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2019 & 2017 Texas Legislative Issues

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2019 & 2017 Texas Legislative Issues 2019 & 2017 Texas Legislative Issues _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2019 Legislative Issues Volume 86.17 May 26, 2019 It's Finally Here! Tomorrow, May 27 is the 140th day of the 86th Legislature. Today is the last day for the House to adopt conference committee reports or discharge House conferees and concur in Senate amendments; it’s also the last day for the Senate to concur in House amendments or adopt conference committee reports. The conference committee report for HB 1, the general appropriations bill (aka, the only bill that must pass in any legislative session), is scheduled to be adopted later this evening. The conference committee reports for the session’s two other headlining bills – property tax reform (SB 2) and school finance reform (HB 3) – were adopted Saturday, May 25. As of now, there is no talk of special session, which means when the Legislature adjourns sine die tomorrow, legislators should return home until January 12, 2021 when the 87th Legislature convenes. If you haven’t registered for our 2019 Texas Tour, there’s still time to do so! We’ll be kicking the Tour off in Austin with a reception here at TBA's headquarters on Thursday, June 6, and we’ll wrap up our 17-stop Tour with a reception in El Paso on Tuesday, July 30. We’ll talk about the legislative progress TBA made on your behalf at the capitol this session. Our legislative wins include: the reauthorization of the Texas Finance Commission, Department of Banking, and Department of Savings & Mortgage Lending; addressing credit and debit card skimming; a fix to the Tax Code to allow properties designated for ag use to be eligible for home equity loans; and legislation increasing the ability of state banks to make community development investments. We’ll also talk about regulatory relief efforts at the federal level and discuss our prospects for success. Registration information, along with locations, dates, and times, is all available here. One hour of CLE credit is offered. Thanks for spending part of your Sunday afternoons/evenings with me this session. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know! Happy Sine Die! Volume 86.16 May 21, 2019 The Final Countdown Today is the 134th day of the 86th Session of the Texas Legislature. It's the last day for the House to consider 2nd reading senate bills and senate joint resolutions. Tomorrow is the last day for the House to consider local and consent senate bills on 2nd reading and 3rd reading, and it’s also the last day for the Senate to consider all bills and joint resolutions on 2nd or 3rd reading. What does this mean? Practically speaking, if a bill (or an amendment) hasn’t been debated in either chamber by today or tomorrow, the chances of it becoming law are infinitesimally small. Page 1 You may wonder how there could still be a chance for something to become law if it hasn’t been debated as a bill or an amendment to a bill. The answer is that it could be added in a conference committee. A conference committee is a committee composed of five members from each chamber appointed by the respective presiding officers to resolve differences between the house and senate versions of a bill when the originating chamber refuses to concur in the changes made by the opposite chamber. When the work of the conference committee is done, it issues a report to both chambers that includes the final text of the measure as agreed upon by the conference committee. Each chamber then votes to accept or reject the conference committee report. Periodically, a conference committee will seek permission to address items in the conference committee report that are outside the scope (the bounds) of the underlying legislation. Because the work being conducted by conference committees is being done at a breakneck pace (all conference committee reports must be distributed before midnight Saturday), it’s possible that the first time anyone outside of the conferees sees language in a bill is after the conference committee report is adopted by both chambers and the legislation is headed to the governor’s desk. Dates of Interest and TBA Tracking List Tuesday, May 21, 2019 (134th day) Last day for the House to consider 2nd reading senate bills and senate joint resolutions on the daily or supplemental calendar Wednesday, May 22, 2019 (135th day) Last day for the House to consider local and consent senate bills on 2nd and 3rd reading and all 3rd reading senate bills and senate joint resolutions on the supplemental calendar Last day for Senate to consider all bills and joint resolutions on 2nd or 3rd reading Thursday, May 23, 2019, before midnight (136th day) Deadline for the House to distribute senate amendments Friday, May 24, 2019 (137th day) Last day for the House