1-1  By:  Barrientos                                       S.B. No. 1559
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1995; March 21, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Finance; May 9, 1995,
    1-4  reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 1;
    1-5  May 9, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Transportation
    1-9  to reimburse certain employees for relocation expenses.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Article 6668a, Revised Statutes, is amended by
   1-12  adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
   1-13        (g)(1)(A)  In addition to authority granted by other
   1-14  provisions of law, the Department may, on approval of the director,
   1-15  reimburse transferred or newly hired employees for the expense or
   1-16  increased costs of selling existing housing and purchasing and
   1-17  financing comparable replacement housing, provided the director
   1-18  finds that the best interests of the state will be served by such
   1-19  hire or transfer.
   1-20                    (B)  For purposes of this subsection, the
   1-21  following expenses or increased costs related to the selling of
   1-22  existing housing and the leasing, purchasing, and financing of
   1-23  comparable replacement housing are deemed reimbursable:
   1-24                          (i)  any commissions and fees due to a
   1-25  broker or real estate agent;
   1-26                          (ii)  costs incurred as purchaser to obtain
   1-27  a home loan, including but not limited to loan application fees,
   1-28  credit report fees, and mortgage points;
   1-29                          (iii)  origination fees, title insurance,
   1-30  recording fees, and all other closing costs required to be paid by
   1-31  the employee; and
   1-32                          (iv)  fees or charges, other than
   1-33  refundable deposits, necessary to establish telephone, gas, and
   1-34  electric service.
   1-35                    (C)  Pursuant to this subsection, the Department
   1-36  may not:
   1-37                          (i)  provide such reimbursement for more
   1-38  than 25 employees per fiscal year;
   1-39                          (ii)  pay a sum of more than $15,000 per
   1-40  employee;
   1-41                          (iii)  purchase or pay any part of the
   1-42  purchase price of any employee's home; or
   1-43                          (iv)  provide such reimbursement for the
   1-44  purchase or financing of a house if the employee did not own and
   1-45  occupy existing housing at the time of transfer or hire.
   1-46              (2)  The Department may pay the reasonable, necessary,
   1-47  and resulting costs of moving household goods and effects of a
   1-48  transferred or newly hired employee so long as:
   1-49                    (A)  the agency determines that the best
   1-50  interests of the state will be served by such transfer or hire; and
   1-51                    (B)  the distance between the two designated
   1-52  headquarters of a transferred employee is at least 25 miles, or the
   1-53  distance from the current residence of a new hire to the new
   1-54  headquarters is at least 25 miles.
   1-55        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-56  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-57  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-58  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-59  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-60                               * * * * *