By: Flynn H.B. No. 3074
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to required activities and limits on the amounts of state
financial assistance for which regional planning commissions may be
eligible:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 391.012, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 391.012. STATE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. (a) To
qualify for state financial assistance, a commission must:
(1) have funds available annually from sources other
than federal or state governments equal to or greater than half of
the state financial assistance for which the commission applies;
(2) comply with the regulations of the agency
responsible for administering this chapter;
(3) offer membership in the commission to all counties
and municipalities included in the state planning region [or
subregion];
(4) include any combination of counties or
municipalities having a combined population equal to or greater
than 60 percent of the population of the state planning region [or
subregion];
(5) include at least one full county;
(6) encompass an area that is economically and
geographically interrelated and forms a logical planning region;
and
(7) be engaged in a regional [comprehensive
development] planning process.
(b) Within funds available and in accordance with rules
issued by the office of the governor, a commission may use state
financial assistance to:
(1) promote intergovernmental cooperation by
coordinating regional plans and programs with member governments,
nonmember governments, state agencies which impact the region, and,
where state agencies have regional office structures, state agency
regional offices;
(2) function as a regional review agency under the
Texas Review and Comment System pursuant to state and federal
statutes and regulations;
(3) leverage commission dues, local funds, and state
funds to obtain maximum federal funding assistance and private
funding for the state and the region;
(4) provide assistance to local governments;
(5) assist state agencies and organizations in
developing local and regional input for state plans; in planning
for the successful implementation of state programs at the regional
level as required in Section 391.009, Subsection (c; in preparing
for and conducting state-sponsored hearings and public meetings;
and in disseminating state-generated information and educational
materials; and
(6) provide assistance to state agencies and
organizations in developing, implementing, and assessing state
programs and services within the region as needed [A comprehensive
development planning process must assess the needs and resources of
a region, formulate goals, objectives, policies and standards to
guide the long range physical, economic, and human resource
development of a region, and prepare plans and programs that:
[(1) identify alternative courses of action and the
special and functional relationships among the activities to be
carried out;
[(2) specify the appropriate ordering in time of
activities;
[(3) take into account other relevant factors
affecting the achievement of the desired development of the region;
[(4) provide an overall framework and guide for the
preparation of function and project development plans;
[(5) make recommendations for long range programming
and financing of capital projects and facilities that are of mutual
concern to two or more participating governmental units; and
[(6) make other appropriate recommendations].
(c) A commission that qualifies for state financial
assistance is eligible annually for an [maximum] amount determined
as follows [of]:
(1) [$10,000 base grant;
(2) an additional] $1,000 for each dues-paying member
county; [and]
(2) [(3)] an additional 10 cents per capita for the
population of dues-paying member counties and municipalities; and
(3) the amount necessary to assure that the total
amount available to the commission is no less than $50,000.
(d) If state appropriations are more than the amount
necessary to fund the level of financial assistance generated by
this formula, the governor shall increase the funding for which
each commission is eligible in proportion to the amount it would
have been eligible to receive in subsection (c) [The minimum amount
of annual state financial assistance for which a commission may
apply is $15,000].
(e) If state appropriations are less than the amount
necessary to fund the level of financial assistance generated by
the formula in subsection (c) above:
(1) No commission shall receive less than annual
financial assistance of $50,000, as long as financial assistance
available to all commissions remains at or above the level of
assistance allocated in fiscal year 2003.
(2) If available annual financial assistance is less
than the amount allocated in fiscal year 2003, then assistance to
all commissions shall be reduced proportionally from the assistance
they would have received at the fiscal year 2003 funding level.
(f) For the purposes of this section, the population of a
county is the population outside all dues-paying member
municipalities.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.