By: Pickett H.B. No. 1
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation and functions of legislative select
  committees on transportation funding, expenditures, and finance
  and to the preservation of a sufficient balance in the economic
  stabilization fund.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  (a)  The speaker of the house of representatives
  shall appoint nine members to a House Select Committee on
  Transportation Funding, Expenditures, and Finance and designate
  one member as chair. The lieutenant governor shall appoint nine
  members to a Senate Select Committee on Transportation Funding,
  Expenditures, and Finance and designate one member as chair. The
  speaker and lieutenant governor shall make the appointments not
  later than November 30, 2013.
         (b)  The committees established under this section may meet
  separately at the call of the chair of the committee or jointly at
  the call of both chairs.  In joint meetings, the chairs shall act as
  joint chairs.
         (c)  The committees established under this section, meeting
  separately or jointly, shall review, study, and evaluate:
               (1)  the future reliability of all current state
  transportation funding sources;
               (2)  alternatives that may increase available state
  funding for surface transportation, including an examination of
  increases to current surface-transportation-related funding
  streams and possible diversions of
  non-surface-transportation-related funding streams toward surface
  transportation funding;
               (3)  the use of debt financing in state transportation
  funding, including the uses of the Texas Mobility Fund, and the
  effects on long-term transportation planning of using debt
  financing;
               (4)  alternative transportation funding options in use
  nationally and internationally;
               (5)  current and historic appropriations to the Texas
  Department of Transportation, including:
                     (A)  whether that agency's budget structure best
  maximizes the application of limited public funds toward highway
  maintenance and construction;
                     (B)  whether there are opportunities to reduce the
  use of money from the state highway fund by that agency for
  activities not related to highway maintenance and construction,
  including such uses as employee salaries and benefits; and
                     (C)  possible benefits of developing a budget for
  that agency for the 2016-2017 state fiscal biennium using
  zero-based budgeting principles;
               (6)  the uses of the state highway fund for agencies
  other than the Texas Department of Transportation, including and
  emphasizing the use of that fund for the Department of Public Safety
  of the State of Texas; and
               (7)  the original purpose of the economic stabilization
  fund established by Section 49-g, Article III, Texas Constitution,
  whether that purpose remains relevant, and whether it remains
  appropriate to continue using the net amount of oil and gas
  production taxes received in the 1987 state fiscal year as the basis
  for making general revenue transfers to the economic stabilization
  fund.
         (d)  Following consideration of the factors described by
  Subsection (c) of this section, the committees established under
  this section shall jointly adopt recommendations related to the
  reviewed subjects and shall provide a written report of the
  committees' recommendations on the reviewed subjects to the
  legislature not later than November 1, 2014.
         (e)  The committees established under this section may
  exercise any power of a committee of their respective chambers and
  any powers of a joint committee. For the purposes of this Act, the
  committees established under this section are considered a joint
  committee and the cost of operation of each committee may be borne
  in the same manner as the cost of a joint committee. The Texas
  Legislative Council may provide funding for the operations of the
  committees. To the extent not inconsistent with this resolution,
  the joint rules adopted by the 83rd Legislature for the
  administration of joint interim legislative study committees apply
  to the committees established under this section.
         (f)  This section expires January 13, 2015.
         SECTION 2.  (a) Chapter 316, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subchapter H to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER H. PRESERVATION OF SUFFICIENT BALANCE IN ECONOMIC
  STABILIZATION FUND
         Sec. 316.091.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (1)  "Board" means the Legislative Budget Board.
               (2)  "Fund" means the economic stabilization fund.
         Sec. 316.092.  DETERMINATION OF SUFFICIENT BALANCE;
  LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL. (a)  For the purposes of Section 49-g(c-2),
  Article III, Texas Constitution, before the board submits the
  budget as prescribed by Section 322.008(c), the board shall
  determine and adopt for the next state fiscal biennium a sufficient
  balance of the fund in an amount that the board estimates will
  ensure an appropriate amount of revenue available in the fund. In
  determining the sufficient balance for that fiscal biennium, the
  board shall consider:
               (1)  the history of fund balances;
               (2)  the history of transfers to the fund;
               (3)  estimated fund balances during that fiscal
  biennium;
               (4)  estimated transfers to the fund to occur during
  that fiscal biennium;
               (5)  information available to the board regarding state
  highway congestion and funding demands; and
               (6)  any other information requested by the board
  regarding the state's financial condition.
