HBA-SEP H.B. 931 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 931 By: Solis, Jim Economic Development 4/16/2001 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Texas lacks a statewide economic development planning process to guide and improve longterm economic development. Although the Texas Strategic Economic Development Plan (1998-2008) lists some strategic economic development goals, the plan is not scheduled to be updated. A regularly updated statewide economic development plan could serve to help coordinate economic development efforts and account for the long-term effects of state infrastructure investments. House Bill 931 requires the Texas Department of Economic Development, in consultation with the comptroller of public accounts, to develop a comprehensive statewide economic development plan to be updated every five years. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Economic Development in SECTION 1 (Section 481.104, Government Code) in this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 931 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Department of Economic Development (department), in consultation with the comptroller, to develop a comprehensive statewide economic development plan to be adopted no later than September 1, 2002 and updated every five years. The plan must provide for: _establishing goals and standards to measure whether state efforts are having a positive economic effect; _tracking benefits and wage and retention performance measures; and _reevaluating economic development initiatives that offer fewer benefits in relation to their costs. The bill requires that the plan be a guide to state economic development policy and that the department, in matters coming before it, take the plan into consideration. The bill further requires the department to disseminate the plan to local governments and to encourage them to use the standards to improve efficient allocation and use of economic development resources. Local economic development efforts that produce a cost to the state are required to adopt the plan's goals and standards. The department is required, by rule, to adopt guidance principles for the plan that reflect the public interest of the entire state, including the needs of rural and urban areas, economically depressed areas, and areas experiencing significant population changes. The bill also requires the department to promptly deliver the plan and each update of the plan to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and appropriate legislative committees. The plan and updates must include legislative recommendations that the department believes are needed and desirable to facilitate more voluntary economic development. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Committee Amendment No. 1 provides that local economic development efforts that produce a cost to the state are authorized, rather than required, to adopt the goals and standards established by the comprehensive statewide economic development plan.