to act on senate amendments (concur or request a conference committee) Saturday, May 25, 2019, before midnight (138th day) Deadline for the House to distribute house copies of all conference committee reports Deadline for the Senate to print and distribute senate copies of all conference committee reports on bills other than tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills and all house amendments to senate bills and joint resolutions that did not go to a conference committee Sunday, May 26, 2019 (139th day) Last day for the House to adopt conference committee reports or discharge house conferees and concur in senate amendments Last day for the Senate to concur in house amendments or adopt conference committee reports Monday, May 27, 2019 (140th day) Last day of 86th Regular Session (sine die); only corrections may be considered in the House and Senate Sunday, June 16, 2019 (20th day following final adjournment) Last day the governor can sign or veto bills passed during the regular session Page 2 Monday, August 26, 2019 (91st day following final adjournment) Date that bills without specific effective dates, other than bills with immediate effect, become law TBA’s Bill Tracking List can be found here. Noteworthy Bill Updates Since the last State Issues Update was published, the following actions have been taken on bills we’re tracking. SB 2037 by Hall, relating to a study regarding the feasibility of implementing a central filing system for the filing of financing statements for agriculture liens. SB 2307 was unanimously voted out of House PIFS and sent to the Local & Consent Calendars Committee. Unfortunately, the bill was not placed on tomorrow’s last House Local & Consent Calendar, which means the bill is dead. It's unfortunate that detractors of central filing killed this study bill, but TBA is committed to bringing the filing of agriculture liens into the 21st century, and we’ll continue to work towards a technology-based solution that will benefit all parties involved with agriculture liens – buyers, sellers, and lenders. HB 1992 by Leman, relating to prohibiting telemarketers from transmitting misleading caller identification information or otherwise misrepresenting the origin of a telemarketing call. HB 1992 amends existing Texas law that prohibits the interference with caller ID services or devices by adding language prohibiting a telemarketer from causing misleading information to be transmitted to a recipient’s caller ID service or device. HB 1992 was sent to the Senate Local Calendar; however, Senate Administration has yet to set the final local calendar for the Senate. HB 2625 by Perez, relating to creating the criminal offense of fraudulent use or possession of credit card or debit card information. HB 2625 adds new Sec. 32.315, Penal Code (MASS FRAUDULENT USE OR POSSESSION OF CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD INFORMATION), and provides that a person commits an offense if the person, with the intent to harm or defraud another, obtains, possesses, transfers, or uses: five or more counterfeit credit cards or debit cards; the numbers and expiration dates of five or more credit cards or debit cards without the consent of the account holder; AND the data stored on the digital imprint of five or more credit cards or debit cards without the consent of the account holder. An offense under this section is a third degree felony if the number of items obtained, possessed, transferred, or used is five or more but less than 10; a second degree felony if 10 or more but less than 50; or a first degree felony if the number of items obtained, possessed, transferred, or used is 50 or more. SB 1281 by Birdwell, relating to assessments for water and energy improvements in certain municipalities and counties. SB 1281 sought to create one statewide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program as opposed to different programs being offered in different jurisdictions. As a reminder, Texas currently only allows PACE loans on commercial properties with prior lender notice and consent. SB 1281 did not seek to alter this system, rather, it sought to ensure the PACE programs being offered across the state are uniform. Due to opposition from within the PACE industry, SB 1281 died in the House Energy Resources Committee. What's Next? TBA’s Texas Tour will kick off in Austin the afternoon of Thursday, June 6. We’ll update our members on actions taken by 86th Legislature that will require policy and procedure changes within our member banks. The full schedule can be found here. Space is limited, so be sure to register today! Page 3 Volume 86.15 May 12, 2019 Two Weeks Until the 8th Session Sine Dies Last week, the Texas House had two major deadlines. Thursday was the last day for the House to consider 2nd reading house bills and house joint resolutions on the daily or supplemental calendar.
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