By Kubiak H.B. No. 3443
75R9055 DWS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 Subdivision (13) 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 SECTION 2. Section 456.002(b), Transportation Code, is
2-12 amended to read as follows:
2-13 (b) Each public transportation program provided by this
2-14 chapter is a [matching] grant program for public transportation
2-15 projects. Approval by the United States of a proposed public
2-16 transportation project means that the project is consistent with
2-17 the purposes of this chapter and with the continuing, cooperative,
2-18 and comprehensive regional transportation planning implemented in
2-19 accordance with federal transit and federal-aid highway laws [the
2-20 Federal Transit Act and the Federal-Aid Highway Act].
2-21 SECTION 3. Section 456.004, Transportation Code, is amended
2-22 to read as follows:
2-23 Sec. 456.004. General Financing Application Requirements.
2-24 An application for project financing under this chapter must be
2-25 certified and contain a statement by the applicant that[:]
2-26 [(1)] the proposed public transportation project is
2-27 consistent with the continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive
3-1 regional transportation planning implemented in accordance with
3-2 federal transit and federal-aid highway laws [the Federal Transit
3-3 Act and the Federal-Aid Highway Act; and]
3-4 [(2) money is available to provide:]
3-5 [(A) 35 percent of the local share requirement,
3-6 if the project is a federally financed capital improvement or
3-7 planning project, or 50 percent of the local share requirement, if
3-8 the project is a federally financed project for operating expenses;
3-9 or]
3-10 [(B) 50 percent of the total cost of the public
3-11 transportation capital improvement project, if the project is not
3-12 described in Paragraph (A)].
3-13 SECTION 4. Section 456.006, Transportation Code, is amended
3-14 to read as follows:
3-15 Sec. 456.006. Use of Financing. (a) A
3-16 designated recipient that is a rural or urban transit district or
3-17 municipal transit department may use money from the formula or
3-18 discretionary program for any transit-related activity.
3-19 (b) A designated recipient not included in a transit
3-20 authority but located in an urbanized area that includes one or
3-21 more transit authorities and that received state transit funding
3-22 during the biennium ending August 31, 1997, may receive money from
3-23 the formula or discretionary program in an amount that does not
3-24 exceed the amount of funds expended during that biennium to
3-25 provide:
3-26 (1) 65 percent of the local share requirement for a
3-27 federally financed capital improvement project;
4-1 (2) 50 percent of the local share requirement for a
4-2 federally financed project for operating expenses;
4-3 (3) 65 percent of the local share requirement for
4-4 federally financed planning activities; and
4-5 (4) 50 percent of the total cost of a public
4-6 transportation capital improvement project, if the designated
4-7 recipient certifies that money from the United States is
4-8 unavailable for the project and the commission determines that the
4-9 project is vitally important to the development of public
4-10 transportation in this state.
4-11 (c) In this section, "rural transit district" and "urban
4-12 transit district" have the meanings assigned by Section 1, Chapter
4-13 645, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995 (Article
4-14 6663c-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-15 SECTION 5. Section 456.007, Transportation Code, is amended
4-16 by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
4-17 (c) The public transportation account is an account in the
4-18 general revenue fund. A federal grant of money to the state for
4-19 public transportation purposes shall be deposited to the credit of
4-20 the public transportation account. Money in the public
4-21 transportation account may be used only by the department to carry
4-22 out the responsibilities of the commission and department for
4-23 public transportation under this chapter.
4-24 SECTION 6. Section 456.022, Transportation Code, is amended
4-25 to read as follows:
4-26 Sec. 456.022. Allocation by Categories. Under the formula
4-27 program the commission shall allocate:
5-1 (1) 50 percent of the money to municipalities that
5-2 are:
5-3 (A) designated recipients in [to] urbanized
5-4 areas or transit authorities eligible under Section 456.003 and
5-5 [that have populations of not less than 50,000 and that are] not
5-6 served by a transit authority; and
5-7 (B) designated recipients that are not included
5-8 in a transit authority but are [to areas not served by a transit
5-9 authority but] located in urbanized areas [that have populations of
5-10 not less than 50,000 and] that include one or more transit
5-11 authorities and received state transit funding during the biennium
5-12 that ended August 31, 1997; and
5-13 (2) 50 percent of the money to designated recipients
5-14 in nonurbanized areas[:]
5-15 [(A) to urban areas that have populations of
5-16 less than 50,000; or]
5-17 [(B) to rural areas].
5-18 SECTION 7. Sections 456.024(a) and (b), Transportation Code,
5-19 are amended to read as follows:
5-20 (a) Of the money allocated under Section 456.022(1), the
5-21 commission shall distribute:
5-22 (1) 90 percent of the total amount to all designated
5-23 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) that operate public
5-24 transportation services; and
5-25 (2) 10 percent of the total amount to designated
5-26 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) for state or federally
5-27 financed projects selected by the commission.
6-1 (b) The distribution required by Subsection (a)(1) is to
6-2 each operating public transportation system that receives money in
6-3 accordance with 49 U.S.C. Section 5307 or a municipality located
6-4 in an urbanized area that includes one or more transit authorities.
6-5 Each entity's portion of the distribution must be in the ratio that
6-6 the amount received by that entity during the preceding fiscal
6-7 biennium, less any amount returned by the entity at the end of the
6-8 first year of the biennium, bears to the total amount received by
6-9 all entities during that biennium [of the Federal Transit Act and
6-10 is computed, except as provided by Section 456.025, as the sum of:]
6-11 [(1) one-half of the total amount required by
6-12 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the population of
6-13 the urbanized area bears to the total population of all urbanized
6-14 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1); and]
6-15 [(2) one-half of the total amount required by
6-16 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the number of
6-17 inhabitants per square mile of the urbanized area bears to the
6-18 combined number of inhabitants per square mile of all urbanized
6-19 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1)].
6-20 SECTION 8. Section 456.041(a), Transportation Code, is
6-21 amended to read as follows:
6-22 (a) To participate in the discretionary program provided by
6-23 this subchapter, a designated recipient must submit to the
6-24 commission an application for project financing. The application
6-25 must contain:
6-26 (1) a description of the project, including an
6-27 estimate of the population that the project would benefit and the
7-1 anticipated completion date of the project;
7-2 (2) a statement of the estimated cost of the project,
7-3 including an estimate of the portion of the cost of the project
7-4 financed by the United States; and
7-5 (3) the certification required by Section
7-6 456.006(b)(4) [456.004].
7-7 SECTION 9. Section 456.025, Transportation Code, is
7-8 repealed.
7-9 SECTION 10. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
7-10 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
7-11 changes in law made by Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature,
7-12 Regular Session, 1995.
7-13 (b) Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
7-14 Session, 1995, is repealed.
7-15 (c) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
7-16 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
7-17 relating to nonsubstantive additions and corrections in enacted
7-18 codes.
7-19 SECTION 11. The importance of this legislation and the
7-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-25 passage, and it is so enacted.