         (b)  On or before October 1 of each even-numbered year, the
  comptroller shall provide to the board the comptroller's projection
  of the amounts to be transferred to the fund during the next state
  fiscal biennium.
         (c)  The legislature by adoption of a resolution approved by
  at least two-thirds of the members of each house must approve the
  sufficient balance of the fund determined by the board under this
  section. If the legislature does not adopt a resolution as provided
  by this subsection, the comptroller shall adjust the allocation of
  amounts to be transferred to the fund and to the state highway fund
  as provided by Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, so
  that the total of those amounts are transferred to the economic
  stabilization fund, except that the comptroller shall reduce a
  transfer made under this subsection as necessary to prevent the
  amount in the fund from exceeding the limit in effect for that
  biennium under Section 49-g(g) of that article.
         Sec. 316.093.  ADJUSTMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL ALLOCATIONS TO
  FUND AND STATE HIGHWAY FUND. (a)  
  Before the comptroller makes
  transfers for a state fiscal year in accordance with Section
  49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, the comptroller shall
  determine whether the sum of the balance of the fund on the
  preceding August 31, any projected transfer to the fund under
  Sections 49-g(b) of that article, and any projected transfer to the
  fund under Section 49-g(c) of that article in accordance with the
  allocations for the transfer as provided by Section 49-g(c-1) of
  that article is less than the sufficient balance adopted under
  Section 316.092.
         (b)  If the sum described by Subsection (a) is less than the
  sufficient balance adopted under Section 316.092, the comptroller
  shall adjust the allocation of amounts to be transferred to the fund
  and to the state highway fund as provided by Section 49-g(c),
  Article III, Texas Constitution, so that:
               (1)  the amount allocated for transfer to the fund is
  increased by an additional amount equal to the lesser of the
  remaining one-half of the sum of the amounts allocated for transfer
  under Sections 49-g (d) and (e) of that article or the amount
  necessary for the sufficient balance to be reached when considered
  together with other estimated transfers to the fund during the
  then-current fiscal year; and
               (2)  the amount allocated for transfer to the state
  highway fund is reduced by the amount of the increased allocation to
  the fund under Subdivision (1).
         (c)  If the board has not adopted under Section 316.092 a
  sufficient balance for the comptroller to consider under this
  section, the comptroller shall adjust the allocation of amounts to
  be transferred to the fund and to the state highway fund as provided
  by Section 49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, so that the
  total of those amounts are transferred to the economic
  stabilization fund, except that the comptroller shall reduce a
  transfer made under this subsection as necessary to prevent the
  amount in the fund from exceeding the limit in effect for that
  biennium under Section 49-g(g) of that article.
         (d)  As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
  section, the board shall determine and adopt a sufficient balance
  of the fund applicable to the transfers to be made under Section
  49-g(c), Article III, Texas Constitution, for the state fiscal year
  beginning September 1, 2014, and a sufficient balance of the fund
  applicable to the transfers to be made under that section for the
  next fiscal biennium. The comptroller may not make the transfers
  required under that section for the state fiscal year beginning
  September 1, 2014, until the board has adopted a sufficient balance
  under this subsection. However, if the board has not adopted the
  balance before the 30th day after the effective date of this
  section, the comptroller shall make that transfer on the 30th day
  after the effective date of this section in accordance with
  Subsection (c) of this section. This subsection expires September
  1, 2015.
         (b)  This section takes effect immediately on the final
  canvass of the election on the constitutional amendment proposed by
  the 83rd Legislature, 3rd Called Session, 2013, to provide for the
  transfer of certain general revenue to the economic stabilization
  fund and the state highway fund and for the dedication of the
  revenue transferred to the state highway fund, but only if that
  amendment is approved by the voters. If that amendment is not
  approved by the voters, this section has no effect.
         SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided by this Act:
               (1)  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; and
               (2)  if this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
  immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
  last day of the legislative session.