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Senate Bill 7 |
Senate Author: Creighton et al. |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Phelan |
Senate Bill 7 amends the Water Code to set out provisions relating to flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects. Among other provisions, the bill creates the flood infrastructure fund to be used by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) for, among other things, the provision of financial assistance to eligible political subdivisions for flood projects. The bill's flood infrastructure fund provisions take effect January 1, 2020, contingent on voter approval of the constitutional amendment proposed by House Joint Resolution 4.
Senate Bill 7 creates the Texas infrastructure resiliency fund to be administered by the TWDB. The bill provides for a federal matching account, and a temporary Hurricane Harvey account and a contingent flood plan implementation account, in the resiliency fund to be used for specified purposes and for the transfer of the existing floodplain management account to the resiliency fund. The bill provides for a Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund Advisory Committee to advise the TWDB regarding the use of money in the resiliency fund. The bill requires an applicable state agency that uses or disburses federal money for flood research, planning, or mitigation projects to submit a quarterly report to the TWDB regarding such money. The bill amends the Insurance Code to make a conforming change. Except as otherwise provided, the bill takes effect June 13, 2019.