By Greenberg, Krusee, Dukes, Maxey,                   H.B. No. 2446

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to performance audits of certain metropolitan transit

 1-3     authorities.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 403, Government Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 403.026 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 403.026.  PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF CERTAIN TRANSIT

 1-8     AUTHORITIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a transit authority

 1-9     that is governed by Chapter 451, Transportation Code, and:

1-10                 (1)  was confirmed before July 1, 1985, and does not

1-11     contain a municipality with a population of more than 750,000; or

1-12                 (2)  contains a municipality with a population of more

1-13     than 1.2 million.

1-14           (b)  The comptroller may, on the request of an entity listed

1-15     in Subsection (c), enter into an interlocal contract under Chapter

1-16     791 with a transit authority to conduct a performance audit to

1-17     determine whether the authority is effectively and efficiently

1-18     providing the services it was created to provide.   The comptroller

1-19     shall report the findings of an audit conducted under this section

1-20     and make appropriate recommendations on changes in the operations

1-21     of the authority to the governing body of the authority.

1-22           (c)  A performance audit under this section may be requested

1-23     by:

1-24                 (1)  the governing body of the transit authority;

1-25                 (2)  the governing body of the municipality with the

 2-1     largest population in the authority; or

 2-2                 (3)  the commissioners court in which the majority of

 2-3     the area of the municipality described in Subdivision (2) is

 2-4     located.

 2-5           (d)  A contract under Subsection (b) shall provide that the

 2-6     authority will reimburse the comptroller for costs incurred in

 2-7     conducting the audit.

 2-8           (e)  The comptroller shall file a report containing the

 2-9     results of an audit performed under this section with the governor,

2-10     the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of

2-11     representatives, and the presiding officers of the committees of

2-12     the senate and the house of representatives responsible for

2-13     approving legislation governing the authority.

2-14           (f)  An audit may not be conducted under this section more

2-15     often than once every two years.

2-16           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-21     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-22     passage, and it is so enacted.