1-1     By:  Lewis of Tarrant (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)        H.B. No. 2563
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
 1-3     May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Human
 1-4     Services; May 13, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 13, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to creation of a pilot program to establish individual
 1-9     development accounts for certain low-income individuals.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is amended
1-12     by adding Section 301.068 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 301.068.  DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNTS FOR CERTAIN LOW-INCOME
1-14     INDIVIDUALS; PILOT PROGRAM.  (a)  In this section, "nonprofit
1-15     organization" includes a community development organization,
1-16     minority economic development organization, community-based
1-17     organization, and affordable housing agency.
1-18           (b)  The commission by rule shall develop and implement a
1-19     pilot program under which an individual development account is
1-20     established for certain low-income individuals who are employed by
1-21     the public or private sector.  The commission shall contract with a
1-22     nonprofit organization through competitive proposals to establish
1-23     and administer the account in accordance with commission rules.
1-24           (c)  In adopting rules under the pilot program, the
1-25     commission shall:
1-26                 (1)  design the program in a manner that provides a
1-27     participant with an opportunity to accumulate assets and to
1-28     facilitate and mobilize savings;
1-29                 (2)  state the selection criteria for a nonprofit
1-30     organization to establish and administer accounts under the
1-31     program;
1-32                 (3)  establish procedures to receive requests for
1-33     proposals from qualifying nonprofit organizations;
1-34                 (4)  ensure that participation in the program is
1-35     limited to individuals who have a family income below 200 percent
1-36     of the poverty level according to the federal Office of Management
1-37     and Budget poverty index;
1-38                 (5)  provide that expenditures from a participant's
1-39     individual development account are limited to postsecondary
1-40     educational expenses for the adult account holder and dependent
1-41     children, housing expenses, including expenses of purchasing or
1-42     financing a home for the adult account holder, expenses of a
1-43     self-employment enterprise, and start-up business expenses for the
1-44     adult account holder; and
1-45                 (6)  establish the program in eight counties:
1-46                       (A)  two of which must have a population of
1-47     500,000 or more but less than one million;
1-48                       (B)  two of which must have a population of one
1-49     million or more but less than two million;
1-50                       (C)  two of which must have a population of two
1-51     million or more; and
1-52                       (D)  two of which must be primarily rural areas
1-53     that have poverty rates per capita exceeding 1-1/2 times the
1-54     statewide poverty rate per capita.
1-55           (d)  Not later than the second anniversary of the date on
1-56     which the pilot program required by this section is implemented,
1-57     the commission shall contract with an institution of higher
1-58     education, as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, to
1-59     evaluate the program and prepare a report of its findings.
1-60           (e)  Not later than January 1, 2005, the commission shall
1-61     submit to the legislature a report on the status of the pilot
1-62     program in each selected county with recommendations for
1-63     implementation of the program statewide.
1-64           (f)  This section expires September 1, 2005.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-2           (b)  As soon as possible after the effective date of this
 2-3     Act, the Texas Workforce Commission shall develop and implement the
 2-4     pilot program required by Section 301.068, Labor Code, as added by
 2-5     this Act.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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