S.B. No. 1956
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to assistance for local areas affected by defense
  restructuring.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 486, Government Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER A.  GRANTS TO LOCAL AREAS AFFECTED BY DEFENSE BASE
  RESTRUCTURING
         Sec. 486.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
               (1)  "Commission" means the Texas Military
  Preparedness Commission.
               (2)  "Defense worker" means:
                     (A)  an employee of the United States Department
  of Defense, including a member of the armed forces and a government
  civilian worker;
                     (B)  an employee of a government agency or private
  business, or entity providing a department of defense related
  function, who is employed on a defense facility;
                     (C)  an employee of a business that provides
  direct services or products to the department of defense and whose
  job is directly dependent on defense expenditures; or
                     (D)  an employee or private contractor employed by
  the United States Department of Energy working on a defense or
  department of energy facility in support of a department of defense
  related project.
               (3) [(2)]  "Defense worker job" means a department of
  defense authorized permanent position or a position held or
  occupied by one or more defense workers for more than 12 months.
               [(3)     "Department" means the Texas Department of
  Commerce.]
               (4)  "Panel" means the Defense Economic Adjustment
  Assistance Panel.
         Sec. 486.002.  GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES.  (a)  The
  commission [department] shall administer and monitor the
  implementation of this chapter.
         (b)  The commission [department] shall establish criteria
  and procedures [for evaluations] and [awarding grants. The
  department shall] award grants equitably based on evaluations [so
  as to not disproportionally favor one defense-dependent community
  over another]. In awarding grants under this chapter, the
  commission [department] shall give a preference to adversely
  affected defense [defense-dependent] communities over positively
  affected defense [defense-dependent] communities.
         (c)  The commission [department] may use an amount equal to
  not more than two percent of the total amount of grants authorized
  during each biennium to administer this chapter and other law
  relating to readjustment of defense [defense-dependent]
  communities.
         (d)  The commission [department] shall adopt rules necessary
  to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
         Sec. 486.003.  ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT.  (a)  A local
  governmental entity is eligible for a grant under this chapter if it
  is:
               (1)  a municipality or county that is a defense 
  [defense-dependent] community;
               (2)  a regional planning commission that has a defense 
  [defense-dependent] community within its boundaries;
               (3)  a public junior college district all or part of
  which is located in a defense [defense-dependent] community;
               (4)  a campus or extension center for education
  purposes of the Texas State Technical College System located in a
  defense [defense-dependent] community; or
               (5)  a defense base development authority created under
  Chapter 379B, Local Government Code.
         (b)  A municipality or county is an adversely affected
  defense [defense-dependent] community if the department determines
  that:
               (1)  the municipality or county includes within its
  boundaries a defense facility that the department of defense or
  applicable military department has publicly proposed for closure or
  realignment; or
               (2)  the municipality or county:
                     (A)  requires assistance because of:
                           (i)  the proposed or actual establishment,
  realignment, or closure of a defense facility;
                           (ii)  the cancellation or termination of a
  United States Department of Defense contract or the failure of the
  department of defense to proceed with an approved major weapon
  system program;
                           (iii)  a publicly announced planned major
  reduction in department of defense spending that would directly and
  adversely affect the municipality or county; or
                           (iv)  the closure or a significant reduction
  of the operations of a defense facility as the result of a merger,
  acquisition, or consolidation of a defense contractor operating the
  facility; and
                     (B)  is expected to experience, during the period
  between the beginning of the federal fiscal year during which an
  event described by Subdivision (2)(A) is finally approved and the
  date that the event is to be substantially completed, a direct loss
  of:
                           (i)  2,500 or more defense worker jobs in any
  area of the municipality or county that is located in an urbanized
  area of a metropolitan statistical area;
                           (ii)  1,000 or more defense worker jobs in
  any area of the municipality or county that is not located in an
  urbanized area of a metropolitan statistical area; or
                           (iii)  defense worker jobs representing one
  percent of the jobs in the municipality or county.
         (c)  A municipality or county is a positively affected
  defense [defense-dependent] community if the commission 
  [department] determines that a military facility located in or near
  the local governmental entity receives new or expanded military
  missions as a result of the United States Department of Defense base
  realignment process.
