BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4008

By: Frullo

Culture, Recreation & Tourism

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

A site selection organization for an event seeking funding through the major events reimbursement program must submit a plan to prevent the trafficking of persons in connection with the event to the attorney general's office and the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. C.S.H.B. 4008 seeks to develop better strategies to prevent the trafficking of persons and improve the coordination of the state's response to this practice by requiring that the plan also be submitted to the human trafficking prevention task force.

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. 4008 amends Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes to include as a required condition for an applicable event to receive funding through the major events reimbursement program the submission by a site selection organization or the organization hosting the event to the human trafficking prevention task force, in addition to the office of the attorney general and the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, of the plan to prevent the trafficking of persons in connection with the event. The bill authorizes an event to receive program funding, if the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office (TEDTO) determines the event is ineligible due solely to a failure to timely submit the required plan to prevent the trafficking of persons to the applicable entities, under the following conditions:

·         the plan is submitted to those entities not later than seven days before the event begins and is implemented during the event; and

·         all other requirements for program funding are satisfied not later than the 60th day after the last day of the fiscal year in which the event occurs, including the remission of certain local tax revenue to the major events reimbursement program fund and the completion of a measurable economic impact study, provided that submission of the plan to prevent the trafficking of persons was not previously required for that event. 

The bill's provisions apply to an event that occurs before, on, or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, on the 90th day after the last day of the legislative session.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4008 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 includes the following:

·         a specification that the organization hosting the event may submit the required plan to prevent the trafficking of persons as an alternative to its submission by the site selection organization;

·         a provision authorizing an event determined to be ineligible for program funding due solely to a failure to timely submit that required plan to receive funding if the plan is submitted by an alternate deadline and implemented during the event and certain other conditions are met; and

·         a provision making the bill applicable to an event that occurs before, on, or after the bill's effective date.

The substitute changes the effective date from September 1, 2019, to the 90th day after the last day of the legislative session.