BILL ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 1262
By: Montford
State Affairs
4-21-95
Committee Report (Substituted)
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, C.S.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. Repealer: 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.