HBA-DMD C.S.H.B. 1341 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1341 By: Gallego State, Federal, & International Relations 3/25/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Out of the 254 counties in Texas, 225 still have historic county courthouses, all of which have as a group been named to the National Trust for Historic Places' list of the 11 Most Endangered Places in the United States. These courthouses are in need of repair due to outdated electric wiring, roof leaks, and inadequate climate control. Some have become unusable. C.S.H.B. 1341 requires the Texas Historical Commission (commission) to establish a historic courthouse preservation program (program) to award loans and grants for restoring or preserving historic courthouses. This bill authorizes the commission to establish requirements for awarding a loan or grant to a county and establishes a historic courthouse preservation fund account as a separate account in the general revenue fund. This bill also prohibits a grant for a historic courthouse project from exceeding four million dollars. C.S.H.B. 1341 requires the commission to adopt rules to administer the program, regarding preservation standards, maximum loan amounts, elements of a master plan, application consideration, and project oversight procedures. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Historical Commission in SECTION 2 (Sections 442.0081, 442.0082, and 442.0083, Government Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 442.001, Government Code, as follows: Sec. 442.001. New Title: DEFINITIONS. Defines "historic courthouse" and "historic courthouse project." Redesignates Subdivisions (1)-(6) to paragraphs (A)-(F), respectively. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 442, Government Code, by adding Sections 442.0081, 442.0082, and 442.0083, as follows: Sec. 442.0081. HISTORIC COURTHOUSE PRESERVATION PROGRAM; GRANTS AND LOANS. (a) Requires the Texas Historical Commission (commission) to administer a historic courthouse preservation program. (b) Authorizes a county that owns a historic courthouse to apply to the commission for a grant or loan for a historic courthouse project. Specifies provisions for the application. (c) Authorizes the commission to grant or loan money to a county that owns a historic courthouse, for the purpose of preserving or restoring the courthouse, provided that the county's application meets the standards of the historic courthouse preservation program. Requires the commission, when considering whether to grant the county's application, to consider the preferences and factors listed in this section as well as any other factors that the commission is authorized to provide by rule. (d) Specifies the conditions which the commission is required to give preference to when considering whether to grant an application. (e) Specifies the provisions the commission is required to consider when considering whether to grant an application. (f) Requires the commission to adopt rules regarding the way in which it will consider the following factors when analyzing a county's contribution to project costs under Subsection (d): (1) the period during which past expenditures can be considered; (2) the amount of past expenditures that can be considered; and (3) the amount and type of in-kind contributions that can be considered. (g) Requires the commission to appoint a Texas Courthouse Preservation Program Advisory Committee (committee), after considering any recommendations from the governor, lieutenant governor, or speaker of the house of representatives. Requires the committee to assist the commission on matters relating to the historic courthouse preservation program. Authorizes the commission to reimburse a committee member's travel expenses and provide a per diem for other expenses from funds that are appropriated to the commission, but not from the funds in the historic courthouse preservation fund account (account) created by this chapter. Provides that Chapter 2110 (State Agency Advisory Committees), Local Government Code, applies to the committee, and specifies the composition of the committee. (h) Requires the commission to adopt rules necessary to implement the historic courthouse preservation program. Sec. 442.0082. HISTORIC COURTHOUSE PROJECT; REQUIREMENTS. (a) Provides that before incurring any expenses payable from funds received from the commission under the historic courthouse preservation program, a county must have a master preservation plan for its historic courthouse project. Requires the commission, by rule, to prescribe the elements of a master preservation plan. (b) Provides that a county that receives money under the historic courthouse preservation program must use recognized preservation standards for work on a historic courthouse project, which the commission, by rule, is required to adopt. Authorizes the commission to adopt standards that are published by the secretary of the interior of the United States for the treatment of historic properties. (c) Authorizes a county that receives money under the historic courthouse preservation program for a historic courthouse project to use the money only for eligible preservation and restoration expenses that the commission, by rule, is required to prescribe. Specifies the costs which eligible expenses are authorized to include. (d) Subjects a county's expenditure of money received under this chapter for a historic courthouse project to an audit by the state auditor in accordance with Chapter 321 (State Auditor), Government Code. (e) Requires the commission, by rule, to provide for oversight procedures on a project, to provide for reasonable inspections by the commission as well as periodic reports by a county on a project's progress. Sec. 442.0083. FUNDING FOR HISTORIC COURTHOUSE PRESERVATION PROGRAM; HISTORIC COURTHOUSE PRESERVATION FUND ACCOUNT. (a) Establishes that the account is a separate account in the general revenue fund consisting of transfers made to the account, payments on loans made under the historic courthouse preservation program, grants and donations made for the purposes of the historic courthouse preservation program, and income earned on investments of money in the account. Requires that appropriations to the commission for the historic courthouse preservation program be deposited to the credit of the account. Requires income earned on money in the account to be deposited to the credit of the account, notwithstanding Section 404.071 (Disposition of Interest on Investments), Government Code. (b) Authorizes the commission to use money in the account to provide a grant or loan to a county that owns a historic courthouse for a historic courthouse project. Authorizes the grant or loan to be in the amount and according to the terms that the commission, by rule, is required to determine. (c) Authorizes the commission, as a condition for providing the money under this section, to require creation of a conservation easement in the property, as provided by Chapter 183 (Conservation Easements), Natural Resources Code, in favor of the state and to require creation of other appropriate covenants in favor of the state. Authorizes the commission to take any necessary action to enforce repayment of a loan or any other agreements made under this section and Sections 442.0081 and 442.0082. (d) Prohibits a grant for a historic courthouse project from exceeding four million dollars or two percent of the amount appropriated for implementing the historic courthouse preservation program during the state fiscal biennium, whichever is greater. (e) Prohibits biennial appropriations to the commission for administering the historic courthouse preservation program, including providing oversight for historic courthouse projects, from exceeding two million dollars or one percent of the amount appropriated for implementing the historic courthouse preservation program during the state fiscal biennium, whichever is greater. (f) Authorizes the commission, by rule, to set a limit on the loan amount for a historic courthouse project which may be expressed as a dollar amount or as a percentage of the total amount appropriated for implementing the historic courthouse preservation program during the state fiscal biennium. (g) Authorizes the commission to accept a gift, grant, or other donation for the historic courthouse preservation program or a specific historic courthouse project. SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999. Requires the commission to adopt rules required by Sections 442.0081, 442.0082, and 442.0083, Government Code, as added by this Act, no later than November 1, 1999. SECTION 4.Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1341 differs from the original bill in SECTIONS 2 and 3 by providing that a county that owns a historic courthouse, rather than an owner of a historic courthouse who is a county or nonprofit organization, is authorized to apply for a grant or loan for a historic courthouse project. C.S.H.B. 1341 modifies the provisions for the application for a grant or loan in SECTION 2 (Section 442.0081(b), Government Code) by making a conforming change. This substitute modifies the provisions to which the commission is required to give preference when considering whether to grant an application in SECTION 2 (Section 442.0081(d), Government Code) by making a conforming change. In SECTION 2, the substitute redesignates Sections 442.0081 (e) and (f) of the original to Sections 442.0081 (f) and (e) of the substitute. The substitute modifies the composition of the Texas Courthouse Preservation Program Advisory Committee in SECTION 2 (Section 442.0081(g), Government Code). Also in SECTION 2 (Section 442.0082(c), Government Code), the substitute modifies the provisions of the eligible preservation and restoration expenses by deleting the provision making alteration of the landscape an eligible expense.