| TO: | Honorable Tommy Williams, Chair, Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB20 by Williams (Relating to a grant program for certain natural gas motor vehicles.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would establish two new grant programs under the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), the natural gas vehicle rebate program and a program to fund natural gas fueling stations. Of the 87.5 percent funds in the General Revenue-Dedicated Texas Emissions Reduction Plan Account No. 5071, money allocated to the emissions reduction incentive programs, not less than 16 percent would be allocated to the natural gas vehicle rebate program and not more than 4 percent would be allocated for the refueling station program.
The bill would establish the Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program. Under this new chapter, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) would be directed to establish two new grant programs for funding the purchase or lease of natural gas vehicles or engines and the establishment of natural gas refueling stations along the interstate highways between Houston, San Antonio, and the Dallas, and Fort Worth. The TCEQ would be required to consult with the TERP Advisory board on establishing natural gas vehicle grants.
TCEQ's requirements established in the bill are expected to be absorbed using current agency appropriations for the administration of the TERP program.
The bill is expected to lower the amount of grant funds available to reduce the amount of funds that are provided as diesel emissions grants by a total of 20 percent in favor of the newly created natural gas vehicle rebate program and the refueling station program upon passage of the bill. Based on the 2010-11 allocation of TERP Account No. 5071 funds in which a total of $104.1 million was available for the emissions reduction incentive programs, the bill's passage would result in a reduction of $20.8 million per fiscal year in diesel emission reduction grants, while the natural gas vehicle rebate program would receive $16.7 million in annual funding, and the refueling station program would receive $4.2 million in annual funding. However, it should be noted that Senate Bill 1 as introduced includes a reduction of 50 percent in funding out of the TERP Account No. 5071 for the 2012-13 biennium as compared to 2010-11 levels, so the amount of funds available for the new programs would likely be proportionately less.
| Source Agencies: | 582 Commission on Environmental Quality, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 712 Texas Engineering Experiment Station
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, KJG, ZS, TL
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