House Committee on Appropriations
75th Legislature
February 27, 1997
8:00 am
Capitol Extension, E1.030
Pursuant to a notice posted on February 06, 1997, the House
Committee on Appropriations met in a public hearing and was
called to order by the Chair, Representative Robert Junell
at 8:04 am.
The roll was answered as follows:
Present: Representatives Junell; Delisi; Cuellar; Eiland;
Glaze; Heflin; Kubiak; Moreno; Mowery; Pitts;
Price; Swinford; Walker; West, George "Buddy"
(14).
Absent: Representatives Averitt; Coleman; Davis; Finnell;
Gallego; Greenberg; Haggerty; Hernandez;
Hinojosa; Hochberg; Raymond; Tillery; Turner,
Sylvester (13).
A quorum was present.
(Representatives Coleman; Finnell; Gallego; Haggerty;
Hernandez; Hinojosa; Hochberg; Raymond; and Turner,
Sylvester now present.)
Administrative Hearings, State Office of
Representative Kubiak moves to adopt the LBB budget as
amended. Change the method of finance from hourly billing
to general revenue funding for direct costs. Reduce
agencies budgets based on estimated activity. Add to
Article XI, $617,366 for change in method of finance for
indirect costs in docket management from cost recovery to
general revenue. Add rider to establish funding for
mandated divisions. The motion was adopted.
Cosmetology Commission
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
pending item to the agency's budget as follows: Add a
contingent revenue rider for field inspectors and licensing
examination staff. The motion is adopted.
Board of Registration for Professional Engineers
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
pending item to the agency's budget as follows: Add a
rider to increase interagency contracts for appropriate
strategy. The motion is adopted.
Finance Commission
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
pending items to the agencies' budget as follows: Adjust
the salary amount in the bill pattern for the Executive
Director to reflect the current salary. Revise Rider 1 in
the Office of the Consumer Credit Commission to specify
that funding is out of appropriation. The motion is
adopted.
Licensing and Regulation, Department of
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Add a rider limiting travel. Add a rider to redirect TDLR
to maximize reciprocity agreements. Increase targets to
tie to increase funding. Add a rider on elevators. Make a
technical correction to Rider 3. The motion was adopted.
Medical Examiners
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Add the salary language to the comptroller contingency
rider. The motion is adopted.
Veterinary Medical
Testimony was taken. See witness list.
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Add a rider to permit the board to pay for 3/4 of an
attorney. Add to Article XI a rider to dedicate the
collected fee to peer assistance. The motion was adopted.
Structural Pest Control
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Revise Rider 1 to appropriate exam fees in excess of
$250,000 to avoid a cost to the bill. The motion was
adopted.
Public Utilities Commission
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Make two new technical corrections on Riders 2 and 3. The
motion was adopted.
(Representatives Averitt; Greenberg; and Turner, Sylvester
now present.)
Workers' Compensation Commission
Testimony was taken. Sec witness list.
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Reallocate 54 Ombudsman. Reallocate positions for support
personnel. Add to Article XI the mainframe upgrade, the
replacement of PC's, and software upgrades. The motion was
adopted.
(Representative Davis now present.)
Research and Oversight Council on Workers' Compensation
Representative Kubiak moves to adopt the LBB budget. The
motion was adopted.
Article VIII, Special Provisions
Representative Kubiak moves to take up and consider the
following pending items to the agencies budget as follows:
Revise Rider 1 on Peer Assistance. Add a new rider on
Health Professions Council recommendations. Add a new rider
2, renumber other riders, on Biennial Review. The motion
was adopted.
ARTICLE II (cont's)
Health and Human Service Commission
Representative Eiland moves to adopt the LBB budget. Two
new rider proposals on Medicaid Fraud Detection are left
pending. The motion was adopted.
At 9:55 am, on the motion of the chair and without
objection, the meeting was recessed until 11:00 am or upon
adjournment.
The committee reconvened at 11:15 am and was called to
order by the chair, Representative Junell. The roll was
answered as follows:
Present: Representatives Junell; Delisi; Coleman; Eiland;
Finnell; Glaze; Greenberg; Hernandez; Hochberg;
Moreno; Price; Raymond; Walker; West, George
"Buddy" (14).
Absent: Representatives Averitt; Cuellar; Davis; Gallego;
Haggerty; Heflin; Hinojosa; Kubiak; Mowery;
Pitts; Swinford; Tillery; Turner, Sylvester (13).
A quorum was present.
Department of Human Services, Texas
(Representatives Heflin and Kubiak now present.)
(Representative Gallego now present.)
