By Davis                                        H.B. No. 2580

      75R5800 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the creation of the Texas Intermodal Surface

 1-3     Transportation Program.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subtitle K, Title 6, Transportation Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Chapter 459 to read as follows:

 1-7                       CHAPTER 459.  TEXAS INTERMODAL

 1-8                       SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM

 1-9           Sec. 459.001.  CREATION.  The Texas Intermodal Surface

1-10     Transportation Program is created.

1-11           Sec. 459.002.  PURPOSES.  The purposes of the Texas

1-12     Intermodal Surface Transportation Program are:

1-13                 (1)  to assist in developing, with the cooperation of

1-14     mass transportation providers in this state, improved mass

1-15     transportation equipment, facilities, techniques, and methods;

1-16                 (2)  to encourage the planning and establishment, with

1-17     the cooperation of mass transportation providers in this state, of

1-18     area-wide urban mass transportation systems needed for economical

1-19     and beneficial urban development;

1-20                 (3)  to assist mass transportation providers and

1-21     political subdivisions of this state in financing area-wide urban

1-22     mass transportation systems;

1-23                 (4)  to provide financial assistance to mass

1-24     transportation providers to help carry out state goals related to

 2-1     mobility for elderly individuals, individuals with disabilities,

 2-2     and economically disadvantaged individuals; and

 2-3                 (5)  to establish partnerships between this state and

 2-4     political subdivisions of this state that permit those

 2-5     subdivisions, with financial assistance from this state, to meet

 2-6     their urban mass transportation requirements.

 2-7           Sec. 459.003.  ADMINISTRATION.  (a)  The Texas Department of

 2-8     Transportation, by rule shall implement and administer the Texas

 2-9     Intermodal Surface Transportation Program.

2-10           (b)  To the extent permissible under the constitution and

2-11     statutes of this state, the Texas Intermodal Surface Transportation

2-12     Program shall include each element and component included in the

2-13     federal intermodal mass transportation program under Chapter 53,

2-14     Title 49, United States Code.

2-15           Sec. 459.004.  FUNDING.  (a)  To supplement any legislative

2-16     appropriation to the Texas Department of Transportation for the

2-17     implementation or administration of this chapter, and subject to

2-18     any limitation imposed by the constitution of this state, each

2-19     year, the board of each authority operating under Chapter 451, 452,

2-20     or 453 shall remit to the department an amount that is not less

2-21     than 10 percent of the total revenue that the authority collected

2-22     during the preceding calendar year.

2-23           (b)  Money received by the department from the board of an

2-24     authority under this section may be used only to implement or

2-25     administer the Texas Intermodal Surface Transportation Program or

2-26     for a purpose of the program.

2-27           Sec. 459.005.  ANNUAL REPORT.  (a)  Before January 15 of each

 3-1     year, the Texas Department of Transportation shall submit a report

 3-2     to the governor, the legislature, and the Legislative Budget Board

 3-3     concerning the Texas Intermodal Surface Transportation Program.

 3-4           (b)  The report must:

 3-5                 (1)  describe the actions of the department in the

 3-6     preceding year taken in relation to the administration of this

 3-7     chapter and the Texas Intermodal Surface Transportation Program;

 3-8     and

 3-9                 (2)  provide an assessment of the effectiveness of the

3-10     Texas Intermodal Surface Transportation Program.

3-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.