HBA-KDB H.B. 1623 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1623
By: Isett
State Affairs
2/27/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current federal grant and contract guidelines allow public entities to
recover, over a long period of time, the costs of acquiring and maintaining
facilities used in connection with federal programs.  The federal
government authorizes state agencies to calculate the depreciation of these
buildings.   However,  building components, such as a heating and air
conditioning system, may not have the same useful life as the building
itself.  House Bill 1623 requires states agencies that receive federal
funds to calculate the depreciation of building components separately. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the comptroller of public accounts in
SECTION 1 (Section 2101.015, Government Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1623 amends the Government Code to require a state agency to
complete a componentization, which is the process of separately calculating
the depreciation of major building structural components, subsystems, and
equipment, of any agency-owned  building with a fair market value of at
least $1 million. As each building component is replaced, it is required to
be separately depreciated based on its individual useful life.  The bill
establishes component strategies and suggested useful lives to be utilized
by an agency when completing any componentization.  The bill authorizes the
comptroller of public accounts by rule to modify the component categories
and suggested useful lives.  The bill applies only to a state agency that
receives federal funds to implement federal or joint federal and state
programs. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.