1-1 By: Kubiak, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister) H.B. No. 3443
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 1997;
1-3 April 29, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on State
1-4 Affairs; May 8, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 12, Nays 0; May 8, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to financing of public transportation.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 456.001, Transportation Code, is amended
1-11 by amending Subdivisions (2), (8), (11), and (12) and adding
1-12 Subdivisions (13) and (14) to read as follows:
1-13 (2) "Designated recipient" means an entity that
1-14 receives money from the United States or this state for public
1-15 transportation through the department or the Federal Transit
1-16 Administration or the administration's successor and is a transit
1-17 authority, a municipality not included in a transit authority, a
1-18 local governmental body, another political subdivision of this
1-19 state, or a nonprofit entity providing rural public transportation
1-20 service.
1-21 (8) "Public transportation" means transportation of
1-22 passengers and their hand-carried packages or baggage on a [by bus,
1-23 rail, watercraft, or other means that provides general or
1-24 specialized] regular or continuing basis by means of surface or
1-25 water, including fixed guideway or underground transportation or
1-26 transit, other than aircraft, taxicab, ambulance, or emergency
1-27 vehicle [service to the public].
1-28 (11) "Transit authority" means a municipality or a
1-29 metropolitan or regional authority in an urbanized area of over
1-30 200,000 population with a local transit tax [created under Chapter
1-31 451 or 452; Chapter 141, Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular
1-32 Session, 1973; or Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th Legislature, 1979;
1-33 or a municipal department created under Chapter 453 or former
1-34 Article 1118z, Revised Statutes].
1-35 (12) "Urbanized area" means an area with a population
1-36 of more than 50,000 so designated by the United States Bureau of
1-37 the Census [or by general state law].
1-38 (13) "Nonurbanized area" means an area outside the
1-39 boundaries of an urbanized area and so designated by the United
1-40 States Bureau of the Census.
1-41 (14) "Local funds" include:
1-42 (A) passenger revenues, notwithstanding any
1-43 statutory requirement to apply that money to offset operating
1-44 deficits;
1-45 (B) money from the purchase of service
1-46 agreements, contract income, advertising revenue, local tax
1-47 receipts, and private donations;
1-48 (C) money provided by a political subdivision of
1-49 this state; and
1-50 (D) in-kind contributions.
1-51 SECTION 2. Section 456.006, Transportation Code, is amended
1-52 to read as follows:
1-53 Sec. 456.006. Use of Financing. (a) A designated recipient
1-54 that is a rural or urban transit district or municipal transit
1-55 department may use money from the formula or discretionary program
1-56 and any local funds for any transit-related activity.
1-57 (b) A designated recipient not included in a transit
1-58 authority but located in an urbanized area that includes one or
1-59 more transit authorities and that received state transit funding
1-60 during the biennium ending August 31, 1997, may receive money from
1-61 the formula or discretionary program in an amount that does not
1-62 exceed the amount of funds expended during that biennium to
1-63 provide:
1-64 (1) 65 percent of the local share requirement for a
2-1 federally financed capital improvement project;
2-2 (2) 50 percent of the local share requirement for a
2-3 federally financed project for operating expenses;
2-4 (3) 65 percent of the local share requirement for
2-5 federally financed planning activities; and
2-6 (4) 50 percent of the total cost of a public
2-7 transportation capital improvement project, if the designated
2-8 recipient certifies that money from the United States is
2-9 unavailable for the project and the commission determines that the
2-10 project is vitally important to the development of public
2-11 transportation in this state.
2-12 (c) In this section, "rural transit district" and "urban
2-13 transit district" have the meanings assigned by Section 1, Chapter
2-14 645, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995 (Article
2-15 6663c-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
2-16 SECTION 3. Section 456.007, Transportation Code, is amended
2-17 by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
2-18 (c) A federal grant of transit money to the state for public
2-19 transportation purposes shall be deposited in the treasury to the
2-20 credit of the state highway fund. Federal transit grants for
2-21 public transportation purposes may be used only by the department
2-22 to carry out the responsibilities of the commission and the
2-23 department for public transportation under this chapter.
