| TO: | Honorable Robert Puente, Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB3477 by Gallego (Relating to the operation of the strategic mapping program administered by the Texas Water Development Board. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would direct the executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to operate, as part of the Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS), a strategic mapping (StratMap) program to acquire, store, and distribute digital, geospatial information.
The bill would create a new General Revenue Dedicated Account - Strategic Mapping Fund, which could be appropriated only to the Board to develop, administer, and implement the strategic mapping program and to administer, implement, and operate other programs of the TNRIS, including the operation of a Texas-Mexico border region information center and for other mapping related purposes. The bill provides that the account would consist of the following: legislative appropriations; gifts; grants; and proceeds from the sale of maps; data and publications.
For purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that the agency would use existing resources to the extent possible to operate the StratMap program. However, if a funding source was available, this bill provides that the TWDB could use the funds in the GR-Dedicated Strategic Mapping Account to expand StratMap and provide incentive grants to local entities for strategic mapping projects. The cost to the state for this expansion, including: 12 new FTEs; the costs to obtain and store additional StratMap data; and the grants could be as much as approximately $3.0 million a fiscal year.
The fund, account, or revenue dedication included in this bill would be subject to funds consolidation review by the current Legislature.
Local governments could benefit from this legislation due to the opportunities for grant funds and the availability of more digital geographic data for their area.
| Source Agencies: | 580 Water Development Board
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, WK, ZS, JF
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