78R3336 ATP-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 517
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the Texas Border Strategic Investment
Commission.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle F, Title 4, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 489 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 489. TEXAS BORDER STRATEGIC INVESTMENT COMMISSION
Sec. 489.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Commission" means the Texas Border Strategic
Investment Commission.
(2) "Texas-Mexico border region" has the meaning
assigned by Section 2056.002.
Sec. 489.002. PURPOSE. The future economic health of this
state is dependent in part on investing in the Texas-Mexico border
region. The Texas-Mexico border region has the highest poverty and
unemployment rates in the country, and the per capita income is the
lowest in the country. Texas should invest in and create economic
engines in the Texas-Mexico border region that will allow that part
of the state to grow, prosper, and participate in the Texas dream.
Strategic funding for one region of the state, even where the
benefit to the whole state is the primary objective, is politically
difficult to achieve in the legislative process. Therefore, this
commission is established to bring a statewide perspective to
strategic Texas-Mexico border region investments.
Sec. 489.003. TEXAS BORDER STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
COMMISSION; MEMBERS. (a) The Texas Border Strategic Investment
Commission is established.
(b) The commission is composed of:
(1) the lieutenant governor;
(2) the speaker of the house of representatives;
(3) the comptroller;
(4) the commissioner of agriculture;
(5) the chair of the senate finance committee;
(6) the chair of the house appropriations committee;
and
(7) the secretary of state.
(c) The lieutenant governor shall serve as the chair of the
commission.
Sec. 489.004. FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION. (a) Not later than
December 1 of each even-numbered year, the commission shall
identify and recommend funding for strategic economic development
initiatives in the six metropolitan statistical areas in the
Texas-Mexico border region.
(b) The strategic investment initiatives recommended shall
be identified using criteria that include the following:
(1) whether the initiative recommended is the most
significant investment the state can make in a key regional cluster
to produce a sound foundation for economic development;
(2) whether the investment recommended leverages
other significant funds or has an objective and calculable rate of
return;
(3) whether the recommendation is a clearly defined
concept with significant regional support;
(4) whether the concept recommended requires special
investment to be accomplished in the near future because similar
and timely funding by local, state, or federal sources in the normal
appropriations process is unlikely; and
(5) whether the investment recommended will increase
the per capita income and decrease the unemployment rate of the
affected area.
Sec. 489.005. REPORT. (a) Not later than December 1 of
each even-numbered year, the commission shall file a report with
the legislature that states the strategic investment initiatives
recommended by the commission during the preceding two-year period
and identifies the initiatives that received funding during the
preceding fiscal biennium. The report must include any
recommendations for legislative action the commission considers
appropriate to further the function of the commission.
(b) For those recommended initiatives that received funding
during the biennium in which the report is made, the commission
shall, in addition to evaluating other performance measures
identified by the commission, evaluate the following performance
measures in the report:
(1) the number of jobs created by the initiative and
the nature of economic development created by the initiative;
(2) the impact of any economic development on wage
rates in the affected metropolitan statistical area;
(3) the wages and benefits paid by the employer of the
created jobs compared to the county-wide average wage for the
particular industry sector that received funding;
(4) the other funds that were leveraged or the
calculable rate of return from the investment in a particular
initiative;
(5) the initiative's ability to attract new industry
and economic development to the Texas-Mexico border region; and
(6) the duration and quality of the jobs, economic
development, and opportunities created.
Sec. 489.006. FUNDING. (a) In addition to any amount
appropriated by the legislature, the commission may request state
agencies to apply for funds from the federal government or any other
public or private entity. The commission may also solicit grants,
gifts, and donations from private sources on the state's behalf.
The use of a gift, grant, or donation solicited under this section
must be consistent with the purposes of the commission.
(b) The commission shall review and may require reports of
state agencies that receive appropriations, gifts, grants,
donations, or endowments as a result of the commission's
recommendations.
(c) A state agency may accept a gift, grant, donation, or
endowment received as a result of the commission's recommendations.
Sec. 489.007. STUDY OF PERSISTENT POVERTY COUNTIES. The
commission may study counties with persistent poverty, as
classified by the Economic Research Service of the United States
Department of Agriculture.
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.