BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1751 By: Cuellar, Henry 03-29-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Current law, (Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6674v, Section 12c) does not include municipalities in the government entities which are considered eligible for the award of a Turnpike Project. Some municipalities on the border with Mexico have experience rapid increases in traffic as a result of NAFTA and are in need of turnpikes in order to better serve their citizens. PURPOSE This bill allows a county in a joint turnpike authority with a county with a population of over 1.5 million. This bill also allows a municipality on the border of the Republic of Mexico to receive a turnpike project. In addition, it specifies that the Turnpike Authority, the Texas Transportation Commission and the governor must approve all turnpike projects. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1: Amends Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6674v, Section 12c, Subsections (a) and (b) as follows: (a)This section is amended specifying that only (1)a county or a municipality, or an adjacent county in a joint turnpike authority with a county whose population is more than 1.5 million or (2)a municipality with a population of more than 120,000 that is adjacent to Mexico. These projects must be approved by the authority, the Texas Transportation Commission, and the governor. (b)Adds language including municipalities to eligible recipients of a Turnpike Project. SECTION 2: Amends Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6674v, Section 12d as follows: (1)Adds a municipality to the list of successor agencies to the Texas Turnpike Authority under the Texas Constitution which are eligible to receive a Turnpike Project. (2)is amended to remove references to the most recent federal decennial census in determining the population of a county eligible for a turnpike project. SECTION 3: Emergency Clause and Effective Date as upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The original H.B. 1751 specified that municipalities which border Mexico with a population of more than 100,000 and less than 200,000 are eligible for turnpike projects. C.S.H.B. 1751 removes this requirement and replaces it with (1)a county or a municipality, or an adjacent county in a joint turnpike authority with a county whose population is more than 1.5 million or (2)a municipality with a population of more than 120,000 that is adjacent to Mexico. The substitute also removes references to the federal decennial census in determining the population of a county. These projects must be approved by the authority, the Texas Transportation Commission, and the governor. The original of H.B. 1751 stated that these projects can be granted upon approval of the authority, the Texas Transportation Commission, and the governor as being in the best interests of the county in question. C.S.H.B. 1751 changes the order of the words from the original with respect to the placement of the word "municipality." C.S.H.B. 1751, Section 2 changes the order of the word "municipality" from the original and removes language referencing the federal decennial census from determining a population of a county. Section 3 is the same in both C.S.H.B. 1751 and the original H.B. 1751. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION Pursuant to a notice posted on March 9, 1995 at 6:16 p.m. the House Committee on Transportation met in a public hearing on Wednesday March 15, 1995 at 2:00 p.m. in Room E1.014 of the Capitol Extension and was called to order at 2:20 p.m. by the Chair, Representative Clyde Alexander. The Chair laid out H.B. 1751 and recognized Representative Henry Cuellar to explain H.B. 1751. No persons testified in support of, or in opposition to H.B. 1751. The Chair left H.B. 1751 pending before the Committee. Pursuant to a public notice posted on March 23, 1995, at 7:36 p.m., the House Committee on Transportation met in a public hearing on Wednesday, March 29, 1995 at 2:00 p.m. in Room E1.014 of the Capitol Extension and was called to order at 2:10 p.m. by the Chair, Representative Clyde Alexander. The Chair laid out H.B. 1751 by Cuellar, H. which was pending before the Committee. Representative Moreno laid out the committee substitute to H.B. 1751 and without objection the substitute was adopted. Representative Siebert moved that the committee report H.B. 1751, as substituted, to the full House with the recommendation that it do pass. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Ayes (6), Nayes (0), Absent (3), Present not voting (0).