HBA-DMH H.B. 2869 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2869
By: Ramsay
County Affairs
3/19/2001
Introduced
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

During the interim, the House Committee on County Affairs (committee)
discussed the cost of county statutory duties and the ability of the county
tax bases and fees to support such duties.  The committee found that the
lack of a central database and lack of consistency in the manner in which
counties collect and store financial data makes it difficult to evaluate
these issues.  Sixty-three of the 254 counties in Texas elected to
participate in the study by responding to surveys.   The information the
committee collected determined that some counties were able to raise the
funds necessary to meet statutory duties, while other were running out of
funding resources.  House Bill 2869 establishes the Texas County Financial
Data Advisory Committee to assistant in improving access to and consistency
of county financial information. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2869 amends the Local Government Code to create the Texas County
Financial Data Advisory Committee (committee) to study county financial
reporting requirements and systems and make recommendations to the
legislature on ways in which the collection and use of county financial
data can be improved without resulting in additional costs to counties.
The bill requires the recommendations to address issues relating to county
financial reporting requirements such as: 

_uniformity; 

_duplicative reporting requirements; 

_the Government Accounting Standards Board's most recent reporting
standards; 

_electronic filing; and

_costs associated with meeting the requirements.

The bill requires the committee to develop and recommend a consolidated
uniform financial reporting procedure that does not impose a greater
reporting burden on counties than current practices and a voluntary uniform
chart of accounts for counties. 

The bill provides for the appointment, administration, and composition of
the committee, sets forth terms relating to its members, and provides for
the election of a presiding officer.  The bill requires the comptroller of
public accounts, the Texas Association of Counties, and the Conference of
Urban Counties to provide by agreement for the staff and other resources
necessary for the operations of the committee.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.