BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1389

By: Lucio

International Trade & Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties recognize a need for increased cooperation and stronger coordination between Texas and Mexico for purposes of the flow of commerce along the Texas-Mexico border.
S.B. 1389 seeks to address this need.

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

S.B. 1389 reenacts and amends provisions of the Government Code to include the following among the duties of the border commerce coordinator: working to identify problems associated with border truck inspections and related trade and transportation infrastructure and developing recommendations for addressing those problems; working with the appropriate state and federal agencies to develop initiatives to mitigate congestion at ports of entry; and developing recommendations designed to increase trade by attracting new business ventures, support expansion of existing and new industries, and address workforce training needs.

S.B. 1389 requires the border commerce coordinator to work with the interagency work group on border issues, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and other appropriate community organizations adjacent to the Texas-Mexico border and with comparable entities in Mexican states adjacent to that border to address the unique planning and capacity needs of those areas. The bill requires the coordinator to assist those governments, organizations, and entities to identify and develop initiatives to address those needs and, before January 1 of each year, to submit to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature a report of the coordinator's activities addressing the needs of those areas during the preceding year. The bill requires the coordinator to work with private industry and appropriate entities of Texas and the United States to require low-sulfur fuel to be sold along highways in Texas carrying increased traffic related to activities under the North American Free Trade Agreement and to work with representatives of the government of Mexico and the governments of Mexican states bordering Texas to increase the use of low-sulfur fuel.

S.B. 1389 requires the border commerce coordinator to appoint a border mayor task force, to be named the Texas Good Neighbor Committee, consisting of the mayors from every municipality located in Texas along the Texas-Mexico border that has an adjoining sister city in Mexico. The bill requires the task force to advise the coordinator on key trade, security, and transportation-related issues important to the municipalities appointed to the task force; to hold quarterly meetings with mayors from Mexico to increase cooperation, communication, and the flow of information, identify problems, and recommend solutions; to seek assistance and input from private sector stakeholders involved in commerce to identify issues to address; and to provide recommendations to assist the coordinator in carrying out the coordinator's statutory duties.

S.B. 1389 repeals the following provisions of the Government Code:

· Section 772.010, as added by Chapter 429 (S.B. 1136), Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999

· Section 3(a), Chapter 1215 (H.B. 925), Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005, which reenacted and amended Section 772.010, Government Code, as added by Chapters 429 (S.B. 1136) and 1339 (H.B. 564), Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.