84R8187 CJC-D

By: Turner of Collin H.B. No. 1650

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the legislative appropriations request process for the Texas Department of Transportation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 322.008, Government Code, is amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:

(b-1) The director shall, as appropriate, organize the proposed appropriations for the Texas Department of Transportation in the manner and include the content required under Section 201.119, Transportation Code.

SECTION 2. Section 201.119, Transportation Code, is amended by adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:

(c) Notwithstanding Section 401.042, Government Code, the department shall develop a zero-based legislative appropriations request for every third state fiscal biennium that includes:

(1) a citation to:

(A) the department's authority under the Texas Constitution to operate; and

(B) the law specifying the department's purpose or mission; and

(2) a list of the department's requests for legislative appropriations organized by program or activity.

(d) For each specific program or activity described by Subsection (c)(2), the department must include:

(1) a line item that describes the program or activity and the purpose of the program or activity and cites the law that authorizes or requires the program or activity;

(2) a statement of the commission's goals for the program or activity;

(3) the appropriation made for the program or activity for the state fiscal biennium preceding the state fiscal biennium for which the requested appropriation is made;

(4) the amount of the requested appropriation;

(5) a statement that specifies whether the requested appropriation for the program or activity is from nondedicated money in the general revenue fund, dedicated money in the general revenue fund, the state highway fund, federal money, or another source;

(6) the number of full-time equivalent employees authorized for the program or activity for the state fiscal biennium preceding the state fiscal biennium for which the requested appropriation is made and the number of full-time equivalent employees for the biennium that would be authorized under the requested appropriation;

(7) an itemized account of expenditures required to maintain the minimum level of service required by law to be provided through the program or activity and a succinct statement of the quantity and quality of services provided at that minimum level; and

(8) an itemized account of expenditures required to maintain the current level of service provided through the program or activity and a succinct statement of the quantity and quality of services provided at the current level.

(e) Line items described by Subsection (d)(1) must be grouped together according to the level in the department's organizational structure at which budgetary authority for the program or activity represented by a line item is exercised by a manager who has authority over the department's finances.

(f) For each legislative appropriations request made in the manner required by Subsection (c), the commission shall develop and submit to the Legislative Budget Board a ranking of the programs and activities represented by the line items according to the relative importance of each program and activity to the overall goals and purposes of the department and the commission.

SECTION 3. (a) Section 322.008, Government Code, as amended by this Act, applies beginning with the general appropriations bill prepared for the 2018-2019 state fiscal biennium.

(b) The Texas Department of Transportation shall develop and submit a zero-based legislative appropriations request as required by Section 201.119, Transportation Code, as amended by this Act, beginning with the department's legislative appropriations request for the 2018-2019 state fiscal biennium.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.