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Summary of the 84th SessionThe 84th Legislative Session gaveled out on June 1 adjourning Sine Die. During the 84th Session there were a total of 6,276 House and Senate bills filed and a total of 1,323 bills were passed (not including resolutions).*TLO To further break down the statistics there were 819 House bills passed (a 12% increase from the last regular session) and 504 Senate bills passed (a 29% decrease from last session). Below is a “BILL SPOTLIGHT” on certain bills that passed out of the 84th Session broken out by various issues. There were also some notable bills that did not pass. For example, efforts to reform the Hazelwood Program were not successful this session. SB 1735 (Birdwell/Zerwas) was passed by both chambers but the conference committee could not come to an agreement in negotiations on what the final piece of legislation would look like. The final deadline of the 84th Session was the last day the Governor can sign or veto bills passed during the regular session – June 21. Governor Abbott ended up vetoing 42 bills from the 84th Regular Session not including line item vetoes. Below is a review of the bills vetoed by the Governor. Additionally, click on the following links for the list of bills signed, vetoed or filed with a signature (including HCRs and SCRs):
Governor’s Emergency Items Funding Spotlight Transportation – Funding for TxDOT for the 2016-17 biennium includes $1.3B in State Highway Funds (SHF) made available from ending certain diversions and $2.4B from oil and natural gas tax-related transfers to the State Highway Fund (Proposition 1 2014). Additionally, an estimated $2.5B would be credited to the SHF for 2018 and $2.5B for 2019 for a total of $5B for the 2018-19 biennium – if voters approved the Nov. 2015 Constitutional Amendment proposed in SJR 5. There would also be additional funding available for SHF in 2020 when 35 percent of the tax imposed on the sale, use or rental of a motor vehicle over $5B would be credited to the SHF – estimated $432M annually. Tax Relief – An increase in homestead exemptions ($1.2B) and franchise tax relief ($2.6B) will result in $3.8B tax relief. Those two bills combined with other tax relief bill passed during session, resulted in the final total for the 84th Session of providing over $4B in tax relief. Health Care – Funding for health care programs and services totaled $77.2 billion. The largest driver of this amount is the Medicaid program which received $61.2 billion, an increase of $2.1 billion over last biennium. $1.7 billion of that increase is attributable to Medicaid caseload growth. No additional appropriations were made to fund expected cost growth in the health care industry. Border Security – $800.0 million in state funds is provided to fund border security initiatives, many which are stipulated in HB 11. Further details and explanantions on the items spotlights are listed in the 84th Session Summary by respective topics. All HillCo Clients have access to the complete articles of those previewed in the HillCo Client Advisory (like the ones below). In order to view all available material, clients must establish a HillCo website account. If you are a HillCo client and do not have your website account set up, please visit the following to do so: http://www.hillcopartners.com/user/register. Budget/Appropriations Process HB 1 (Otto/Nelson) the general appropriations bill for the 2016-17 biennium totaled $209.4 billion in All Funds (AF) and $106.6 in General Revenue Funds (GR). No appropriations from the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) are included in the 2016-17 budget. The balance of the ESF will be $11.1 billion at the end of fiscal year 2017. Specific highlights will be listed in their respective sections below. HB 2 (Otto/Nelson) the supplemental appropriations bill for 2015 totaled $503.2 (AF) and $284.8 (GR). HB 6 (Otto/Hinojosa) relating to the creation and re-creation of funds and accounts. Bill provisions that would exempt select General Revenue-Dedicated accounts from Government Code, Section 403.095(b), would reduce the amount of funds available for general purpose spending in the 2016-17 biennium by $549.7 million. The bill was signed by the Governor June 19, 2015 and became effective immediately. HB 7 (Darby/Nelson) relating to the amounts, availability, and use of certain statutorily dedicated revenue and accounts, and also address public education fractional funding. Among other provisions, the bill would implement certain recommendations in the Legislative Budget Board policy report, "Further Reduce Reliance on General Revenue-Dedicated Accounts for Certification of the State Budget" (February 2015). The bill also creates a new GR-dedicated account, the Tax Rate Conversion Fund, to provide increased state aid to ISDs with compressed tax rates below 1%. The bill was signed by the Governor June 15, 2015 and becomes effective September 1, 2015. HB 903 (Burkett/V. Taylor) authorizes investments that increase the fund’s earning potential. Requires the comptroller leave an amount equal to 30 percent of the constitutional limit of the RDF. The CAP is estimated to be $16.1 billion for fiscal 2016-17. The bill was signed by the Governor May 23, 2015 and became effective immediately. Tax Relief Property Tax Relief/Homestead Exemption Franchise Tax Relief Specifically, HB 32 as passed out of the 84th Legislative Session and signed by the Governor, would:
Funding also includes an appropriation of $85.0 million from the Emerging Technology Fund to the Enterprise Fund ($45.0 million) and to the new Governor’s University Research Initiative ($40.0 million) to provide matching funds to Texas public universities to recruit Nobel Laureates and National Academy members to Texas, contingent on passage of legislation. HB 26 (Button/Fraser) would establish the Governor's University Research Initiative (GURI) administered by the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office within the Office of the Governor to award matching grants to eligible institutions to recruit distinguished researchers. The bill would require a biennial report on grants made from the Governor's University Research Initiative Fund. The bill would direct the winding up of contract and awards in connection with the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF), however, agreements in place before that date would not be affected. The bill would direct the GURI as the successor to the Emerging Technology Fund and royalties, revenue and other financial benefits received in the future would be deposited to Governor's University Research Initiative Fund. The bill would direct the disclosure of certain public information collected under the ETF program. The bill would create the Economic Incentive Oversight Board that, for certain incentive awards, would be required to: review the effectiveness of certain programs and funds to business entities and other persons; evaluate the benefits and costs to the state, local governments and residents of the state from the economic development activity; develop a schedule for periodic review of certain state incentive programs; and make recommendations for audits to the Legislative Audit