By: Ogden S.B. No. 713
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the county and road district highway fund.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 256.002,
1-4 Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-5 (b) The money appropriated under Subsection (a) shall be
1-6 allocated among the counties as follows:
1-7 (1) one-half [one-fifth according to area, determined
1-8 by the ratio of the area of the county to the area of the state;]
1-9 [(2) two-fifths] according to rural population,
1-10 determined by the ratio of the rural population of the county to
1-11 the rural population of the state; and
1-12 (2) one-half [(3) two-fifths] according to lateral
1-13 road mileage, determined by the ratio of the mileage of lateral
1-14 roads in the county to the mileage of lateral roads in the state as
1-15 of January 1 of the year of the allocation as shown by the records
1-16 of the State-Federal Highway Planning Survey and the department.
1-17 (c) On its own motion or at the request of a county, the
1-18 commission may have a survey made of the county's lateral road
1-19 mileage. If a survey is made, its results shall be substituted for
1-20 the corresponding government information to be used under
1-21 Subsection (b)(2) [(b)(3)]. The governmental entity that requests
1-22 the survey shall pay for it.
1-23 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 256.003, Transportation
1-24 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-1 (a) A county may use the money it receives under Section
2-2 256.002 only for:
2-3 (1) purchasing right-of-way for lateral roads,
2-4 farm-to-market roads, or state highways;
2-5 (2) funding contracts for constructing and maintaining
2-6 lateral roads, as provided by Chapter 262, Local Government Code,
2-7 including the hiring of labor and the purchase of materials,
2-8 supplies, and equipment; or
2-9 (3) paying the principal, interest, and sinking fund
2-10 requirements maturing during the fiscal year on bonds, warrants, or
2-11 other legal obligations incurred to finance activities described in
2-12 Subdivisions (1) and (2).
2-13 SECTION 3. Section 153.503, Tax Code, is amended to read as
2-14 follows:
2-15 Sec. 153.503. ALLOCATION OF GASOLINE TAX. On or before the
2-16 fifth workday after the end of each month, the comptroller, after
2-17 making all deductions for refund purposes and for the amounts
2-18 allocated under Sections 153.502 and 153.5025, shall allocate the
2-19 net remainder of the taxes collected under Subchapter B as follows:
2-20 (1) one-fourth of the tax shall be deposited to the
2-21 credit of the available school fund;
2-22 (2) one-half of the tax shall be deposited to the
2-23 credit of the state highway fund for the construction and
2-24 maintenance of the state road system under existing law; and
2-25 (3) from the remaining one-fourth of the tax the
2-26 comptroller shall:
3-1 (A) deposit to the credit of the county and road
3-2 district highway fund all the remaining tax receipts until a total
3-3 of $25 million [$7,300,000] has been credited to the fund each
3-4 fiscal year; and
3-5 (B) after the amount required to be deposited to
3-6 the county and road district highway funds has been deposited,
3-7 deposit to the credit of the state highway fund the remainder of
3-8 the one-fourth of the tax, the amount to be provided on the basis
3-9 of allocations made each month of the fiscal year, which sum shall
3-10 be used by the Texas Department of Transportation for the
3-11 construction, improvement, and maintenance of farm-to-market roads.
3-12 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-13 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.