FINAL OUTCOME OF LEGISLATIVE BILLS (PART IV) FROM GENERAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION
On June 14th, the office of the Governor determined the final outcome of the bills which had managed to pass out of both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate during the Regular Session of the 83rd Texas Legislature. During the twenty days following the end of a regular session, the Governor of Texas has the ability to sign bills in to law, pass them in to law without a signature or to veto them. It is during these twenty days that members of the Texas House and Texas Senate find out if the bills they worked on during the session will become law or not.
The 83rd Texas Legislature succeeded in sending a little over fourteen hundred bills to the Governor. Here are some of the bills that were passed in to law:
• House Bill (HB) 2414 which is related to open meetings of governmental bodies held by videoconference call and to written electronic communications between members of a governmental body.
• HB 2451 pertains to the exclusion by taxable entities engaged in providing services as an agricultural aircraft operation of certain costs in determining total revenue for purposes of the franchise tax.
• HB 2473 which addresses the use of sales and use tax proceeds by economic development corporations in connection with housing facilities for certain institutions of higher education.
• HB 2478 relating to the collection, study, and reporting by the Texas Workforce Commission of certain information regarding shortages in high-wage, high-demand occupations.
• HB 2512 addresses the disclosure of certain information to the secretary of state for use in voter registration or the administration of elections.
• HB 2550 pertaining to the consolidation of the Higher Education Enrollment Assistance Program and the Higher Education Assistance Plan and the transfer of certain enrollment assistance duties to institutions of higher education and to measures to enhance medical education.
• HB 2571 is related to the inspection of certain information regarding the production, transportation, sale, and marketing of oil and gas from state land; imposing an administrative penalty.
• HB 2725 pertains to the confidentiality of certain records maintained by a victims of trafficking shelter center and the creation of minimum standards for certain facilities that provide services to victims of trafficking.
• Senate Bill (SB) 1134 pertained to the duties of the Department of Information Resources regarding cybersecurity.
• SB 1226 which is related to the establishment of an employment-first policy and task force to promote competitive employment opportunities that provide a living wage for individuals with disabilities.
• SB 1238 is relating to the composition and duties of and investigations conducted by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the administrative attachment of the Texas Forensic Science Commission to Sam Houston State University, the accreditation of criminal laboratories by the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, and the status of certain local government corporations as criminal justice agencies for the purpose of engaging in criminal identification activities, including forensic analysis.
• SB 1255 addresses the binding arbitration of an appraisal review board order determining a protest of an unequal appraisal of the owner’s property.
• SB 1267 pertains to the liability of individuals providing labor or assistance to the Texas Forest Service in the performance of certain fire suppression duties.
I invite you to examine the complete list outlining the bills signed, passed in to law without signature or vetoed by going to Office of the Governor Rick Perry.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
