HBA-LCA H.B. 3326 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3326
By: Gallego
Urban Affairs
4/19/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (department)
allocates federal Community Development Block Grant funds on a regional
basis to ensure their equitable distribution throughout the state.  Funds
from state housing-finance programs, however, are not distributed under the
same guidelines, which may cause a discrepancies in the of distribution of
funds to different areas of the state. 

H.B. 3326 amends Chapter 2306, Government Code, to require the department
to use a formula for calculating its housing-finance funds according to the
proportion of households in a region that need assistance.  Regions, under
this section, are state planning regions established by the governor under
the Local Government Code. 

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

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 2306, Government Code, by adding
Section 2306.0021, as follows: 

Sec.  2306.0021.  HOUSING ASSISTANCE ALLOCATION.  Requires the Department
of Housing and Community Affairs (department) to allocate funds for a
program administered by the housing finance division under this chapter
(Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs) to each geographic
state planning region (region) established by the governor under Chapter
391, Local Government Code ( Regional Planning Commissions). Requires  the
department to develop and use a formula that is based on the proportion of
households in each region that are in need of assistance. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.