BILL ANALYSIS
S.B. 1262
By: Montford (Junell)
May 4, 1995
Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND
The asset management division (division) of the General Land Office
(office) has the task of identifying real property owned by the
state which is underused and recommending alternate uses for these
properties. If the property is recommended for alternate use, the
land commissioner prepares a report detailing the recommendation
and submits the report to the governor, lt. governor, speaker and
Legislative Budget Board (LBB).
After the report is submitted, there are two ways to deal with the
property. One is for the legislature to authorize the transaction,
and the other way is for the state to deal with the real estate
through the procedure set out in Article 5421t. Article 5421t
provides that the governor may propose that the division complete
the real estate transaction. If the governor fails to make a
proposal, then the transaction cannot proceed. In the past 10
years, no governor has made a proposal regarding a recommended real
estate transaction. After the governor makes a proposal, the LBB
must approve the proposal or it is rejected.
Currently, after the division identifies a property as underused
and the land commissioner recommends it for sale, some state
agencies encumber the property by building on it to prevent its
sale. Nothing in current law prevents this from occurring. Since
no governor has proposed a transaction be completed, the only other
avenue to carry out the division's recommendations are through
specific legislative authorization which may take years to obtain.
PURPOSE
As proposed, S.B. 1262 amends the provisions of the Legislative
Budget Board oversight of the acquisition, management, development,
accounting, and disposition of certain state property.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or
agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1 Amends Sections 31.157(b) and (d), Natural Resources
Code, to require the draft report to also be submitted,
at the same time as it is furnished to the commission,
to each agency that owns or holds in trust property that
is the subject of the draft report. Requires the final
report to be submitted to the governor, the presiding
officers of both houses of the legislature, the
Legislative Budget Board (LBB), and the governor's
budget office no later than September 1 of each year,
rather than September 1 of the year preceding a regular
session of the legislature.
SECTION 2 Amends Chapter 31E, Natural Resources Code, by adding
Section 31.1571, as follows:
Sec. 31.1571. DISPOSAL OF UNUSED OR UNDERUSED PROPERTY.
(a) Sets forth dates before which a state agency that
owns or controls property is prohibited from developing,
selling, or otherwise disposing of the property, after
the division has reported a property unused or underused
and the commissioner of the General Land Office
(commissioner) has made a recommendation to the governor
and the LBB for a real estate transaction involving the
property.
(b) Requires the state agency, if it owns or controls
property that the division has reported as unused or
underused intends to dispose of or change the use of the
property prior to the time provided by Subsection (a),
to submit to the governor and the LBB a general
development plan for future use of the property.
Requires the plan to be submitted no later than 30 days
prior to the time that the real estate transaction would
be approved by operation of law if not disapproved by
the governor or the LBB pursuant to Chapter 672, Article
5421t, V.T.C.S. Authorizes the governor and the LBB to
take such plan into consideration in determining whether
to reject the commissioner's recommendation.
SECTION 3 Amends Sections 2(e) and (f), Article 5421t, V.T.C.S.,
as follows:
(e) Sets forth the provisions by which the proceeds of
the transaction shall be deposited, unless the proceeds
of the transaction are dedicated by the constitution.
Makes a nonsubstantive change.
(f) Provides that this article does not apply to a real
estate transaction involving real property owned by the
state which the division has no duty to review under the
provisions of Section 31.155(d), Natural Resources Code.
Deletes existing Subsection (f).
SECTION 4 Amends Sections 3(a), (b), and (c), Chapter 672, Article
5421t, V.T.C.S., as follows:
(a) Requires the agency possessing the real property
recommended for alternative use to file its comments on
or objections to the recommendation with the governor
and the LBB. Deletes the provision prohibiting the
division, if the governor disapproves of the alternate
use recommended within a certain time period, from
entering into a real estate transaction involving those
properties until authorized by the legislature. Makes
conforming changes.
(b) Provides that if the division reports a property as
unused or underused and the commissioner recommends a
real estate transaction involving the property, the
commissioner is authorized to conduct the transaction
unless the recommendation is disapproved by the governor
or the LBB no later than 90 days after receiving the
commissioner's recommendation. Authorizes the governor
to disapprove a recommended transaction by providing
notice of the disapproval to the commissioner.
Authorizes the LBB to disapprove a recommendation if a
majority of the members of the board from each house
file letters of disapproval with the executive director
of the LBB. Requires the executive director of the
Legislative Budget Office to notify the commissioner
within ten days of the board's disapproval. Deletes
existing Subsection (b).
(c) Requires the division, if a recommended real estate
transaction is approved as provided by Subsection (b)
of this section, to take appropriate charge and control
of the real property to undertake the real estate
transaction recommended. Deletes existing Subsection
(c).
SECTION 5 Repeals Sections 3(d) through (l), Article 5421t,
V.T.C.S. (relating to transactions involving state-owned
property)
SECTION 6 Effective date: September 1, 1995.
SECTION 7 Requires the asset management division of the General
Land Office, not later than November 1, 1995, to provide
the governor and the LBB with a certified list of all
properties identified as unused and underused in the
division's most recent evaluation and, where
appropriate, recommendations for real estate transaction
regarding the listed properties.
SECTION 8 Emergency clause.
SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION
S.B. 1262 was considered by the committee in a public hearing on
May 2, 1995.
The bill was reported favorably without amendment, with the
recommendation that it do pass and be printed, by a record vote of
7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 2 absent.