BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2272

By: Ordaz Perez

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, the El Paso County judge is authorized to delegate the authority to sign certain orders or other official documents to a county commissioner. It has been noted that in a county with a population of more than 1.5 million, the county judge may delegate that authority to any county officer or employee, thus allowing for increased efficiency and less of a backlog of unsigned documents. C.S.H.B. 2272 seeks to make El Paso County government more efficient by authorizing the delegation of signature authority to county officers or employees.

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. 2272 amends the Local Government Code to include among the persons to whom the county judge of a county that has a population of more than 800,000 and is located on the international border may delegate the ability to sign orders or other official documents associated with the county judge's office a chief administrator or another county officer or employee. The bill authorizes a county judge to revoke or transfer this authority.

C.S.H.B. 2272 also authorizes the commissioners court of such a county by order to delegate managerial authority of the commissioners court to a county chief administrator. The delegating order must clearly indicate the specific managerial authority delegated to the administrator and, by subsequent order, the commissioners court may revoke or modify the managerial authority delegated to the administrator.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2272 differs from the original only by including a Texas Legislative Council draft number in the footer.