Representative Eiland moves to adopt the LBB budget as
amended. Add $500,000 for each year in federal funds for
Family Violence. Reduce GR by $455,711 for the biennium
and replace with Title XX. Allocate $2.8 million in TANF
funds for Automation changes related to TANF. Allocate
$7.868,918 in FY '98 and $8,415,311 in FY '99 in TANF funds
for the $50 disregard. As part of fund swap, reallocate
$39.6 million in GR to match federal medicaid dollars in
Community Care strategy and reallocate $3,612,183 in FY'98
and $5,604,820 in FY '99 in Title XX federal funds in
Community Care Services.
The committee reconvened at 1:55 pm and was called to order
by the chair, Representative Junell. The roll was answered
as follows:
Present: Representatives Junell; Delisi; Averitt; Coleman;
Cuellar; Davis; Eiland; Gallego; Glaze; Haggerty;
Heflin; Hernandez; Hinojosa; Hochberg; Kubiak;
Moreno; Mowery; Pitts; Raymond; Swinford; Turner,
Sylvester; Walker; West, George "Buddy" (23).
Absent: Representatives Finnell; Greenberg; Price;
Tillery (4).
A quorum was present.
Article VII
Housing and Community Affairs, Texas Department of
Testimony was taken. See attached witness list.
Representative Glaze moves to adopt LBB recommendations for
the bill pattern. Representative Glaze moves to adopt LBB
riders with the following amendments: Rider 3 (Home Match
Rider), Rider 10 (Appropriations Limited to Revenue
Collections, Rider 13 (Transfer for Federal Homeless Funds)
and a new rider (Community Development Assistance). Motion
to adopt Department of Commerce Allocation rider was
withdrawn along with two of Representative Swinford's TDHCA
riders were withdrawn.
Lottery Commission, Texas
Testimony was taken. See attached witness list.
Representative Raymond moves to adopt a new bill pattern
for lottery, the LBB budget for bingo and the following
riders: Riders- Limitation on transfer authority;
unexpended balances on advertising; appropriation lottery
administration; compulsive gambling hotline; and three
technical corrections to measures.
The motion was adopted.
(Representatives Finnell and Greenberg now present.)
(Representative Tillery now present.)
Fire Protection, Commission on
Testimony was taken. See attached witness list.
Representative Tuner moved to adopt the LBB budget with the
exception of $151,000 for key rate inspections in FY 1998
and one technical correction. The following riders were
adopted to the bill pattern: Prior Authorization to Work at
Home, Prohibit the Compensatory Time from Home, Fire
Department Inspections, Refer Complaints to the Office of
the Attorney General, Functional Regional Offices. The
motion was adopted.
Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission
Testimony was taken. See attached witness list.
Representative Heflin moves to adopt the LBB technical
correction to increase agency appropriation from fund 550;
add additional funding from fund 550 to Article XI; and add
new performance measures for superfund site evaluations and
cleanups. The motion was adopted.
Human Services, Department of
Testimony was taken. See attached witness list.
Representative Heflin moves to delete section D of section
7 under the department of Human Services. Motion to vote:
17 votes.
(Representative Price now present.)
ARTICLE III - PENDING ISSUES
Texas Education Association
Representative Greenberg lays out Rider 1 on Information
Access. The motion was adopted.
Representative Delisi lays out new performance measures on
Parent/Teacher Conferences. The motion was adopted.
Representative Junell lays out new rider on Board of
Examiners of Psychologists. The motion was adopted.
Representative Delisi lays out new rider on textbooks. The
motion was adopted.
Representative Delisi lays out new rider on Parental
Involvement. The motion was adopted.
Representative Davis lays out new rider on Committees in
Schools. Rider is left pending.
Representative Junell lays out new performance measures on
Asian Americans, Native Americans and Anglo students. The
motion was adopted.
Representative Swinford lays out rider on Compensatory
Education Funding. Rider is left pending.
Representative Greenberg makes a motion to add funds to The
School for the Blind and Visually Impaired for debt service
for renovation of dorms. Rider is left pending.
Animal Damage Control Service
Representative Pitts lays out new rider on Feral Hog
Control. The motion was adopted as amended.
Article IV Pending Issues
Representative Turner moved to add a contingency rider for
requests from the Public Integrity Unit to Article XI. The
motion was adopted.
Article V Pending Issues
Representative Turner moved to adopt a rider for legal
costs for the State Office of Administrative Hearings and a
contingency rider for requests from the agency. The motion
was adopted.
Representative Turner moved to adopt a sunset contingency
rider for the Council on Sex Offender Treatment. The
motion was adopted.
Representative Turner moved to adopt two amendments to
Rider #5 for the Department of Public Safety. Amendment
number one relating to federal funds failed. Amendment
number two relating to prioritization of seized assets
monies passed. Representative Turner moved to adopt a
rider on Criminal History Checks. The motion was adopted.
Representative Cuellar moved to adopt a rider relating to