also establishes a similar linked deposit program for loans from the agricultural water conservation fund for loans to persons for water conservation projects, with similar compliance monitoring and loan amount limits but without local certification required. The bill authorizes the board, for the purpose of enhancing the marketability, security, or creditworthiness of water financial assistance bonds, to enter into bond enhancement agreements.
House Bill 3442 specifies the composition and uses of the agricultural water conservation fund. The bill amends provisions relating to the board's approval of an application by a state agency or political subdivision for a grant or a loan for a conservation program or conservation project, the method of financing a loan or grant for a political subdivision, the default of a loan or grant, and the court of venue for hearing related proceedings.
House Bill 3442 amends the boundaries of the Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. Except as otherwise provided, House Bill 3442 takes effect September 1, 2003.