By Elna Christopher
Director of Media Relations
The House County Affairs Committee voted out HJR 89 on April 14, so there are now two constitutional amendments to prohibit unfunded mandates in the Calendars Committee.
HJR 89 was filed by Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), known and respected as a friend to county government in his role as chair of House County Affairs. Coleman’s amendment would apply only to counties, the local government arm that most often bears the main brunt of unfunded mandates from the state — to which any county official in Texas can attest.
Coleman filed an unfunded mandates ban in the 81st Legislative Session in 2009, which unfortunately never made it past Calendars during the end of a tumultuous session. He also took County Affairs on the road around the state to hear interim charges — a rarity for committees — so that he and his colleagues could meet with more county officials in all areas of the state. Coleman deserves a big thank you from county officials for his understanding of our issues, whether urban or rural.
The other unfunded mandates constitutional amendment filed this session is HJR 56 by Rep. Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton), about which most county officials are familiar since at least 233 counties have passed supportive resolutions.
If your county does not have a date by it on this list that means the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) had not received a resolution from your county by the morning of April 15. Please e-mail a copy to elnac@county.org or fax to Elna at (512) 478-3573 if your commissioners court has passed a resolution but we don’t have it. If your county has not yet passed a resolution, please do so in order that all 254 counties show solidarity to stop future unfunded mandates. TAC has a sample resolution that includes HJR 56 and its Senate companion, SJR 17, by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas).
Solomons’ constitutional amendment now has 95 authors and co-authors and awaits its turn in Calendars. It applies to counties, cities, community college districts and certain other local entities but not to school districts.
SB 1827 gives political subdivisions explicit authority to inspect private property in a special flood hazard area to make sure residents and owners are complying with federal measures to reduce development in 100-year flood zones. The bill was laid out by Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) at a meeting of the Subcommittee on Flooding and Evacuations on Wednesday, April 13.
Testifying in support of the bill were Lampasas County Judge and Floodplain Manager Wayne Boultinghouse and TAC Associate General Counsel Michael Pichinson. Boultinghouse related his experiences as a floodplain manager and how SB 1827 would benefit the rural inspectors, especially in difficult cases. Pichinson explained the importance of explicit versus implied authority given to counties to carry out state and federal law.
The bill was passed out of the subcommittee as a committee substitute up to the full Intergovernmental Relations Committee.
By Aurora Flores
TAC Legislative Staff
HB 889 by Rep. Tryon Lewis (R-Odessa), the oil and gas undervaluation bill, will be heard in the House Committee on Ways & Means on Monday, April 18.
Lewis and Sen. Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio) both filed legislation to correct the inherent undervaluation and utilize market-based methodology to value crude oil and natural gas for property tax purposes. Uresti’s SB 1505 was heard in Senate Finance on April 4 where it received favorable support. The bill should soon be voted out of committee.
The revenue estimating methodology added to the statute in 2007 has been removed in the proposed bill language. The legislation uses prices published in the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “Annual Energy Outlook” to determine the “price adjustment” for the first year.
This “price adjustment” will be calculated by the chief appraiser, using the forecasted price for the current calendar year and dividing by the estimated price for oil for the previous calendar year. The escalation rate for future years is based on the Producer Price Index (PPI) and the number of years that the prices can be escalated is capped at an additional five years. The comptroller’s role has been limited to publishing rules for calculating the escalation rate using PPI.
While HB 889/CSSB 1505 do not meet all of the counties’ concerns, the legislation is a definite improvement over the present statute. The proposed legislation should produce more accurate oil and gas appraisals than the current methodology, producing better results for counties over time.
For those officials interested in attending the Monday, April 18 hearing, House Ways & Means will meet at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House in Capitol Extension room E2.014. For more information, please contact Aurora Flores at aurorafo@county.org or (800) 456-5974.
By Nanette Forbes
TAC Legislative Staff
SB 100 and SJR 37 by Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) were adopted by the Senate with amendments on Thursday, April 14.
SB 100 changes election dates to accommodate the requirement of the federal Military Overseas Voting Empowerment Act (MOVE), which allows 45 days for processing of military overseas ballots. The bill passed with three amendments:
SB 100 would force an automatic resignation from office for certain district and county officers who announce their candidacy for an office they do not currently hold when they have more than one year remaining in their terms. To overcome this problem, Van de Putte introduced SJR 37 to repeal Article XVI, Section 65. Two amendments were adopted for SJR 37:
SB 100 and SJR 37 were adopted by the Senate and have been received in the House but not yet referred to committee.