HBA-SEP H.B. 3106 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3106 By: Alexander Ways & Means 3/22/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Texas school districts and district employees, including teachers, struggle to keep pace with rising health care costs. These districts need assistance in meeting the demands of health care costs, and allocating revenue generated from an increase in the gasoline tax to health care coverage for school district employees will contribute to decreasing the funding shortfall. House Bill 3106 dedicates one-fourth of any revenue derived from an increase in the rate of the gasoline tax to funding group health benefits for active employees of school districts. 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 3106 amends the Tax Code to increase by $0.05 cents per gallon, the tax rate for state gasoline, diesel, and liquified fuel. The annual advanced tax based on the registered gross weight and mileage driven the previous year for a user of liquified gas for the propulsion of a motor vehicle is incrementally increased. The annual advanced tax for transit carrier vehicles operated by a transit company that uses liquified gas is increased from $444 to $592. The bill provides that the first $17.7 million of the gasoline tax revenue deposited by the comptroller of public accounts to the credit of the state highway fund be allocated to counties in the manner specified in the bill. The remainder of the amount deposited in the state highway fund is required to be used for existing purposes. The bill allocates one-fourth of the net revenue generated from the increased gasoline tax to be used for the sole purpose of funding group health benefits for active employees of school districts. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.