BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2519

By: Coleman

County Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties are concerned that there are often delays in disbursing emergency services district funds due to certain procedural requirements regarding the signatures of district officers. There are additional concerns regarding the limited options that an emergency services district is currently allowed to use to dispose of the district's surplus property. H.B. 2519 seeks to address these concerns.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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. 2519 amends the Health and Safety Code to authorize the assistant treasurer of the board of emergency services commissioners, if the board's treasurer is absent or unavailable, to sign an instrument for a disbursal of emergency services district funds and authorizes the board's vice president, if the board's president is absent or unavailable, to countersign such an instrument.

H.B. 2519 revises the methods by which an emergency services district may dispose of property owned by the district. The bill retains the authority of a district to sell or dispose of its surplus or salvage property and the authority of a district to sell or lease property through sealed-bid procedures and to sell real property through broker agreements under specified Local Government Code provisions governing those procedures and agreements and specifies that such disposal is limited to those methods and to the following methods: selling the property to a third party following the procedures authorized under specified Local Government Code provisions governing the sale or lease of real property by a county; selling or disposing of the property following the procedures authorized under specified Local Government Code provisions governing the disposition of a county's salvage or surplus property; or selling the property using an Internet auction site. The bill removes the procedures authorized under specified Local Government Code provisions relating to a county's disposition of school lands from the authorized methods by which district property is sold to a third party. The bill authorizes the district to contract with a private vendor to assist with the sale of the property. The bill requires the district to sell the property using the method of sale that the board of emergency services commissioners determines is the most advantageous to the district under the circumstances and requires the board to adopt rules establishing guidelines for making that determination. The bill requires a district using an Internet auction site to sell property to post the property on the site for at least 10 days. The bill authorizes the district to reject any or all bids or proposals for the purchase of the property.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2015.