BILL ANALYSIS
By: Chavez
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Under current law, Chapter 771, Government Code, Interagency Cooperation Act, public junior colleges are not included in the definition of "agency." This has created confusion in local areas—for example, when a junior college is working with an economic development board on a new business start-up project. In these situations the junior college applies for the Skills Development Fund, city funds, and workforce development customized training funds to train workers, but in order to administer the training project, the junior college currently needs to enter into an interagency agreement with the workforce development board. This bill includes junior colleges in the Interagency Cooperation Act.
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
Amends the definition of agency in Section 771.002(1), Government Code, in the following ways: (1) adding "junior college district" into the definition of agency, (2) specifying that "agency" includes a department, board, bureau, commission, court, office, authority, council, or institution of state government, (3) specifying that an applicable university or college must be a state university.
Changes all references to a "state agency" in Sections 771.003, 771.004, 771.007, and 771.010 of the Government Code, removing the redundant use of "state" in front of "agency" because the definition of agency specifies that the entities involved are only state entities.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage or September 1, 2005
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.H.B. 1331 specifies that entities included in the definition of "agency" must be state entities and then changes all redundant references to "state agency" to simply read "agency."