Committee. The bill would require a biennial report from the Board. The Board would be entitled to reimbursements for certain expenses. The Governor's office would be required to provide administrative support and staff to the Board. The bill would shorten the approval period for a proposal for a grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund. The Major Events Trust Fund (METF) would be renamed to the Major Events Reimbursement Program (MERP) and would base the reimbursement amount on the prevailing state sales tax. According to the CPA, the fiscal impact of changing the state portion of the MERP reimbursement to be based on the sales tax rate is unknown as the size and number of events that would become eligible and held in the state is unknown. SB 632 (Fraser/Button) amends the Education Code and Government Code to establish the governor's university research initiative administered by the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office (TEDTO) within the office of the governor as the successor to the Texas emerging technology fund, which is abolished under the bill. The bill requires TEDTO to award matching grants from the governor's university research initiative fund established by the bill to assist a general academic teaching institution or medical and dental unit in recruiting distinguished researchers, giving priority to recruitment in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. The bill requires the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company to manage and wind up the state's emerging technology investment portfolio and provides for the disposition of the balance of the Texas emerging technology fund and the winding up of contracts and awards in connection with the fund. The bill was signed by the Governor June 03, 2015 and becomes effective September 1, 2015. SB 633 (Fraser/Isaac) transfers the various event trust funds from the comptroller’s office to the governor’s office and expands the list of qualifying events. The bill was signed by the Governor June 18, 2015 and becomes effective September 1, 2015.
Handguns – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 910 (Phillips/Estes) authorizes openly carrying holstered handguns in Texas. The legislation makes no changes to the places where handguns are prohibited such as schools, hospitals, professional sporting events, and others. The word “concealed” was struck throughout various parts of code effectively allowing the carrying of handguns either concealed or not concealed. Contracts /Transparency – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 283 (Fallon/Creighton) requires a transit authority, a school board of trustees that has a student enrollment over 10,000, any city that has 50,000 or more in population, or county commissioners court (125,000 or more in population) to: (1) make a video and audio recording of most open meetings of the council, and (2) make available on the internet an archived copy of that video and audio recording Ethics – Spotlight on the 84th SessionVETOED – HB 3736 (S. Davis/Huffman) relating to conflicts of interest by members of state agency governing boards was vetoed. TWIA – Spotlight on the 84th SessionSB 900 (Taylor/Bonnen) relating to the operation of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) was passed and has been signed by the governor. The bill changes the makeup of the TWIA board to include three coastal residents, three insurance industry representatives and three inland residents, all of whom will be appointed by the Governor. E-verify – Spotlight on the 84th SessionSB 374 (Schwertner/Dale) will require state agencies to participate in the E-verify program, a federal initiative authenticating the employment authorization status of all newly-hired employees by state agencies. The bill was signed on June 10, 2015 and was part of Governor Abbott’s “Bicentennial Blueprint.” City – Spotlight on the 84th SessionMore than 200 city-related bills passed during the 84th Session. Some of those bills are highlighted in other sections that detail eminent domain, economic development, transportation funding and tax relief bills. However, in addition there were also bills that: impact setting a property tax rate and address preemption that are spotlighted below in this section. Eminent Domain/Property Rights/Border Security – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 11 (D. Bonnen/Birdwell) an expansive border security bill which facilitates the hiring of additional troopers, review and make any necessary improvements to the agency's information technology system, creates a transnational intelligence center on the border, among other things. Appraisals/Property Tax – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 2083 (Darby/Hancock) relating to the determination of the appraised value of property for purposes of an ad valorem tax protest or appeal. The bill addresses selection of comparable properties for determining appraised value under the “equal and uniform” appraisal provisions Environment – Spotlight on the 84th Session Funding Bill Spotlight Transportation – Spotlight on the 84th Session Funding Pensions – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 3310 (Paul/L. Taylor) primarily calls for a retirement system and sponsoring entity to collaborate in formulating a funding soundness plan if certain soundness measures have not been met for a period of time. The bill would require a public retirement system and the associated governmental entity to submit a copy of the plan and provide updates to the Pension Review Board. The bill provides requirements of a funding soundness restoration plan. Alcoholic Beverages – Spotlight on the 84th SessionHB 824 (Kuempel/Eltife) permits a customer who has entered a package store and is still in the store at the time the hours of legal sale end, then the customer can remain in the store for a reasonable amount of time to finish shopping, and then purchase an alcoholic beverage even though the sale occurs after the designated end of the hours of legal sale. The bill was signed by the Governor June 19, 2015 and became effective immediately. Education – Spotlight on the 84th SessionDuring the 84th Legislative Session, lawmakers took several significant actions on education funding and policy. Health Care – Spotlight on the 84th Session In the 84th Session, health care legislation focused on many subject areas including compassionate use, Medicaid, and health care data. Much of the focus in the health care space was on the Sunset review of the Health and Human Services Enterprise. Each of the five agencies that make up the Enterprise was reviewed independently as well as the Office of Inspector General. Sunset Legislation – Spotlight on the 84th Session The Sunset safety net bill, HB 3123 (Price/Nelson) was signed by the Governor on June 18 and is effective immediately. . Constitutional Amendments on November 3 BallotBelow is a list of all proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution voters will see on the ballot in the November 3, 2015 election. Ballot order has already been drawn and the list contains both proposition numbers as well as a link to the legislation passed in the 84th session. Proposition 1 – SJR 1 |