2-24 SECTION 4. Section 456.022, Transportation Code, is amended
2-25 to read as follows:
2-26 Sec. 456.022. Allocation by Categories. Under the formula
2-27 program the commission shall allocate:
2-28 (1) 50 percent of the money to municipalities that
2-29 are:
2-30 (A) designated recipients in [to] urbanized
2-31 areas or transit providers eligible under Section 456.003 and [that
2-32 have populations of not less than 50,000 and that are] not served
2-33 by a transit authority; and
2-34 (B) designated recipients that are not included
2-35 in a transit authority but are [to areas not served by a transit
2-36 authority but] located in urbanized areas [that have populations of
2-37 not less than 50,000 and] that include one or more transit
2-38 authorities and received state transit funding during the biennium
2-39 that ended August 31, 1997; and
2-40 (2) 50 percent of the money to designated recipients
2-41 in nonurbanized areas[:]
2-42 [(A) to urban areas that have populations of
2-43 less than 50,000; or]
2-44 [(B) to rural areas].
2-45 SECTION 5. Sections 456.024(a) and (b), Transportation Code,
2-46 are amended to read as follows:
2-47 (a) Of the money allocated under Section 456.022(1), the
2-48 commission shall distribute:
2-49 (1) 90 percent of the total amount to all designated
2-50 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) that operate public
2-51 transportation services; and
2-52 (2) 10 percent of the total amount to designated
2-53 recipients described by Section 456.022(1) for state or federally
2-54 financed projects selected by the commission.
2-55 (b) The distribution required by Subsection (a)(1) is to
2-56 each operating public transportation system that receives money in
2-57 accordance with 49 U.S.C. Section 5307 or a municipality located
2-58 in an urbanized area that includes one or more transit authorities.
2-59 Each entity's portion of the distribution must be in the ratio that
2-60 the amount received by that entity during the preceding fiscal
2-61 biennium, less any amount returned by the entity at the end of the
2-62 first year of the biennium, bears to the total amount received by
2-63 all entities during that biennium [of the Federal Transit Act and
2-64 is computed, except as provided by Section 456.025, as the sum of:]
2-65 [(1) one-half of the total amount required by
2-66 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the population of
2-67 the urbanized area bears to the total population of all urbanized
2-68 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1); and]
2-69 [(2) one-half of the total amount required by
3-1 Subsection (a)(1) multiplied by the ratio that the number of
3-2 inhabitants per square mile of the urbanized area bears to the
3-3 combined number of inhabitants per square mile of all urbanized
3-4 areas in this state that are described by Section 456.022(1)].
3-5 SECTION 6. Section 456.041(a), Transportation Code, is
3-6 amended to read as follows:
3-7 (a) To participate in the discretionary program provided by
3-8 this subchapter, a designated recipient must submit to the
3-9 commission an application for project financing. The application
3-10 must contain:
3-11 (1) a description of the project, including an
3-12 estimate of the population that the project would benefit and the
3-13 anticipated completion date of the project;
3-14 (2) a statement of the estimated cost of the project,
3-15 including an estimate of the portion of the cost of the project
3-16 financed by the United States; and
3-17 (3) the certification required by Section
3-18 456.006(b)(4) [456.004].
3-19 SECTION 7. Section 456.025, Transportation Code, is
3-20 repealed.
3-21 SECTION 8. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
3-22 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
3-23 changes in law made by Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature,
3-24 Regular Session, 1995.
3-25 (b) Chapter 644, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
3-26 Session, 1995, is repealed.
3-27 (c) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
3-28 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
3-29 relating to nonsubstantive additions and corrections in enacted
3-30 codes.
3-31 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
3-32 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-33 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-34 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-35 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-36 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-37 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-38 * * * * *