By Naishtat                                      H.B. No. 876

      75R2598 GCH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the application process for state loan and loan

 1-3     guaranty programs.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  DEFINITION.  In this Act "state agency" means a

 1-6     board, commission, department, or other entity of state government,

 1-7     other than an "institution of higher education," as that term is

 1-8     defined by Section 61.003, Education Code.

 1-9           SECTION 2.  COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP STANDARDIZED APPLICATIONS.

1-10     (a)  The chief executive officer of each state agency that

1-11     administers a loan or loan guaranty program shall appoint an

1-12     employee of the agency to an interagency committee to recommend a

1-13     common application process for loan and loan guaranty programs the

1-14     state administers.

1-15           (b)  The committee shall:

1-16                 (1)  identify the basic information required by statute

1-17     or rule for each loan or loan guaranty program to produce a common

1-18     application that may be accompanied by any needed plans, designs,

1-19     or projections for a specific program; and

1-20                 (2)  determine whether any legislation or rule change

1-21     is needed to harmonize as much as possible deadlines and other

1-22     application processes.

1-23           (c)  Members of the committee shall select their presiding

1-24     officers.  The committee shall have its organizational meeting on

 2-1     the second Monday in January of 1998 and shall meet at other times

 2-2     as determined by its presiding officers.

 2-3           (d)  A member of the committee is not entitled to

 2-4     compensation for service on the committee but is entitled to

 2-5     reimbursement of the travel expenses incurred by the member while

 2-6     conducting the business of the committee, as provided by the

 2-7     General Appropriations Act.  The state agency that employs the

 2-8     committee member is responsible for making the reimbursement.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  REPORT.  The committee shall file a report of its

2-10     findings and recommendations with the governor, lieutenant

2-11     governor, and speaker of the house of representatives  not later

2-12     than December 31, 1998.

2-13           SECTION 4.  EXPIRATION DATE.  This Act expires January 1,

2-14     1999.

2-15           SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation

2-16     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.