         Sec. 486.004.  GRANT CRITERIA.  (a)  From money appropriated
  for this purpose, the commission [department] may make a grant to an
  eligible local governmental entity to:
               (1)  allow the entity to meet a matching money or
  investment requirement in order to receive from the United States
  assistance that is provided to allow the local governmental entity
  to respond to or recover from an event described by Section
  486.003(b)(1);
               (2)  match the entity's contribution for a purpose
  described in Section 486.005 on a closed or realigned defense
  facility; or
               (3)  construct infrastructure and other projects
  necessary to accommodate the new or expanded military missions at a
  military facility located in or near the local governmental entity.
         (b)  A grant may not be less than $50,000 or more than the
  least of:
               (1)  50 percent of the amount of matching money or
  investment that the local governmental entity is required to
  provide, subject to Subsection (c);
               (2)  50 percent of the local governmental entity's
  investment for purposes described in Section 486.005, in cases
  where United States assistance is not available; or
               (3)  $2 million.
         (c)  If the local governmental entity demonstrates to the
  commission [department] that, because of a limited budget,
  resources are not available to provide 50 percent of the amount of
  matching money or investment that the local governmental entity is
  required to provide, the grant may be not more than 80 percent of
  the amount of that matching money or investment requirement, but
  may not be more than $2 million.
         (d)  The commission [department] may make a grant to an
  eligible local governmental entity described by Section
  486.003(a)(3) or (4) without regard to the availability or
  acquisition of matching money.
         Sec. 486.005.  USE OF PROCEEDS.  (a)  The local governmental
  entity may use the proceeds of the grant for purchase of property
  from the department of defense or its designated agent, new
  construction, rehabilitation, or renovation of facilities or
  infrastructure, or purchase of capital equipment or facilities 
  insurance.
         (b)  The local governmental entity may deliver the money to a
  special district, development corporation, or other
  instrumentality of the state or the local governmental entity for
  use as provided by this chapter and other applicable law.
         (c)  An eligible local governmental entity described by
  Section 486.003(a)(3) or (4) may use the proceeds of the grant to
  purchase or lease equipment to train defense workers whose jobs
  have been threatened or lost because of an event described by
  Section 486.003(b)(2)(A).
         Sec. 486.006.  DEFENSE ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE
  PANEL.  The commission [department] shall establish a defense
  economic adjustment assistance panel [within the department]. The
  panel consists of at least three and not more than five professional
  full-time employees of the Office of the Governor [department]
  appointed by the [executive] director of the commission 
  [department].
         Sec. 486.007.  APPLICATION FOR GRANT.  A local governmental
  entity may apply for a grant under this chapter to the commission 
  [department] on a form prescribed by the commission [department].
  The commission [department] shall establish periodic application
  cycles to enable the panel and commission [department] to evaluate
  groups of applicants in relation to each other.
         Sec. 486.008.  EVALUATION OF APPLICATION.  The panel shall
  evaluate each application and assign the applicant a score based
  on:
               (1)  the significance of the adverse or positive effect
  within the local governmental entity, including the number of jobs
  lost or gained in relation to the workforce in the local
  governmental entity's jurisdiction and the effect on the area's
  economy and tax revenue;
               (2)  the extent to which the local governmental entity
  has used its existing resources to promote local economic
  development;
               (3)  the amount of any grant that the local
  governmental entity has previously received under this chapter;
               (4)  the anticipated number of jobs to be created in
  relation to the amount of the grant sought; and
               (5)  the extent to which the grant will affect the
  region in which the local governmental entity is located.
         Sec. 486.009.  MAKING OF GRANT.  The panel shall submit its
  scores to the commission [department's governing body]. The
  commission [governing body] shall use the scores to determine
  whether to make a grant to an applicant. The commission [governing
  body] may not make a grant unless the legislature has appropriated
  the money for the grant.
         Sec. 486.010.  DEFENSE [DEFENSE-DEPENDENT] COMMUNITY WITH
  MORE THAN ONE MILITARY FACILITY.  For purposes of the preference for
  adversely affected defense [defense-dependent] communities under
  Section 486.002(b), a defense [defense-dependent] community that
  contains or is near more than one military facility is considered an
  adversely affected defense [defense-dependent] community if the
  local governmental entity is applying for a grant under this
  subchapter for a project relating to the military facility that is
  closed or whose operations are significantly reduced.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 486, Government Code, is
  repealed.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1956 passed the Senate on
  April 18, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1956 passed the House on
  May 16, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 147, Nays 0, one
  present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor