AN ACT
1-1 relating to the establishment and maintenance of one-stop border
1-2 inspection stations by the Texas Department of Transportation in
1-3 Brownsville, Laredo, and El Paso.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 201.613 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 201.613. ONE-STOP BORDER INSPECTION STATIONS. (a) The
1-8 department shall choose a location for an inspection station along
1-9 a major highway at or near a border crossing from Mexico in
1-10 Brownsville, in Laredo, and in El Paso so that all federal, state,
1-11 and municipal agencies that regulate the passage of persons or
1-12 vehicles across the border at that border crossing may be located
1-13 in one place.
1-14 (b) The department shall establish and maintain an
1-15 inspection station at the locations chosen in Subsection (a) only
1-16 if the federal agencies involved in the regulation of the passage
1-17 of persons or vehicles at that border crossing agree to the design
1-18 of the facility at each location and agree to use the facility at
1-19 each location if built.
1-20 (c) The department may enter into agreements with federal,
1-21 state, and municipal agencies to accomplish the purpose of this
1-22 section. An agreement may involve the lease of office space at the
1-23 inspection station by the department to the agency.
1-24 SECTION 2. The Texas Department of Transportation shall
2-1 spend at least $8 million but not more than $9 million of the funds
2-2 that are appropriated to the department by House Bill No. 1, Acts
2-3 of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999 (the General
2-4 Appropriations Act), for the biennium beginning September 1, 1999,
2-5 or that are received from the federal government, for the
2-6 preliminary costs associated with establishing the facilities
2-7 required by Section 201.613, Transportation Code, as added by this
2-8 Act, including the design, site selection, purchase, and
2-9 construction-related costs of the facilities. The department shall
2-10 apportion the funds in a manner to achieve approximately equal
2-11 progress in the establishment of the facilities at each location.
2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18 passage, and it is so enacted.
S.B. No. 913
________________________________ ________________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 913 passed the Senate on
April 27, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0;
May 25, 1999, Senate refused to concur in House amendment and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 26, 1999, House
granted request of the Senate; May 30, 1999, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 30,
Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 913 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 23, 1999, by a non-record vote; May 26, 1999,
House granted request of the Senate for appointment of Conference
Committee; May 30, 1999, House adopted Conference Committee Report
by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
________________________________
Date
________________________________
Governor