By: Fraser S.B. No. 1675
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration of state-federal relations and
federal formula grant programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 751 Government Code is amended to read as
follows:
CHAPTER 751. OFFICE OF STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONS
SUBCHAPTER A. OFFICE OF STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONS GENERAL
PROVISIONS
Sec. 751.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Board" means the Office of State-Federal
Relations Advisory Policy Board.
(2) "Director" means the director of the Office of
State-Federal Relations.
(3) "Office" means the Office of State-Federal
Relations.
(4) "State agency" means a state board, commission,
department, institution, or officer within the executive
department having statewide jurisdiction, including a state
college or university.
Sec. 751.002. OFFICE OF STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONS. (a) The
Office of State-Federal Relations is established in the Office of
the Governor an agency of the state and operates within the
executive department.
(b) The office is subject to the administrative procedure
law, Chapter 2001.
Sec. 751.004. APPOINTMENT AND TERM OF DIRECTOR. (a) The
governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a
director of the office.
(b) The director serves at the pleasure of the governor.
Sec. 751.005. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.
(a) The director shall exercise the powers and carry out the
duties prescribed by this section in order to act as a liaison from
the state to the federal government.
(b) The director shall:
(1) help coordinate state and federal programs dealing
with the same subject;
(2) inform the governor and the legislature of federal
programs that may be carried out in the state or that affect state
programs;
(3) provide federal agencies and the United States
Congress with information about state policy and state conditions
on matters that concern the federal government;
(4) provide the legislature with information useful in
measuring the effect of federal actions on the state and local
programs;
(4) (5) prepare and supply to the governor and all
members of the legislature an annual report that:
(A) describes the office's operations;
(B) contains the office's priorities and
strategies for the following year;
(C) details projects and legislation pursued by
the office;
(D) discusses issues in the following
congressional session of interest to this state; and
(E) contains an analysis of federal funds
availability and formulae; and.
(6) prepare annually a complete and detailed written
report accounting for all funds received and disbursed by the
office during the preceding fiscal year.
(c) The director may maintain office space at locations
inside and outside the state as chosen by the director.
(d) The annual report required under Subsection (b)(6) must
meet the reporting requirements applicable to financial reporting
provided in the General Appropriations Act.
Sec. 751.006. STAFF; PERSONNEL POLICIES. (a) The
director may employ staff necessary to carry out the director's
powers and duties under this chapter. The director or the
director's designee shall provide to office employees, as often as
necessary, information regarding their qualification for
employment under this chapter and their responsibilities under
applicable laws relating to standards of conduct for state
employees.
(b) The director or the director's designee shall develop an
intraagency career ladder program that addresses opportunities for
mobility and advancement for employees within the office. The
program shall require intraagency posting of all positions
concurrently with any public posting.
(c) The director or the director's designee shall develop a
system of annual performance evaluations that are based on
documented employee performance. All merit pay for office
employees must be based on the system established under this
subsection.
(d) The director or the director's designee shall prepare
and maintain a written policy statement to assure implementation of
a program of equal employment opportunity under which all personnel
transactions are made without regard to race, color, disability,
sex, religion, age, or national origin. The policy statement must
include:
(1) personnel policies, including policies relating
to recruitment, evaluation, selection, appointment, training, and
promotion of personnel that are in compliance with the requirements
of Chapter 21, Labor Code;
(2) a comprehensive analysis of the office workforce
that meets federal and state guidelines;
(3) procedures by which a determination can be made
about the extent of underuse in the office workforce of all persons
for whom federal or state guidelines encourage a more equitable
balance; and
(4) reasonable methods to appropriately address those
areas of underuse.
(e) A policy statement prepared under Subsection (d) must
cover an annual period, be updated annually and reviewed by the
Texas Commission on Human Rights for compliance with Subsection
(d)(1), and be filed with the governor's office.
(f) The governor's office shall deliver a biennial report to
the legislature based on the information received under Subsection
(e). The report may be made separately or as a part of other
biennial reports made to the legislature.
(b) (g) The director and the staff of the office working in
Washington, D.C., may receive the same cost-of-living salary
adjustment as is established for an employee of another state
agency under Section 751.012(d).
Sec. 751.009. CONTRIBUTIONS. (a) The office may accept
contributions that the office determines will further the
objectives of the office.
(b) A contribution may not be used to pay any part of the
compensation of a person who is an officer or employee of the office
on the date the office receives the contribution.
Sec. 751.010. OFFICE OF STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONS ADVISORY
POLICY BOARD. (a) The Office of State-Federal Relations may
appoint members to an Advisory Policy Board consists of:
(1) the governor;
(2) the lieutenant governor; and
(3) the speaker of the house of representatives.
to assist in the administration of this chapter.
(b) A member of the board may designate a person to perform
the member's duties on the board.
(c) The board, by majority vote, shall select a presiding
officer of the board.
(d) A majority of the members of the board constitutes a
quorum to transact business.
(b) (e) The board shall may meet before the beginning of
each congressional session and at the call of the presiding officer
director.
(c) (f) The board shall may work with the director to hold
periodic meetings in the city of Austin at times determined by the
presiding officer to discuss upcoming federal activities and issues
with state agency representatives.
(d) An advisor serves without compensation but is entitled
to necessary and actual expenses incurred in performing duties
under this chapter.
