DME S.B. 1576 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS AGRICULTURE & LIVESTOCK S.B. 1576 By: Bivins (Swinford) 5-22-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Current law requires a biennial cost-benefit study to be performed on all agricultural finance programs under the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA). The TAFA board feels the requirements of the study are too burdensome. TAFA hopes to establish two performance measures that would be incorporated into the appropriations act in order to more accurately gauge the benefits of the agricultural finance programs. This bill requires at least two performance measures that provide certain information to be developed by TAFA in conjunction with certain other governmental agencies. PURPOSE This legislation requires certain performance measures to be developed in order to measure the effectiveness of agricultural loan programs. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the Committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 58.017, Agriculture Code, as follows: Changes the heading of the section to "PERFORMANCE MEASURES". Requires the board of directors of the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA), in conjunction with certain governmental entities, to develop a minimum of two performance measures that provide information on the benefits of TAFA's loan programs. Requires the performance measures to be included in TAFA's annual report or as a component of the measures incorporated into the appropriations act. Deletes existing Subsections (a) through (c) regarding a biennial costbenefit study. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: 90 days after adjournment.