BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3723

By: Guillen

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, certain counties can impose an optional fee for transportation projects when vehicles are registered in those counties.  C.S.H.B. 3723 provides a local option for additional counties to raise revenue for long-term transportation projects using vehicle registration. 

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

C.S.H.B. 3723 amends the Transportation Code, in provisions relating to registration of vehicles, to decrease from 300,000 to 60,000 the minimum population of a county whose commissioners court is authorized to impose an optional county fee for transportation projects under certain conditions. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 3723 omits a provision included in the original increasing the maximum amount of an optional county fee for the road and bridge fund imposed by the commissioners court of a county for registering a vehicle in the county. 

C.S.H.B. 3723 differs from the original, in provisions relating to the application of provisions governing an optional county fee for transportation projects, by making the provisions apply to a county that meets certain conditions and has a population of more than 60,000, whereas the original makes the provisions apply to a county that meets certain conditions and has a population of more than 250,000 and does not border the Gulf of Mexico.

C.S.H.B. 3723 omits provisions included in the original relating to the imposition, collection, and use of an optional county fee for transportation projects.