1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to financing of public transportation.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 456.001, Transportation Code, is amended
1-5 by amending Subdivisions (2), (8), (11), and (12) and adding
1-6 Subdivisions (13) and (14) to read as follows:
1-7 (2) "Designated recipient" means an entity that
1-8 receives money from the United States or this state for public
1-9 transportation through the department or the Federal Transit
1-10 Administration or the administration's successor and is a transit
1-11 authority, a municipality not included in a transit authority, a
1-12 local governmental body, another political subdivision of this
1-13 state, or a nonprofit entity providing rural public transportation
1-14 service.
1-15 (8) "Public transportation" means transportation of
1-16 passengers and their hand-carried packages or baggage on a [by bus,
1-17 rail, watercraft, or other means that provides general or
1-18 specialized] regular or continuing basis by means of surface or
1-19 water, including fixed guideway or underground transportation or
1-20 transit, other than aircraft, taxicab, ambulance, or emergency
1-21 vehicle [service to the public].
1-22 (11) "Transit authority" means a municipality or a
1-23 metropolitan or regional authority in an urbanized area of over
1-24 200,000 population with a local transit tax [created under Chapter
2-1 451 or 452; Chapter 141, Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular
2-2 Session, 1973; or Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th Legislature, 1979;
2-3 or a municipal department created under Chapter 453 or former
2-4 Article 1118z, Revised Statutes].
2-5 (12) "Urbanized area" means an area with a population
2-6 of more than 50,000 so designated by the United States Bureau of
2-7 the Census [or by general state law].
2-8 (13) "Nonurbanized area" means an area outside the
2-9 boundaries of an urbanized area and so designated by the United
2-10 States Bureau of the Census.
2-11 (14) "Local funds" include:
2-12 (A) passenger revenues, notwithstanding any
2-13 statutory requirement to apply that money to offset operating
2-14 deficits;
2-15 (B) money from the purchase of service
2-16 agreements, contract income, advertising revenue, local tax
2-17 receipts, and private donations;
2-18 (C) money provided by a political subdivision of
2-19 this state; and
2-20 (D) in-kind contributions.
2-21 SECTION 2. Section 456.006, Transportation Code, is amended
2-22 to read as follows:
2-23 Sec. 456.006. Use of Financing. (a) A designated recipient
2-24 that is a rural or urban transit district or municipal transit
2-25 department may use money from the formula or discretionary program
2-26 and any local funds for any transit-related activity.
2-27 (b) A designated recipient not included in a transit
3-1 authority but located in an urbanized area that includes one or
3-2 more transit authorities and that received state transit funding
3-3 during the biennium ending August 31, 1997, may receive money from
3-4 the formula or discretionary program in an amount that does not
3-5 exceed the amount of funds expended during that biennium to
3-6 provide:
3-7 (1) 65 percent of the local share requirement for a
3-8 federally financed capital improvement project;
3-9 (2) 50 percent of the local share requirement for a
3-10 federally financed project for operating expenses;
3-11 (3) 65 percent of the local share requirement for
3-12 federally financed planning activities; and
3-13 (4) 50 percent of the total cost of a public
3-14 transportation capital improvement project, if the designated
3-15 recipient certifies that money from the United States is
3-16 unavailable for the project and the commission determines that the
3-17 project is vitally important to the development of public
3-18 transportation in this state.
3-19 (c) In this section, "rural transit district" and "urban
3-20 transit district" have the meanings assigned by Section 1, Chapter
3-21 645, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995 (Article
3-22 6663c-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
3-23 SECTION 3. Section 456.007, Transportation Code, is amended
3-24 by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
3-25 (c) A federal grant of transit money to the state for public
3-26 transportation purposes shall be deposited in the treasury to the
3-27 credit of the state highway fund. Federal transit grants for
4-1 public transportation purposes may be used only by the department
4-2 to carry out the responsibilities of the commission and the
4-3 department for public transportation under this chapter.
4-4 SECTION 4. Section 456.022, Transportation Code, is amended
4-5 to read as follows:
4-6 Sec. 456.022. Allocation by Categories. Under the formula
4-7 program the commission shall allocate:
4-8 (1) 50 percent of the money to municipalities that
4-9 are:
4-10 (A) designated recipients in [to] urbanized
4-11 areas or transit providers eligible under Section 456.003 and [that
4-12 have populations of not less than 50,000 and that are] not served
4-13 by a transit authority; and
4-14 (B) designated recipients that are not included
4-15 in a transit authority but are [to areas not served by a transit
4-16 authority but] located in urbanized areas [that have populations of
4-17 not less than 50,000 and] that include one or more transit
4-18 authorities and received state transit funding during the biennium
4-19 that ended August 31, 1997; and
4-20 (2) 50 percent of the money to designated recipients
4-21 in nonurbanized areas[:]
4-22 [(A) to urban areas that have populations of
4-23 less than 50,000; or]
4-24 [(B) to rural areas].
4-25 SECTION 5. Sections 456.024(a) and (b), Transportation Code,
4-26 are amended to read as follows:
4-27 (a) Of the money allocated under Section 456.022(1), the
5-1 commission shall distribute:
5-2 (1) 90 percent of the total amount to all designated
5-3 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) that operate public
5-4 transportation services; and
5-5 (2) 10 percent of the total amount to designated
5-6 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) for state or federally
5-7 financed projects selected by the commission.
5-8 (b) The distribution required by Subsection (a)(1) is to
5-9 each operating public transportation system that receives money in
5-10 accordance with 49 U.S.C. Section 5307 or a municipality located
5-11 in an urbanized area that includes one or more transit authorities.
5-12 Each entity's portion of the distribution must be in the ratio that
5-13 the amount received by that entity during the preceding fiscal
5-14 biennium, less any amount returned by the entity at the end of the
5-15 first year of the biennium, bears to the total amount received by
5-16 all entities during that biennium [of the Federal Transit Act and
5-17 is computed, except as provided by Section 456.025, as the sum of:]
5-18 [(1) one-half of the total amount required by
5-19 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the population of
5-20 the urbanized area bears to the total population of all urbanized
5-21 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1); and]
5-22 [(2) one-half of the total amount required by
5-23 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the number of
5-24 inhabitants per square mile of the urbanized area bears to the
5-25 combined number of inhabitants per square mile of all urbanized
5-26 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1)].
5-27 SECTION 6. Section 456.041(a), Transportation Code, is
6-1 amended to read as follows:
6-2 (a) To participate in the discretionary program provided by
6-3 this subchapter, a designated recipient must submit to the
6-4 commission an application for project financing. The application
6-5 must contain:
6-6 (1) a description of the project, including an
6-7 estimate of the population that the project would benefit and the
6-8 anticipated completion date of the project;
6-9 (2) a statement of the estimated cost of the project,
6-10 including an estimate of the portion of the cost of the project
6-11 financed by the United States; and
6-12 (3) the certification required by Section
6-13 456.006(b)(4) [456.004].
6-14 SECTION 7. Section 456.025, Transportation Code, is
6-15 repealed.
6-16 SECTION 8. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
6-17 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
6-18 changes in law made by Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature,
6-19 Regular Session, 1995.
6-20 (b) Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
6-21 Session, 1995, is repealed.
6-22 (c) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
6-23 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
6-24 relating to nonsubstantive additions and corrections in enacted
6-25 codes.
6-26 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
6-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-5 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3443 was passed by the House on April
25, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 3 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3443 was passed by the Senate on May
19, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor