75R12708 KEL-F
By Ehrhardt H.B. No. 3531
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3531:
By Ehrhardt C.S.H.B. No. 3531
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the uses for the Texas capital trust fund and the
1-3 funding of and the uses for the housing trust fund.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2201.002(a), Government Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The fund may be used only for [to finance]:
1-8 (1) the acquisition, construction, repair,
1-9 improvement, or equipping of a building by a state agency for a
1-10 state purpose;
1-11 (2) the acquisition of real or personal property
1-12 necessary for a state agency to take an action described by
1-13 Subdivision (1); [or]
1-14 (3) the administration of the asset management
1-15 division of the General Land Office; or
1-16 (4) a transfer under Section 2201.003(b) to the
1-17 housing trust fund created by Section 2306.201.
1-18 SECTION 2. Section 2201.003(b), Government Code, is amended
1-19 to read as follows:
1-20 (b) At the end of each fiscal year, the comptroller shall
1-21 transfer any unappropriated or unencumbered balance in the fund to
1-22 the credit of the housing trust fund [biennium the unencumbered
1-23 balance of the fund in excess of $500 million shall be transferred
1-24 to the credit of the general revenue fund].
2-1 SECTION 3. Section 2306.202, Government Code, is amended to
2-2 read as follows:
2-3 Sec. 2306.202. USE OF HOUSING TRUST FUND. (a) Except as
2-4 provided by Subsection (c), the [The] department, through the
2-5 housing finance division, shall use the housing trust fund to
2-6 provide loans, grants, or other comparable forms of assistance to
2-7 local units of government, public housing authorities, nonprofit
2-8 organizations, and income-eligible individuals, families, and
2-9 households to finance, acquire, rehabilitate, and develop decent,
2-10 safe, and sanitary housing.
2-11 (b) Use of the fund for purposes of Subsection (a) is
2-12 limited to providing:
2-13 (1) assistance for individuals and families of low and
2-14 very low income; and
2-15 (2) technical assistance and capacity building to
2-16 nonprofit organizations engaged in developing housing for
2-17 individuals and families of low and very low income.
2-18 (c) The department shall use the money in the housing trust
2-19 fund derived from the activities of the Texas Department of Mental
2-20 Health and Mental Retardation and transferred to the fund under
2-21 Section 2201.003(b) only to develop and implement housing programs
2-22 for persons with mental illnesses or mental retardation.
2-23 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-24 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.