By Keffer, Swinford, Turner of Coleman, Walker, H.B. No. 2156
Farabee
76R6905 WP-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the county and road district highway fund.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 256.002(b) and (c), Transportation Code,
1-5 are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (b) The money appropriated under Subsection (a) shall be
1-7 allocated among the counties as follows:
1-8 (1) one-half [one-fifth according to area, determined
1-9 by the ratio of the area of the county to the area of the state;]
1-10 [(2) two-fifths] according to rural population,
1-11 determined by the ratio of the rural population of the county to
1-12 the rural population of the state; and
1-13 (2) one-half [(3) two-fifths] according to lateral
1-14 road mileage, determined by the ratio of the mileage of lateral
1-15 roads in the county to the mileage of lateral roads in the state
1-16 as of January 1 of the year of the allocation as shown by the
1-17 records of the State-Federal Highway Planning Survey and the
1-18 department.
1-19 (c) On its own motion or at the request of a county, the
1-20 commission may have a survey made of the county's lateral road
1-21 mileage. If a survey is made, its results shall be substituted for
1-22 the corresponding government information to be used under
1-23 Subsection (b)(2) [(3)]. The governmental entity that requests the
1-24 survey shall pay for it.
2-1 SECTION 2. Section 256.003(a), Transportation Code, is
2-2 amended to read as follows:
2-3 (a) A county may use the money it receives under Section
2-4 256.002 only for:
2-5 (1) purchasing right-of-way for lateral roads,
2-6 farm-to-market roads, or state highways;
2-7 (2) funding contracts for constructing and maintaining
2-8 lateral roads, as provided by Chapter 262, Local Government Code,
2-9 including the hiring of labor and the purchase of materials,
2-10 supplies, and equipment; or
2-11 (3) paying the principal, interest, and sinking fund
2-12 requirements maturing during the fiscal year on bonds, warrants, or
2-13 other legal obligations incurred to finance activities described in
2-14 Subdivisions (1) and (2).
2-15 SECTION 3. Section 153.503, Tax Code, is amended to read as
2-16 follows:
2-17 Sec. 153.503. ALLOCATION OF GASOLINE TAX. On or before the
2-18 fifth workday after the end of each month, the comptroller, after
2-19 making all deductions for refund purposes and for the amounts
2-20 allocated under Sections 153.502 and 153.5025, shall allocate the
2-21 net remainder of the taxes collected under Subchapter B as follows:
2-22 (1) one-fourth of the tax shall be deposited to the
2-23 credit of the available school fund;
2-24 (2) one-half of the tax shall be deposited to the
2-25 credit of the state highway fund for the construction and
2-26 maintenance of the state road system under existing law; and
2-27 (3) from the remaining one-fourth of the tax the
3-1 comptroller shall:
3-2 (A) deposit to the credit of the county and road
3-3 district highway fund all the remaining tax receipts until a total
3-4 of $50 million [$7,300,000] has been credited to the fund each
3-5 fiscal year; and
3-6 (B) after the amount required to be deposited to
3-7 the county and road district highway funds has been deposited,
3-8 deposit to the credit of the state highway fund the remainder of
3-9 the one-fourth of the tax, the amount to be provided on the basis
3-10 of allocations made each month of the fiscal year, which sum shall
3-11 be used by the Texas Department of Transportation for the
3-12 construction, improvement, and maintenance of farm-to-market roads.
3-13 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-19 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
3-20 Amend H.B. No. 2156 on page 3, line 4, by striking "$50
3-21 million" and substituting "$25 million".
3-22 McCall