BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3956

By: Kuempel

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Guadalupe County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States and needs to make improvements to the county road system and local state highway system. The commissioners court of the county is contemplating large transportation improvement projects to accommodate this rapid growth but is in need of additional funding sources for the projects. C.S.H.B. 3956 seeks to provide a funding source for these much-needed transportation projects by authorizing the commissioners court to impose an additional vehicle registration fee to fund the projects.

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. 3956 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the commissioners court of the most populous county adjacent to a county that has a population of more than 1.5 million that is coterminous with a regional mobility authority to impose by order an additional vehicle registration fee to fund long-term transportation projects. The bill requires the fee to be approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the county voting on the issue at a referendum election ordered and held for that purpose by the commissioners court of the county.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3956 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 a requirement, which was not in the original, for the fee to be approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the county voting on the issue at a referendum election ordered and held for that purpose by the commissioners court of the county.