BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 265

By: Hilderbran

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to interested parties, a large proportion of the state's office space is leased property. This large amount of leased real estate costs the state millions of dollars a year that could be saved by moving various state agencies to state-owned facilities. H.B. 265 seeks to stop unnecessary spending and to use state-owned property to house government agencies that currently occupy rented or leased space and, in doing so, to boost economically struggling cities and further facilitate the progress of government.

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

H.B. 265 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Facilities Commission, in making a determination that state-owned space is not available to a state agency under the applicable prerequisites for leasing space for a state agency, to consider all available state-owned space in Texas, regardless of whether using state-owned space would require the agency to move all or part of the agency's operations to a different geographic location in Texas. The bill makes the commission's delegation to a state agency, including an institution of higher education, of the authority to enter into lease contracts for space contingent on a determination by the commission that state-owned space is not available, as provided by the bill's provisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.