BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 737 |
By: Hancock |
Urban Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties report that some cities provide little notice that a municipal fee increase is being contemplated and that it is often difficult to locate this information in city budget documents. C.S.S.B. 737 seeks to increase transparency and improve citizens' ability to fully participate in the city budgeting process by providing for notification requirements for proposed changes to municipal fees.
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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.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 737 amends the Local Government Code to require each municipality, other than a municipality located primarily in a county with a population of less than 30,000, to establish and maintain an email notification service to which any person may electronically subscribe to receive information regarding new or increased municipal fees, defined by the bill as any payment required by a municipality for a municipal action or approval. The bill requires the email notification service to allow a subscriber to request notification of each new fee proposed to be adopted by the municipality, each existing fee proposed to be increased by the municipality, proposed and adopted municipal budgets that include use of revenue from such fees, or a public hearing scheduled to be held at which such fees or such budgets are scheduled to be discussed. The email notification service must also include a specified link and notify the subscriber by email not later than the day the municipality, the municipality's budget officer, or the municipality's governing body takes certain actions. The bill authorizes a municipality that does not maintain an email notification service for any purpose on January 1, 2017, to post the applicable notifications on the municipality's website that are accessible from a prominently displayed link on the home page of that website instead of establishing the prescribed email notification service.
C.S.S.B. 737 requires a proposed municipal budget filed with the municipal clerk that includes estimated revenue from a new fee or the increase of an existing fee to contain a cover page with a specified statement regarding that fee and requires the cover page of an adopted municipal budget to include that same statement if applicable. The adoption of a municipal budget that includes estimated revenue from a new fee or the increase of an existing fee requires a separate vote of the governing body to ratify the use of that revenue. The bill establishes that such a vote is in addition to and separate from the vote to adopt the budget or a vote to adopt or increase the fee.
C.S.S.B. 737 makes certain of its provisions regarding municipal budgets applicable only to a proposed or adopted budget for a fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2018.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 737 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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