By: Watson S.B. No. 2168

(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2019; March 21, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Transportation; April 4, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 4, 2019, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to relief from local matching funds requirements for certain counties.

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

SECTION 1. Section 222.053, Transportation Code, is amended by adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) to read as follows:

(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a county is considered to be an "economically disadvantaged county" for the purposes of this section if it meets the criteria as laid out in Subsection (a) within the past six years and has been included in no less than five federally declared disasters within the same time period.

(a-2) For a county described by Subsection (a-1), the adjustment to the local matching funds requirement shall be equivalent to the highest adjustment rate set in the last year the county was considered to meet the criteria described in Subsection (a).

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2019.

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