MORE BILLS TO WATCH: INCLUDING AN UPDATE ON WATER RELATED LEGISLATION
Over the past few weeks’ articles, I have been outlining bills which have been filed during the 83rd Texas Legislative Session. Members and their staff have been working on drafting and filing bills in the House and the Senate for the past several months leading up to March 8th. March 8th represented the 60th day of the Legislative Session and the final day to file bills in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate.
As of March 8th of this month, 5,944 bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions have been filed with the Chief Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate’s respective offices. Of the 5,944 total bills, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions which have been filed, 4,046 of those bills were filed with the Chief Clerk of the House and 1,898 were filed with the Secretary of the Senate’s offices. Below is a selection of those House bills which have been filed to-date:
• HB 1632 is relating to certain identifying information of peace officers, county jailers, security officers, and employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or a prosecutor’s office excepted from disclosure under the Public Information Act.
• HB 1647 addresses the establishing of statewide comprehensive standards for provider credentialing and prior authorization processing under the Medicaid program.
• HB 1658 is relating to requiring the arrest and collection of a breath or blood specimen of persons operating a motor vehicle or watercraft while intoxicated under certain circumstances.
• HB 1668 is concerning a franchise tax credit for certain taxable entities that recruit new taxable entities to this state or that relocate to this state.
• HB 1685 relates to the continuation of the self-directed and semi-independent status of the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers, and the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners.
• HB 1699 addresses a requirement that any information regarding state-administered assessment instruments provided by a school district or public school to a student’s parent be printed in both English and Spanish.
Below is a selection of the Senate bills which have been filed to-date:
• SB 787 is relating to the amount of a surcharge assessed on conviction of certain offenses relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated against the driver’s license of certain persons who complete a drug court program or an alcohol or drug treatment program.
• SB 796 relates to a study on the use of technology and other methods to report, track, and prevent traffic violations and accidents.
• SB 800 is related to the disclosure of the calculation of out-of-network payments by the issuers of preferred provider benefit plans and by health maintenance organizations.
• SB 828 is relating to the marketing of certain alcoholic beverages by manufacturers and their agents; providing for a permitting fee.
• SB 837 addresses the authority of a municipality to require owners of real property to keep the property free of certain conditions.
• SB 854 deals with the regulation of motor vehicle dealers, manufacturers, distributors, and representatives.
The filed bills for the 83rd (R) legislative session are available for the public to view at www.capitol.state.tx.us.
On March 27, 2013 the Texas House of Representatives heard and debated on the House floor of one of the first major pieces of water related legislation this session, House Bill 4. After hours of debate, the House passed House Bill 4 on both second and third readings. Now the bill is on its way to the Texas Senate where the discussion will continue. We will keep you posted as this bill and others continue to move. Again if you would like to review the bill, you can go to Texas Legislature Online.
If you have questions or comments regarding any of the filed bills or any of the water legislation 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 currently represents Part of Nueces County. He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
