Thursday morning at 7am the committee on House Appropriations discussed several bill substitutes and voted out Rep. Rob Orr’s bill relating to distribution of the available school fund.
Members during the hearing went over items that would be in bill substitutes soon to be distributed to the committee. Chairman Jim Pitts told the members that the House Committee on Appropriations would be meeting again Monday morning at 7am to take up these bills, as substituted, and it is anticipated they will vote some of the bills out of committee.
The discussion of the bills follows:
Accelerator Bill – HB 3640 (Pitts)
Relating to the remittance and allocation of certain taxes and fees. The bills would apply to gasoline & diesel fuel tax collections, certain franchise taxes, and mixed beverages taxes and fees on certain alcoholic beverages.
- The bill will collect a portion of tax payments in 2013 that would have otherwise been collected in the 2014-2015 biennium.
- A franchise tax payer will make an additional pre-payment in July of 2013 of what would normally be due on May 2014.
- To make calculation simple, one quarter of the amount paid in 2012 will be due.
- The pre-payment will be credited to May 2014 taxes.
- This is a one-time only provisions.
HB 3790 – commit substitute key elements:
- Repeal the insurance premium tax credit for examination fees and overhead assessments.
- GEER Report recommendations
- Provides an estimated revenue gain of $20 million and it IS assumed in HB 1.
- Repeals fingerprint imaging requirement to recipients of TANF and SNAP recipients.
- Provides an estimated revenue gain of $3 million and IS assumed in HB 1.
- Defers Foundation School Program payment from August 13 to September 13.
- Provides an estimated $1.8 billion not assumed in HB 1.
- Suspends the Sales Tax Holiday for August 2011(if bill gets vote for immediate effect) and 2012 and establishes a review of the holiday.
- GEER report recommendations
- Pitts does not say if it was assumed in budget bill.
- Conforms state law to current FDIC coverage requirements for banks that hold state deposits
- Conforms state law to changes in federal law made by the Dodd Frank Act regarding how surplus lines of insurance are regulated
- Removes various requirements for the Comptroller to publish a hard copy of a report and instead allows the office to publish reports electronically
- Also repeals the requirement to complete certain reports where the information is already provided for another entity
- Consolidates the administration for voter registration programs at the Office of the Secretary of State which eliminates the involvement of the Comptroller’s office
- Removes the requirement for the Comptroller to audit cities and counties participating in the collection improvement program at the Office of Court Administration which allows the Comptroller to transfer 4 audit staff to additional sales in alcohol tax audits
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- Will result in an estimated revenue gain of $8.9 million dollars not assumed in HB 1
- Changes the unclaimed property transfer deadline from November 1 to July 1, 2013 which results in a one-time additional transfer of unclaimed property to the state in FY 2013
- Provides an estimated revenue gain of $216 million
- Expands the $50 dollar late filer penalty to cover tax types beyond just the sales tax and requires the penalty be assessed upon the first late filing rather than the third
- Provides an estimated revenue gain of $13.1 million not assumed in HB 1
- Requires a person to maintain and produce certain records to substantiate a claim for a tax refund in district court. This conforms to the district court requirements with those already in effect for the administrative hearing process
- Provides an estimated revenue gain of $11 million not assumed in HB 1
- Authorizes the Comptroller to administer a competitive grant program for obesity awareness and prevention in public schools and is assumed in HB 1 – no fiscal cost says Comptroller.
The other committee substitutes briefly highlighted during the Thursday Appropriations hearing that relate to State Fiscal Matters Bills:
- HB 3418 (Darby) Relating to state fiscal matters related to natural resources and the environment (Article VI)
- HB 3639 (Pitts) Relating to state fiscal matters related to public and higher education (Article III)
- HB 3648 (Otto) Relating to state fiscal matters related to the judiciary (Article IV)
- HB 3649 (Otto) Relating to state fiscal matters related to law enforcement and criminal justice (Article V)
- HB 3665 (Otto) Relating to state fiscal matters related to general government (Article I)
School Funding Bill – HB 2646 (Orr | et al.) & HJR 109 (Orr | et al.)
Relating to distribution by the School Land Board of revenue derived from permanent school fund land or other properties to the available school fund. The bills would allow the School Land Board to distribute half of the net revenue it collects from a “real estate special fund” to the Available School Fund, an endowment that supplies some funding to Texas public schools which is expected to generate $200 million annually.
The proposed constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of lawmakers and statewide voter approval.
HB 2646 & HJR 109 were voted out of the committee favorably as substituted.