From the Legislative Desk
The Texas Legislature adjourned on June 1, 2009, Sine Die—a Latin term which means without appointing a day on which to appear or assemble again. It is a tradition which accounts for the prospect of the governor issuing a proclamation convening the members in special session. A couple of weeks ago the governor indicated he would declare a special session to reauthorize the continuation of the Texas Department of Transportation, the state’s largest agency which otherwise, would be forced to wind down in conformity with its’ sunset provisions.
Just the Governor—the duration of a special session is limited to thirty days, and only those subjects stated in the governor’s proclamation or those submitted by him after the body meets may be considered as legislation subjects. Traditionally, governors have been on the stingy side about opening up the call to a variety or number of legislation subjects. Counties are asking Governor Perry to include under-valuation of oil and gas properties in his proclamation because recent efforts to repeal a state tax law provision passed in 2007 failed. H.B 2982 (80th General Session) which became effective in January of 2008, has caused a great deal of concern and uneasiness among counties, particularly the ones that depend upon a majority of their tax revenue to come from ad valorem taxes on oil, gas and minerals in place.
The dilemma—because the 2007 changes in the law will result in an estimated 300 million dollar revenue shortfall to hydrocarbon dependent counties, the choices will be either to substantially underfund essential services or shift the resulting tax burden over to other taxpayers—a situation considered to be catastrophic.
Every night a school night—the Legislative Budge Board, citing the state Comptroller’s office as the source agency, issued a written statement which is typically relied upon by House and Senate members alike: No fiscal implications to units of local government is anticipated—nothing could be farther from the case. While the foregoing is certainly bad enough, an unwillingness to acknowledge the patently erroneous fiscal impact statement and refusal to do the right thing by repealing section 23.175 of the Texas Tax Code would be far worse! So, for now and as long as it may take to get this mess cleaned up, every night for counties will be a school night.
Energy block grants—certain counties with populations of 200,000 or more and cities with populations of 35,000 or more (known as entitlement communities) will be eligible for about $163 million in formula grants funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program). Likewise, participating communities (counties less than 200,000 and cities less than 35,000) will be eligible to receive an estimated $45 million from the same federal act, but these grants will be administered by State Comptroller Susan Combs’ office of State Energy Conservation. Eligible uses for grant funding include various energy efficiency projects and conservation strategies. The Comptroller’s office plans on conducting a series of teleconferences regarding this program and available funding. For dates and details, please see the article ("Comptroller Announces Teleconferences on Energy Efficiency Grants") in this newsletter. Support county government, it’s the pulse of the people.
