By: Corte H.B. No. 3115
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain homeland security activities, including the
operation of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Council by the
office of the governor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 421.002(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The governor's homeland security strategy shall
coordinate homeland security activities among and between local,
state, and federal agencies and the private sector and must include
specific plans for:
(1) intelligence gathering and analysis;
(2) information sharing;
(3) reducing the state's vulnerability to homeland
security emergencies;
(4) protecting critical infrastructure;
(5) protecting the state's international border,
ports, and airports;
(6) detecting, deterring, and defending against
terrorism, including cyber-terrorism and biological, chemical, and
nuclear terrorism;
(7) positioning equipment, technology, and personnel
to improve the state's ability to respond to a homeland security
emergency, including the:
(A) assessment of regional and statewide
emergency response plans and establishment of criteria for
coordinating emergency response systems and processes to improve
regional and statewide communication and responses to homeland
security emergencies;
(B) development of a command, mobilization, and
logistics process for the deployment of local, state, and federal
first responders, private sector emergency response providers, and
critical infrastructure experts determined by the governor to be
essential to the command function; and
(C) establishment of plans for the potential use
of additional response resources from the private sector as a
source of equipment, supplies, or qualified personnel to augment or
maximize the use of state, local, and regional response
capabilities, including pre-positioning response equipment and
contracting in advance for response services if the office of the
governor determines that this would provide the best value to
local, regional, or statewide response capabilities;
(8) directing the Texas Infrastructure Protection
Communications Center and giving the center certain forms of
authority to implement the governor's homeland security strategy;
and
(9) using technological resources to:
(A) facilitate the interoperability of
government technological resources, including data, networks, and
applications;
(B) coordinate the warning and alert systems of
state and local agencies;
(C) incorporate multidisciplinary approaches to
homeland security; and
(D) improve the security of governmental and
private sector information technology and information resources.
SECTION 2. Section 421.021, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 421.021. MEMBERSHIP. (a) The Critical Infrastructure
Protection Council is composed of:
(1) the governor or the governor's designee;
(2) one representative of the Texas National Guard,
appointed by the governor;
(3) for each of the following sectors of the state, one
representative of a state agency, one county-level representative,
one municipal-level representative, and one representative of a
private organization or entity, each appointed by the governor:
(A) law enforcement;
(B) emergency management;
(C) first responders; and
(D) firefighters; and
(4) for [one representative of] each of the following
sectors of the state [entities], one representative of a state or
local agency and one representative of a private organization or
entity, each appointed by the governor [single statewide elected or
appointed governing officer or administrative head of the entity]:
(A) agriculture [(1) Department of
Agriculture];
(B) finance [(2) office of the attorney
general];
(C) energy [(3) General Land Office];
(D) commercial and governmental facilities
[(4) Public Utility Commission of Texas];
(E) health [(5) Texas Department of Health];
(F) information resources [(6) Department of
Information Resources];
(G) ports and maritime industries
[(7) Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas];
(H) environment and water [(8) division of
emergency management of the office of the governor];
(I) transportation [(9) Texas National Guard];
and
(J) border issues [(10) Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality;
[(11) Railroad Commission of Texas;
[(12) Texas Strategic Military Planning Commission;
and
[(13) Texas Department of Transportation].
(b) To be eligible for appointment as a member of the
council, a person must demonstrate experience in the sector that
the person is under consideration to represent and be directly
involved in related [the] policies, programs, or funding activities
[of the appointing agency, office, or division] that are relevant
to homeland security or infrastructure protection.
(c) A member of the council serves at the will of the
governor. [At the request of the governor, an appointing authority
under this section shall appoint a different member.]
(d) An officer or employee of a state or local agency who
serves as a member of the council or a special advisory committee
under this subchapter shall perform the duties required by the
council or special advisory committee as an additional duty of the
member's office or employment without additional compensation. The
officer or employee may receive reimbursement for expenses incurred
in performing those duties, if any, only from the state or local
agency for which the person is an officer or employee in accordance
with the policies and procedures of the state or local agency.
SECTION 3. Section 421.022, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 421.022. COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES
PROHIBITED. A member of the council may not receive [additional]
compensation for service on the council. Except as provided by
Section 421.021(d), the member may not be reimbursed for [but is
entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in direct
performance of official duties, including] travel expenses
incurred by the member while conducting the business of the
council[, subject to any applicable limitation on reimbursement
provided by general law or the General Appropriations Act].
SECTION 4. Section 421.024, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 421.024. DUTIES. The council shall advise the
governor on:
(1) the development and coordination of a statewide
critical infrastructure protection strategy;
(2) the implementation of the governor's homeland
security strategy by state and local agencies and provide specific
suggestions for helping those agencies implement the strategy;
[and]
(3) specific priorities related to the governor's
homeland security strategy that the council determines to be of
significant importance to the statewide security of critical
infrastructure; and
(4) other matters related to the planning,
development, coordination, and implementation of initiatives to
promote the governor's homeland security strategy.
SECTION 5. Section 421.026, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 421.026. REPORT. The council shall annually submit to
the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house
of representatives a report stating:
(1) the council's progress in developing and
coordinating a statewide critical infrastructure protection
strategy;
(2) the status and funding of state programs designed
to detect and deter homeland security emergencies, including the
status and funding of counterterrorism efforts;
(3) recommendations on actions to reduce threats to
homeland security, including threats related to terrorism, with
priority given to recommendations regarding any security threats
that the council determines should be addressed by this state in the
immediate future; [and]
(4) recommendations for improving the alert,
response, and recovery capabilities of state and local agencies;
and
(5) in detail, the manner in which money spent on
homeland security activities from available sources of homeland
security funding is improving the overall security of each sector
of the state listed in Section 421.021(a).
SECTION 6. Sections 421.072(a) and (c), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The office of the governor shall:
(1) allocate available federal and state grants and
other funding related to homeland security to state and local
agencies, defense base development authorities created under
Chapter 379B, Local Government Code, and private entities that
perform homeland security activities;
(2) periodically review the grants and other funding
for appropriateness and compliance; [and]
(3) designate state administering agencies to
administer all grants and other funding to the state related to
homeland security; and
(4) in cooperation with the state and local agencies,
defense base development authorities, and private entities that
receive grants and other funding related to homeland security,
periodically perform threat risk penetration tests or other
exercises on certain facilities that are determined by the
governor, after consultation with the Critical Infrastructure
Protection Council, to represent a significant threat risk to
statewide critical infrastructure in order to:
(A) measure the effectiveness of the homeland
security grants and other funding; and
(B) identify specific enhancements that need to
be made with respect to security, emergency response, and recovery.
(c) A state or local agency, defense base development
authority, or private entity that receives a grant or other funding
related to homeland security must provide an annual report to the
office of the governor detailing:
(1) the [agency's] compliance of the agency,
authority, or entity with the state homeland security strategy;
(2) any expenditures made using the funding;
(3) any programs developed or implemented using the
funding; and
(4) the manner in which any expenditures made or
programs developed or implemented have improved the ability of the
agency, authority, or entity to detect, deter, respond to, and
recover from a terrorist attack.
SECTION 7. (a) The governor shall make all required
appointments to the Critical Infrastructure Protection Council, in
accordance with Section 421.021, Government Code, as amended by
this Act, not later than December 1, 2005.
(b) A member of the Critical Infrastructure Protection
Council serving on the effective date of this Act continues to serve
until the governor makes the appointments as required by Section
421.021, Government Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 8. 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, 2005.