By Truan                                               S.B. No. 304
         76R2472 DB-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to coordinating colonia initiatives.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.   Title 7, Government Code, is amended by adding
 1-5     Chapter 775 to read as follows:
 1-6             CHAPTER 775.  COORDINATION OF COLONIA INITIATIVES 
 1-7           Sec. 775.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this section:
 1-8                 (1)  "Agency" includes a state office, institution, or
 1-9     other state governmental entity.
1-10                 (2)  "Colonia" means a geographic area that:
1-11                       (A)  has a majority of its population composed of
1-12     individuals and families of low income and very low income, based
1-13     on the federal Office of Management and Budget poverty index; and
1-14                       (B)  is an economically distressed area as
1-15     defined by Section 17.921, Water Code.
1-16           Sec. 775.002.  INTERAGENCY COORDINATION OF COLONIA
1-17     INITIATIVES.  (a)  The following agencies shall designate an
1-18     officer or employee of the agency to serve as the agency's
1-19     coordinator of colonia initiatives:
1-20                 (1)  the office of the attorney general;
1-21                 (2)  the Texas Education Agency;
1-22                 (3)  the Texas Department of Health;
1-23                 (4)  the Texas Department of Housing and Community
1-24     Affairs;
 2-1                 (5)  the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
 2-2     Commission;
 2-3                 (6)  the Texas Water Development Board;
 2-4                 (7)  The University of Texas--Pan American; and
 2-5                 (8)  the Texas Workforce Commission.
 2-6           (b)  Each agency's coordinator of colonia initiatives must be
 2-7     the equivalent of a deputy executive director at the agency or have
 2-8     direct or indirect authority over the equivalent of a deputy
 2-9     executive director at the agency.
2-10           (c)  Each agency's coordinator of colonia initiatives shall
2-11     coordinate colonia initiatives within the agency and with the other
2-12     agencies listed in Subsection (a).
2-13           (d)  The Texas Water Development Board's coordinator of
2-14     colonia initiatives shall preside over the group of coordinators
2-15     for purposes of interagency coordination.
2-16           (e)  The group of coordinators shall meet at least
2-17     semiannually at the call of the Texas Water Development Board's
2-18     coordinator or according to a schedule established by the group.
2-19           (f)  Representatives of each agency listed in Subsection (a)
2-20     who are assigned to duty at an office of the agency near the
2-21     international border of this state and whose assigned duties
2-22     include responsibility for some aspect of the agency's work with
2-23     colonias or with residents of colonias shall meet with each other
2-24     according to a schedule established by the representatives to
2-25     coordinate colonia initiatives at the local level.  Representatives
2-26     from the agencies' offices that serve the same county or counties
2-27     may meet together, or representatives from all of the agencies'
 3-1     offices near the international border may meet together.
 3-2           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-8     passage, and it is so enacted.