H.B. 1702 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1702 By: Taylor County Affairs Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently the Local Government Code 263.053, as it applies to Counties with a population greater than 500,000, reads: "(b) The commissioners court of the county may sell land, buildings, facilities, or equipment for the purpose of making contracts for the lease or rental of land, buildings, facilities, or equipment or for receiving services from others for county purposes. The commissioners court may pay regular monthly bills for utilities, such as electricity, gas, and water, for the property leased or rented or for the services received." "(c) If a majority of the commissioners court determines that the facilities and equipment are essential for the proper administration of county government, the commissioners court may pay for the facilities and equipment and for the regular monthly bills from the general fund of the county. The commissioners court must make the payment by warrant in the manner that payments for other obligations of the county are made." HB 1702 would lower the floor to include counties of 250,000 or more people. Seven counties in Texas have population more than 500,000, Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, El Paso and Hidalgo. Under the current official census numbers changing the population floor to 250,000 this legislation would include in the law eight more counties, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Cameron, Nueces, Montgomery, Jefferson and Galveston. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Section 1 of HB 1702 amends the title of section 263.053 of the Local Government Code to reflect the population floor change to 250,000. Section 2 amends 263.053 Local Government Code lowering the population floor to 250,000. EFFECTIVE DATE Immediate effective date with two-thirds vote of each house, if not then September 1, 2003.