Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 8 (3rd C.S.)	Senate Author:  Nelson et al.
Effective:  11-8-21	House Sponsor:  Bonnen et al.

            Senate Bill 8 makes supplemental appropriations totaling roughly $13.3 billion from money received by the state from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, each of which were established under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The bill appropriates that money as follows:

·        roughly $7.2 billion to the comptroller of public accounts for immediate deposit to the credit of the state's unemployment compensation fund to pay back certain outstanding advances and return the fund to the required statutory floor as reimbursement for payments made as a result of the COVID‑19 pandemic;

·        nearly $500.5 million to the comptroller to fund broadband infrastructure, $75 million of which is dedicated for the Texas broadband pole replacement program;

·        $100 million to the comptroller for immediate deposit to an account or fund to be managed by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company as trustee for the benefit of the State Preservation Board to maintain the Bob Bullock State History Museum;

·        $2 billion to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) for the following purposes related to costs incurred during the period beginning March 3, 2021, and ending January 1, 2023, due to the COVID‑19 pandemic:

o   providing funding for surge staffing at state and local hospitals, long‑term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and nursing facilities;

o   purchasing therapeutic drugs, including drugs for monoclonal antibody treatments; and

o   providing funding for the operation of regional infusion centers;

·        $16.7 million to DSHS for upgrading existing laboratory facilities associated with a level 1 trauma facility in Hidalgo County and new laboratory infrastructure in Starr County;

·        $20 million to DSHS for the federally qualified health center incubator program;

·        $21.7 million to DSHS to provide funding for emergency medical response service staffing, with priority given to rural and underserved areas;

·        $237.8 million to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to fund construction of a state hospital in Dallas;

·        $15 million to HHSC to expand the capacity of Sunrise Canyon Hospital;

·        $75 million to HHSC to fund grants to support rural hospitals that have been affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic;

·        $20 million to HHSC to fund the creation of a consolidated Internet portal for Medicaid and CHIP medical services provider data;

·        $5 million to HHSC to fund technology updates to the Medicaid eligibility computer system;

·        $14,250 to HHSC to fund COVID‑19 related expenses incurred by the Texas Civil Commitment Office related to consumable supplies and travel;

·        $378.3 million to HHSC to administer one‑time grants related to providing critical staffing needs resulting from frontline health care workers affected by COVID‑19, including recruitment and retention bonuses for certain staff;

·        $40 million to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for operating the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute;

·        contingent on the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) completing a required signed agreement with the Ector County and Midland County Hospital Districts, $40 million to the TFC to fund construction of a 100‑bed comprehensive behavioral health center to serve the Permian Basin region;

·        more than $286 million to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to provide funding for coronavirus‑related claims in TRS‑Care and TRS‑ActiveCare;

·        approximately $113 million to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to support the operations and expansion of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium to expand mental health initiatives for children, pregnant women, and women who are up to one year postpartum, including by enhancing the Child Psychiatry Access Network to improve perinatal mental health services;

·        $325 million to the THECB for university construction;

·        $15 million to the THECB for operating the Texas reskilling and upskilling through education (TRUE) program;

·        $20 million to the THECB to provide performance‑based funding for at‑risk students at comprehensive regional universities;

·        $1 million to the THECB to fund the rural veterinarians grant program;

·        $3 million to the Texas Education Agency to provide funding for the big brothers and big sisters program technological staff enhancements;

·        $1.15 million to Texas A&M University ‑ Galveston to provide funding to the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas, $1 million of which is dedicated for digital flood risk infrastructure for underserved communities and the remaining $150,000 of which is dedicated for office space in Houston;

·        $50 million each to Texas Tech University and to the University of Houston for institutional enhancement;

·        $3 million to The University of Texas at Austin to provide funding for the Marine Science Institute student housing replacement;

·        $235,000 to The University of Texas at Austin for the Briscoe Garner Museum;

·        $180 million to the trusteed programs within the governor's office to provide grants for tourism, travel, and hospitality industry recovery;

·        $1.2 million to the trusteed programs within the governor's office to fund information technology case management system improvements for children's advocacy centers;

·        $160 million to the trusteed programs within the governor's office to fund grants for crime victims;

·        nearly $52.3 million to the attorney general's office for deposit into the sexual assault program account and for use by the office as authorized by other law;

·        roughly $54.8 million to the attorney general's office for deposit into the compensation to victims of crime account and for use by the office in compensating crime victims;

·        nearly $360 million to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide compensation for agency employees for the 2022 state fiscal year;

·        $95 million to the Department of Agriculture (TDA) to provide supplemental funding to food banks in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic;

·        $5 million to the TDA to provide funding for home‑delivered meals;

·        $300 million to the Texas Division of Emergency Management to acquire land for, and fund construction of, a state operations center;

·        $35 million to the General Land Office (GLO) and the Veterans Land Board to provide funding for HVAC upgrades, negative pressure COVID‑19 wards, and mobile HEPA air filtration units for Texas state veterans homes;

·        $5 million to the GLO to maintain with Brazoria County approximately 4,600 feet of beach and dunes along the Bluewater Highway and Beach Access Road Five;

·        $300,000 to the GLO to fund a cost and component analysis of the Coastal Texas Study design elements to be conducted by the Gulf Coast Protection District under an agreement between the GLO and the district;

·        $20 million to the Texas Historical Commission to fund the commission's capital plan project for the Washington‑on‑the‑Brazos state historic site;

·        $200 million to the Department of Information Resources for deposit into the technology improvement and modernization fund and for use in funding cybersecurity projects approved by the Joint Oversight Committee on Investment in Information Technology Improvement and Modernization Projects;

·        to address matters related to shortfalls in court fee collections:

o   $7 million to the comptroller's judiciary section to address the backlog in court cases, including by paying for visiting judges and support staff;

o   $3 million to the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System (OCA) for addressing the backlog in court cases, including information technology support, and employing eight additional full‑time equivalent (FTE) employees;

o   nearly $14 million to OCA for deposit into the fair defense account and for use by OCA in addressing the backlog in court cases as authorized by other law;

o   $200,000 to the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs to address the backlog in court cases, pay costs related to the COVID‑19 pandemic, and employ one additional FTE employee; and

o   $5.8 million to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement for use as authorized by other law;

·        $150 million to the Commission on State Emergency Communications (CSEC) for deposit into the next generation 9‑1‑1 service fund and for use by the CSEC as authorized by other law for the deployment and reliable operation of next generation 9‑1‑1 service, including equipment and administration costs;

·        $15.5 million to the Texas Department of Transportation to fund a customs inspection station on the South Orient Rail Line in Presidio;

·        $40 million to the Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to fund certain outreach and education grants throughout Texas;

·        $3 million to TPWD to provide funding to the Texas State Aquarium Center for wildlife research; and

·        $25 million to the State Preservation Board for maintenance and capital improvement projects.

The bill requires the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), in consultation with the comptroller, to report on the LBB website certain information regarding the money appropriated to and spent by each applicable political subdivision, state agency, and institution of higher education under the bill's provisions. The report must be regularly updated through the end of 2028 as specified by the bill.