By: Madla, et al. S.B. No. 227
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to a grant for a local area adversely affected by a
1-2 reduction in defense-related activity.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subtitle F, Title 4, Government Code, is amended
1-5 by adding Chapter 486 to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 486. ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AREA AFFECTED BY
1-7 DEFENSE REDUCTION
1-8 Sec. 486.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Defense worker" means:
1-10 (A) an employee of the United States Department
1-11 of Defense, including a member of the armed forces and a government
1-12 civilian worker;
1-13 (B) an employee of a government agency or
1-14 private business, or entity providing a department of defense
1-15 related function, who is employed on a defense facility;
1-16 (C) an employee of a business that provides
1-17 direct services or products to the department of defense and whose
1-18 job is directly dependent on defense expenditures; or
1-19 (D) an employee or private contractor employed
1-20 by the United States Department of Energy working on a defense or
1-21 department of energy facility in support of a department of defense
1-22 related project.
1-23 (2) "Defense worker job" means a department of defense
2-1 authorized permanent position or a position held or occupied by one
2-2 or more defense workers for more than 12 months.
2-3 (3) "Department" means the Texas Department of
2-4 Commerce.
2-5 (4) "Panel" means the Defense Economic Adjustment
2-6 Assistance Panel.
2-7 Sec. 486.002. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The
2-8 department shall administer and monitor the implementation of this
2-9 chapter.
2-10 (b) The department shall establish criteria and procedures
2-11 for evaluations and awarding grants. The department shall award
2-12 grants equitably based on evaluations so as to not
2-13 disproportionally favor one adversely affected defense-dependent
2-14 community over another.
2-15 (c) The department may use an amount equal to not more than
2-16 two percent of the total amount of grants authorized during each
2-17 biennium to administer this chapter and other law relating to
2-18 readjustment of defense-dependent communities.
2-19 (d) The department shall adopt rules necessary to carry out
2-20 the purposes of this chapter.
2-21 Sec. 486.003. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT. (a) A local
2-22 governmental entity is eligible for a grant under this chapter if
2-23 it is:
2-24 (1) a municipality or county that is an adversely
2-25 affected defense-dependent community; or
3-1 (2) a regional planning commission that has an
3-2 adversely affected defense-dependent community within its
3-3 boundaries.
3-4 (b) A municipality or county is an adversely affected
3-5 defense-dependent community if the department determines that:
3-6 (1) the municipality or county requires assistance
3-7 because of:
3-8 (A) the proposed or actual establishment,
3-9 realignment, or closure of a defense facility;
3-10 (B) the cancellation or termination of a United
3-11 States Department of Defense contract or the failure of the
3-12 department of defense to proceed with an approved major weapon
3-13 system program;
3-14 (C) a publicly announced planned major reduction
3-15 in department of defense spending that would directly and adversely
3-16 affect the municipality or county; or
3-17 (D) the closure or a significant reduction of
3-18 the operations of a defense facility as the result of a merger,
3-19 acquisition, or consolidation of a defense contractor operating the
3-20 facility; and
3-21 (2) the municipality or county is expected to
3-22 experience, during the period between the beginning of the federal
3-23 fiscal year during which an event described by Subdivision (1) is
3-24 finally approved and the date that the event is to be substantially
3-25 completed, a direct loss of:
4-1 (A) 2,500 or more defense worker jobs in any
4-2 area of the municipality or county that is located in an urbanized
4-3 area of a metropolitan statistical area;
4-4 (B) 1,000 or more defense worker jobs in any
4-5 area of the municipality or county that is not located in an
4-6 urbanized area of a metropolitan statistical area; or
4-7 (C) defense worker jobs representing one percent
4-8 of the jobs in the municipality or county.
4-9 Sec. 486.004. GRANT CRITERIA. (a) From money appropriated
4-10 for this purpose, the department may make a grant to an eligible
4-11 local governmental entity to allow the entity to meet a matching
4-12 money or investment requirement in order to receive from the United
4-13 States assistance that is provided to allow the local governmental
4-14 entity to respond to or recover from an event described by Section
4-15 486.003(b)(1). In addition, a grant may be made to an eligible
4-16 local governmental entity to match the entity's contribution for a
4-17 purpose described in Section 486.005 on a closed or realigned
4-18 defense facility.
4-19 (b) A grant may not be less than $50,000 or more than the
4-20 least of:
4-21 (1) 50 percent of the amount of matching money or
4-22 investment that the local governmental entity is required to
4-23 provide, subject to Subsection (c);
4-24 (2) 50 percent of the local governmental entity's
4-25 investment for purposes described in Section 486.005, in cases
5-1 where United States assistance is not available; or
5-2 (3) $2 million.
5-3 (c) If the local governmental entity demonstrates to the
5-4 department that, because of a limited budget, resources are not
5-5 available to provide 50 percent of the amount of matching money or
5-6 investment that the local governmental entity is required to
5-7 provide, the grant may be not more than 80 percent of the amount of
5-8 that matching money or investment requirement, but may not be more
5-9 than $2 million.
5-10 Sec. 486.005. USE OF PROCEEDS. (a) The local governmental
5-11 entity may use the proceeds of the grant for purchase of property
5-12 from the department of defense or its designated agent, new
5-13 construction, rehabilitation, or renovation of facilities or
5-14 infrastructure, or purchase of capital equipment or insurance.
5-15 (b) The local governmental entity may deliver the money to a
5-16 special district, development corporation, or other instrumentality
5-17 of the state or the local governmental entity for use as provided
5-18 by this chapter and other applicable law.
5-19 Sec. 486.006. DEFENSE ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE PANEL.
5-20 The department shall establish a defense economic adjustment
5-21 assistance panel within the department. The panel consists of at
5-22 least three and not more than five professional full-time employees
5-23 of the department appointed by the executive director of the
5-24 department.
5-25 Sec. 486.007. APPLICATION FOR GRANT. A local governmental
6-1 entity may apply for a grant under this chapter to the department
6-2 on a form prescribed by the department. The department shall
6-3 establish periodic application cycles to enable the panel and
6-4 department to evaluate groups of applicants in relation to each
6-5 other.
6-6 Sec. 486.008. EVALUATION OF APPLICATION. The panel shall
6-7 evaluate each application and assign the applicant a score based
6-8 on:
6-9 (1) the significance of the adverse effect within the
6-10 local governmental entity, including the number of jobs lost in
6-11 relation to the workforce in the local governmental entity's
6-12 jurisdiction and the effect on the area's economy and tax revenue;
6-13 (2) the extent to which the local governmental entity
6-14 has used its existing resources to promote local economic
6-15 development;
6-16 (3) the amount of any grant that the local
6-17 governmental entity has previously received under this chapter;
6-18 (4) the anticipated number of jobs to be created in
6-19 relation to the amount of the grant sought; and
6-20 (5) the extent to which the grant will affect the
6-21 region in which the local governmental entity is located.
6-22 Sec. 486.009. MAKING OF GRANT. The panel shall submit its
6-23 scores to the department's governing body. The governing body
6-24 shall use the scores to determine whether to make a grant to an
6-25 applicant. The governing body may not make a grant unless the
7-1 legislature has appropriated the money for the grant.
7-2 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
7-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-8 passage, and it is so enacted.