78R14735 JJT-D


By:  Pickett                                                      H.B. No. 3442



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to granting statutory authority to certain governmental 
entities to reduce certain expenditures and to impose charges in 
amounts sufficient to recover costs.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURES AND IMPOSITION OF 
CHARGES GENERALLY.  (a)  This section applies to any state agency 
that receives an appropriation under Article VI of the General 
Appropriations Act.
	(b)  Notwithstanding any other statute of this state, each 
state agency to which this section applies is authorized to reduce 
or recover expenditures by:
		(1)  consolidating any reports or publications the 
agency is required to make and filing or delivering any of those 
reports or publications exclusively by electronic means;
		(2)  extending the effective period of any license, 
permit, or registration the agency grants or administers;
		(3)  entering into a contract with another governmental 
entity or with a private vendor to carry out any of the agency's 
duties;
		(4)  adopting additional eligibility requirements for 
persons who receive benefits under any law the agency administers 
to ensure that those benefits are received by the most deserving 
persons consistent with the purposes for which the benefits are 
provided;
		(5)  providing that any communication between the 
agency and another person and any document required to be delivered 
to or by the agency, including any application, notice, billing 
statement, receipt, or certificate, may be made or delivered by 
electronic mail or through the Internet; and
		(6)  adopting and collecting fees or charges to cover 
any costs the agency incurs in performing its lawful functions.
	SECTION 2.  TEXAS ANIMAL HEALTH COMMISSION; DUTIES REGARDING 
RIDING STABLES.  (a)  The Texas Animal Health Commission shall 
reduce its expenditures of state money related to regulating equine 
riding stables.
	(b)  Chapter 2053, Occupations Code, is repealed.                              
	SECTION 3.  ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS OF RAILROAD COMMISSION 
OF TEXAS.  Section 102.006, Utilities Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
	Sec. 102.006.  [POWERS AND DUTIES OF STATE OFFICE OF] 
ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS IN CONTESTED CASES.  (a) The railroad 
commission by rule shall provide for administrative hearings in 
contested cases to be conducted by one or more members of the 
railroad commission, by railroad commission hearings examiners, or 
by the [The] utility division of the State Office of Administrative 
Hearings.  The rules must provide for a railroad commission 
hearings examiner or the utility division of the State Office of 
Administrative Hearings to  [shall] conduct each hearing in a 
contested case that is not conducted by one or more members of the 
railroad commission.  A hearing must be conducted in accordance 
with the rules and procedures adopted by the railroad commission.
	(b)  The railroad commission may delegate to a railroad 
commission hearings examiner or to the utility division of the 
State Office of Administrative Hearings the authority to make a 
final decision and to issue findings of fact, conclusions of law, 
and other necessary orders in a proceeding in which there is not a 
contested issue of fact or law.
	(c)  The railroad commission by rule shall define the 
procedures by which it delegates final decision-making authority 
under Subsection (b) to a railroad commission hearings examiner or 
to the utility division of the State Office of Administrative 
Hearings.
	(d)  For purposes of judicial review, the [an administrative 
law judge's] final decision of a railroad commission hearings 
examiner or an administrative law judge of the State Office of 
Administrative Hearings in a matter delegated under Subsection (b) 
has the same effect as a final decision of the railroad commission 
unless a member of the commission requests formal review of the 
decision.
	(e)  The State Office of Administrative Hearings shall 
charge the railroad commission a fixed annual rate for hearings 
conducted by the office under this section only if the legislature 
appropriates money for that purpose.  If the legislature does not 
appropriate money for the payment of a fixed annual rate under this 
section, the State Office of Administrative Hearings shall charge 
the railroad commission an hourly rate for hearings conducted by 
the office under this section.
	SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  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.