LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 82ND LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 20, 2011

TO:
Honorable Larry Phillips, Chair, House Committee on Transportation
 
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB578 by Guillen (Relating to state financing of public transportation.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Chapter 456 of the Transportation Code to specify that an urban transit district, which may otherwise become ineligible to receive certain state public transportation funds as a result of the 2010 federal decennial census, may continue to receive an amount of state funding not to exceed the amount of funds allocated to the district during the 2010-11 state fiscal biennium. The bill would require the Texas Transportation Commission, for the purposes of the allocation of state public transportation funds, to consider as an urban transit district a district that (1) received money during the 2010-11 biennium under the small urbanized area formula, (2) whose population according to the most recent decennial census is less than 50,000; and whose population loss over the preceding 10-year period is primarily the result of a natural disaster. These provisions of the bill would expire on August 31, 2018.

Based on the analysis of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), it is assumed any costs or duties associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be absorbed within the agency's existing resources.


Local Government Impact

Based on the information provided by TxDOT, it is assumed the bill would authorize the continued allocation of state public transportation funding to transit systems and providers in Laredo, the Woodlands, McKinney, Texas City-La Marque, Dickinson, and Galveston that may have otherwise lost their "small urban" status as a result of the 2010 federal decennial census. While the bill would not impact the total amount of available public transportation funding, it is assumed that the provisions of the bill would reduce the amount of funding that would have otherwise been available to other eligible transit providers.


Source Agencies:
601 Department of Transportation
LBB Staff:
JOB, KJG, MW, TG