BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3668

By: Walle

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that local food banks often see their resources depleted quickly after a disaster and struggle for long periods thereafter to return to normal operating capacity. C.S.H.B. 3668 seeks to address this issue by establishing a program to provide grants to nonprofit organizations in Texas for distribution to nonprofit food banks to build their capacity to respond to disasters.

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

C.S.H.B. 3668 amends the Government Code to require the governor's office, using money available for the purpose, to establish a program to provide grants to nonprofit organizations in Texas for distribution to nonprofit food banks to build the capacity of the food banks to respond to disasters. The bill limits the purposes for which the grant money may be used to reimbursing a nonprofit food bank for all or part of the costs incurred as a result of the following:

· maintaining an inventory of emergency food boxes in preparation for a disaster;

· purchasing, storing, and transporting food for distribution during a disaster; and

· purchasing capital equipment necessary to operate during a disaster.

To be eligible to receive a grant, an organization must have at least five years of experience coordinating a statewide network of nonprofit food banks and charitable organizations that distribute food to needy or low income individuals during disasters and be a member of the Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

C.S.H.B. 3668 requires the governor's office to establish procedures for the administration of the grant program, to enter into a contract that includes performance requirements with each grant recipient, and to monitor and enforce the contract's terms. The bill requires the contract to authorize the office to recoup grant money from a recipient for failure of the recipient to comply with the contract's terms. The bill authorizes the governor's office to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any source for the purpose of awarding the disaster grants to food banks.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3668 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute specifies that the grant program is to be established using money available for the purpose.

The substitute does not provide for the direct issuance of grants to nonprofit food banks in Texas but provides instead for the issuance of grants to nonprofit organizations in Texas for distribution to such food banks. The substitute includes conditions of eligibility to receive a grant.