By:  Barrientos                                       S.B. No. 1559
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Transportation
    1-2  to reimburse certain employees for relocation expenses.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article 6668a, Revised Statutes, is amended by
    1-5  adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
    1-6        (g)(1)(A)  In addition to authority granted by other
    1-7  provisions of law, the Department may, on approval of the director,
    1-8  reimburse transferred or newly hired employees for the expense or
    1-9  increased costs of selling existing housing and purchasing and
   1-10  financing comparable replacement housing, provided the director
   1-11  finds that the best interests of the state will be served by such
   1-12  hire or transfer.
   1-13                    (B)  For purposes of this subsection, the
   1-14  following expenses or increased costs related to the selling of
   1-15  existing housing and the leasing, purchasing, and financing of
   1-16  comparable replacement housing are deemed reimbursable:
   1-17                          (i)  any commissions and fees due to a
   1-18  broker or real estate agent;
   1-19                          (ii)  costs incurred as purchaser to obtain
   1-20  a home loan, including but not limited to loan application fees,
   1-21  credit report fees, and mortgage points;
   1-22                          (iii)  origination fees, title insurance,
   1-23  recording fees, and all other closing costs required to be paid by
    2-1  the employee; and
    2-2                          (iv)  fees or charges, other than
    2-3  refundable deposits, necessary to establish telephone, gas, and
    2-4  electric service.
    2-5                    (C)  Pursuant to this subsection, the Department
    2-6  may not:
    2-7                          (i)  provide such reimbursement for more
    2-8  than 25 employees per fiscal year;
    2-9                          (ii)  pay a sum of more than $15,000 per
   2-10  employee;
   2-11                          (iii)  purchase or pay any part of the
   2-12  purchase price of any employee's home; or
   2-13                          (iv)  provide such reimbursement for the
   2-14  purchase or financing of a house if the employee did not own and
   2-15  occupy existing housing at the time of transfer or hire.
   2-16              (2)  The Department may pay the reasonable, necessary,
   2-17  and resulting costs of moving household goods and effects of a
   2-18  transferred or newly hired employee so long as:
   2-19                    (A)  the agency determines that the best
   2-20  interests of the state will be served by such transfer or hire; and
   2-21                    (B)  the distance between the two designated
   2-22  headquarters of a transferred employee is at least 25 miles, or the
   2-23  distance from the current residence of a new hire to the new
   2-24  headquarters is at least 25 miles.
   2-25        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.