HBA-DMD H.B. 3156 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3156 By: Wolens State Affairs 3/25/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Texas Legislative Council (council) is required by law (Section 323.007, Government Code) to carry out a complete nonsubstantive revision of the Texas statutes. The process involves reclassifying and rearranging the statutes in a more logical order, employing a numbering system and format that will accommodate future expansion of the law, eliminating repealed, invalid, duplicative, and other ineffective provisions, and improving the draftsmanship of the law if practicable--all toward promoting the stated purpose of making the statutes "more accessible, understandable, and usable" without altering the sense, meaning, or effect of the law. The 75th Legislature adopted the Finance Code and the Utilities Code. The same legislature passed substantive bills that amended the codified statutes. Under Section 311.031(c), Government Code, those substantive amendments are given effect as part of the codified law. As part of its duties under the continuing revision program, the council prepares amendments to the new codes to clarify the law and conform the code to the substance of the law. Also as part of the duties relating to continuing statutory revision, the council: (1) monitors the acts of each session and proposes nonsubstantive codifications of bills that should have amended a previously enacted code but did not; (2) identifies duplicate official citations and proposes appropriate renumbering; and (3) makes necessary corrections to recently enacted codes to conform the codes to the source law from which they were derived. Section 43, Article III, Texas Constitution, specifically recognized this type of bill as a "revision" for purposes of the legislature's obligation under that section to provide for the revising of laws. As such a revision, the bill is not subject to the constitutional rule prohibiting more than one subject in a single bill or the rule prohibiting amendments by reference. This bill has the purposes of: (1) codifying without substantive change various statutes that were omitted from enacted codes; (2) conforming the Finance Code and Utilities Code, enacted by the 75th Legislature, to other Acts of that legislature amending laws codified or referenced citations in laws codified; and (3) renumbering sections and articles of codes that duplicate section and article numbers. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS Article 1 provides that the bill is a nonsubstantive revision that does not affect other Acts of the 76th Legislature. Article 7 conforms the Finance Code, which was enacted by the 75th Legislature, to other Acts of the 75th Legislature, makes corrections to the code, conforms other laws to the code, and codifies other existing laws as new provisions in the code. Article 18 conforms the Utilities Code, which was enacted by the 75th Legislature, to other Acts of the 75th Legislature, makes corrections to the code, conforms other laws to the code, and codifies other existing laws as new provisions in the code. Articles 2-6 and 8-17 make various nonsubstantive amendments to enacted codes, including amendments to conform the codes to Acts of previous legislatures, correct references and terminology, properly organize and number the law, and codify other law that properly belongs in those codes. Article 19 renumbers and reletters provisions of enacted codes and changes references to eliminate duplicated citations, relocate misplaced provisions, and correct corresponding references. Article 20 provides the effective date of the bill and declares an emergency.