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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to municipal, county, and school district and other |
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special district budgets. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. DEFINITION. (a) In this Act, "local government" |
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means: |
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(1) a county; |
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(2) a municipality; |
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(3) a school district or other special district; or |
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(4) any other local government or political |
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subdivision of this state. |
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SECTION 2. LIMIT ON GROWTH OF BUDGET. (a) The governing |
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body of a local government may not adopt a budget that exceeds the |
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revenue adopted in the previous year by the lesser of: |
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(1) the growth in this state's gross state product as |
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determined under Section 3 of this Act; or |
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(2) population growth in the local government plus |
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inflation as determined under Sections 4 and 5 of this Act. |
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(b) The local government may exclude money received from the |
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federal government in calculating the revenue. |
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SECTION 3. GROSS STATE PRODUCT. The comptroller shall |
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determine the estimated rate of growth of the Texas gross state |
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product using information provided by the Bureau of Economic |
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Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce or its |
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successor in function and by other sources the comptroller |
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considers reliable. |
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SECTION 4. POPULATION GROWTH. The comptroller shall |
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determine the rate of growth of the local government's population. |
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SECTION 5. INFLATION. The comptroller shall determine the |
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rate of monetary inflation in this state based on the average rate |
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of change during the preceding six years of the effective consumer |
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price index for this state. For purposes of this Act, the effective |
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consumer price index for this state is the average of the consumer |
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price indexes, as determined by the United States Department of |
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Labor, for: |
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(1) the Houston metropolitan area; and |
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(2) the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. |
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SECTION 6. REFERENDUM. The voters of a local government may |
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nullify Section 2 of this Act if a majority of the voters voting at a |
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referendum on that issue favor nullification. |
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SECTION 7. TRANSITION. This Act applies only to a local |
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government budget adopted on or after the effective date of this |
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Act. A local government budget adopted before the effective date of |
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this Act is governed by the law in effect when the budget was |
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adopted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
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SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect September |
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1, 2011. |