Sec. 751.012. INTERAGENCY CONTRACTS. (a) The office may
enter into interagency contracts with other state agencies to
locate staff of the other state agency in Washington, D.C., to work
under the supervision of the director and shall coordinate
activities conducted on behalf of the other agency with those of the
office.
(b) (c) A contract under this section must include
provisions under which staff of the other state agency:
(1) report directly to the director;
(2) (1) report directly to that agency's
administrative head or the presiding officer of that agency's
governing body;
(3) (2) have an officially recognized role in that
agency's budget planning process;
(4) (3) provide periodic updates of activities at
meetings of to that agency's governing body; and
(5) (4) receive a salary established under Subsection
(d).
(c) (d) The state auditor shall establish a salary schedule
for state employees subject to a contract under this section. The
schedule shall:
(1) be based on specifications for expertise and
experience in state-federal relations; and
(2) include a standard cost-of-living adjustment to
compensate an employee for the cost of living in Washington, D.C.
(d) (e) A state agency identified by the Legislative Budget
Board or Governor's Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy as
receiving significant federal funding or significantly affected by
federal policy decisions, other than a state agency that is headed
by a statewide-elected official, shall:
(1) develop a plan of state-federal coordination;
(2) study the benefits of entering a contract under
Subsection (a); and
(3) submit the coordination plan and study to the
office and to the Legislative Budget Board.
(e) (f) The Health and Human Services Commission shall
satisfy the requirements of Subsection (d) (e) for all health and
human services agencies listed in Section 19, Article 4413(502),
Revised Statutes.
Sec. 751.013. PROGRAM AND FACILITY ACCESSIBILITY. The
office shall comply with federal and state laws related to program
and facility accessibility. The director shall also prepare and
maintain a written plan that describes how a person who does not
speak English can be provided reasonable access to the office's
programs and services.
Sec. 751.014. FUNDS SUBJECT TO STATE FUNDS REFORM ACT. All
money paid to the office under this chapter is subject to Subchapter
F, Chapter 404.
Sec. 751.015. AGENCY COMMUNICATIONS. A state agency shall,
to the extent practicable, contact the office before the agency
provides information to a federal agency or to the United States
Congress about state policy or conditions. This section does not
apply to a state agency that is headed by a statewide-elected
official.
SUBCHAPTER B. FEDERAL FUNDS MANAGEMENT
Sec. 751.021. DEFINITION. In this subchapter "federal
formula funds" means only those funds coming to the state based on
federal funding formulas or as otherwise legislated by congress,
excluding those funds known as federal discretionary grant funds.
Sec. 751.022. POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The Governor's
Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy office has primary
responsibility for monitoring, coordinating, and reporting on the
state's efforts to ensure receipt of an equitable share of federal
formula funds.
(b) The Governor's Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy
office shall:
(1) serve as the state's clearinghouse for information
on federal formula funds;
(2) prepare reports on federal funds and earned
federal formula funds;
(3) analyze proposed and pending federal and state
legislation to determine whether the legislation would have a
significant negative effect on the state's ability to receive an
equitable share of federal formula funds;
(4) make recommendations for coordination between
state agencies and local governmental entities and between state
agencies; and
(5) adopt rules under the rule-making procedures of
the administrative procedure law, Chapter 2001, Government Code, as
necessary to carry out the responsibilities assigned by this
subchapter.
(c) The Governor's Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy
office shall annually prepare a comprehensive report to the
governor and legislature on the effectiveness of the state's
efforts to ensure a receipt of an equitable share of federal formula
funds for the preceding federal fiscal year. The report must
include:
(1) an executive summary that provides an overview of
the major findings and recommendations included in the report;
(2) a comparative analysis of the state's receipt of
federal formula funds relative to other states, prepared using the
best available sources of data;
(3) an analysis of federal formula funding trends that
may have a significant effect on resources available to the state;
and
(4) recommendations, developed in consultation with
the Legislative Budget Board, the office Governor's Office of
Budget and Planning, and the comptroller, for any state legislative
or administrative action necessary to increase the state's receipt
of federal formula funds.
Sec. 751.024. REPORTS CONCERNING GRANT FUNDS. (a) Each
agency and each institution of higher education shall report to the
office, the Legislative Budget Board, and the Governor's Office of
Budget, Planning, and Policy budget division of the governor's
office:
(1) each application or request made to the United
States government for grant funds;
(2) the award or designation, by the United States
government, of any funds for expenditure by a state agency; and
(3) waivers of grant requirements.
(b) In consultation with the Governor's Office of Budget,
Planning, and Policy director, the Legislative Budget Board may
prescribe reporting procedures and time schedules necessary to
implement Subsection (a).
SECTION 2. Section 32.004 Government Code is amended by
adding subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) The director may maintain office space at locations
inside and outside the state as chosen by the director.
SECTION 3. The following laws are repealed: Sections
751.003, 751.008, 751.009, 751.011, 751.012(b), and 751.023
Government Code.
SECTION 4. On September 1, 2003, any powers, duties,
obligations, rights, contracts, records, employees, property,
funds, appropriations, and authorized Full-time Equivalent (FTE)
positions of the Office of State-Federal Relations are transferred
to the Trusteed Programs Within the Office of the Governor.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.