The 84th Legislature passed HB 1378 to increase local government debt transparency. Under Local Government Code §140.008, certain political subdivisions, including counties, cities, school districts, junior college districts, special purpose districts and other subdivisions of state government must annually compile their debt obligation data from the preceding fiscal year and do one of the following:
- report it to the Comptroller of Public Accounts for posting or, alternatively,
- post the information on their own websites.
Political subdivisions shall report the required information via Option 1 or 2 above:
- within 210 days of the end of the political subdivision's fiscal year in 2016;
- thereafter, within 180 days of the end of the most recently completed fiscal year.