House Research Organization • Texas House of Representatives P.O
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HOUSE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION • TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768-2910 (512) 463-0752 • https://hro.house.texas.gov Steering Committee: Alma Allen, Chairman Gary VanDeaver, Vice Chairman Dustin Burrows John Frullo J. M. Lozano Jim Murphy Angie Chen Button Mary González Eddie Lucio III Andrew Murr Joe Deshotel Donna Howard Ken King Ina Minjarez Toni Rose HOUSE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION daily floor report Thursday, May 06, 2021 87th Legislature, Number 50 The House convenes at 10 a.m. Part Two Two bills are on the Major State Calendar and 44 bills are on the General State Calendar for second reading consideration today. The bills analyzed or digested in Part Two of today's Daily Floor Report are listed on the following page. Analyses of postponed bills and all bills on second reading can be found online on TLIS and at https://hro.house.texas.gov/BillAnalysis.aspx. The following House committees were scheduled to meet today: Higher Education; State Affairs; Land and Resource Management; Public Education; Insurance; Natural Resources; Juvenile Justice and Family Issues; and Corrections. Alma Allen Chairman 87(R) - 50 HOUSE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION Daily Floor Report Thursday, May 06, 2021 87th Legislature, Number 50 Part 2 HB 3482 by Rose Revising tax rate adjustment for indigent defense compensation costs 72 HB 458 by Shaheen Collecting income withholding for child support from certain employees 74 HB 4066 by Lucio III Creating a permit for the beneficial reuse of certain wastewater 77 HB 4294 by Metcalf Meetings of certain legislative agencies, oversight committees if disaster 79 HB 1753 by Oliverson Revising certain reports under the Texas workers' compensation system 82 HB 2281 by Hefner Revising premises of educational institutions where weapons prohibited 84 HB 2556 by Neave Designating September 30 as Vanessa Guillén Day 86 HB 2911 by White Increasing 9-1-1 service fee; providing for next generation 9-1-1 service 87 HB 3073 by Shaheen Requiring state agencies to make guidance documents public on websites 91 HB 3107 by Clardy Modifying certain election practices and procedures 93 HB 3626 by Romero Modifying out-of-state licensing for certain therapists and counselors 96 HB 3459 by Bonnen Establishing preauthorization exemption for certain health care providers 99 HB 3627 by Paddie Limiting catastrophe conditions for suspending public information laws 102 HB 764 by Krause Reducing STAAR testing for public school students 104 HB 4437 by Walle Allowing Harris County to use a local preference policy for contracts 109 HB 1501 by Dean Prohibiting regulations restricting use of natural gas or propane appliances 111 HB 3418 by Fierro Requiring information on state preference for purchasing recycled goods 113 HB 3351 by Pacheco Establishing the Texas Commission on Community College Finance 115 HB 3662 by Buckley Expanding mandated contracts under the Medicaid managed care program 118 HB 1423 by Campos Allowing HHSC to conduct follow-up inspections of nursing facilities 120 HB 3669 by Dean Allowing a public junior college library to donate certain materials 122 HB 1676 by Goodwin Child water safety requirements for certain organizations 123 HB 3927 by Hefner Revising database access, classification of temporary motor vehicle tags 126 HB 2633 by Johnson Creating a trafficked persons grant program for children, youths 128 HB 4612 by Vasut Creating the Brazoria County Management District No. 2 133 HB 546 by Pacheco Extending eligibility for certain student loan repayment programs 138 HB 211 by Thierry Taxing e-cigarettes and alternative nicotine products; reducing other taxes 140 HOUSE (2nd reading) RESEARCH HB 3482 ORGANIZATION bill digest 5/6/2021 Rose, Rodriguez SUBJECT: Revising tax rate adjustment for indigent defense compensation costs COMMITTEE: Ways and Means — favorable, without amendment VOTE: 11 ayes — Meyer, Thierry, Button, Cole, Guerra, Martinez Fischer, Murphy, Noble, Rodriguez, Sanford, Shine 0 nays WITNESSES: For — Adam Haynes, Conference of Urban Counties; Charles Reed, Dallas County Commissioners Court; Kelli Childress, El Paso County Public Defender's Office; Alex Bunin, Harris County; (Registered, but did not testify: Melissa Shannon, Bexar County Commissioners Court; Jim Allison, County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas; Daniel Collins, El Paso County; Tammy Narvaez, Harris County Commissioners Court; Russell Schaffner, Tarrant County; Julie Wheeler, Travis County Commissioners Court) Against — None On — Geoff Burkhart, Texas Indigent Defense Commission; (Registered, but did not testify: Korry Castillo, Comptroller of Public Accounts) BACKGROUND: Tax Code sec. 26.0442 provides that if a county's indigent defense compensation expenditures exceed the amount of those expenditures for the preceding tax year, the no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate for the county is increased by certain formulas. "Indigent defense compensation expenditures" means the amount paid by a county to provide appointed counsel for indigent individuals in criminal or civil proceedings less the amount of any state grants received for that purpose. Concerns have been raised that tax laws allow a county's property tax rate to be adjusted to reflect increases in indigent defense compensation expenditures associated with the use of outside appointed counsel but not expenditures associated with a public defender's office. - 72 - HB 3482 House Research Organization page 2 DIGEST: HB 3482 would amend the definition of "indigent defense compensation expenditures" for the purposes of Tax Code sec. 26.0442 to include the amount paid by a county to fund the operations of a public defender's office less the amount of any state grants. The bill would take effect January 1, 2022, and apply only to the calculation of tax rates for a county for a tax year on or after that date. - 73 - HOUSE HB 458 (2nd reading) RESEARCH Shaheen ORGANIZATION bill analysis 5/6/2021 (CSHB 458 by Vasut) SUBJECT: Collecting income withholding for child support from certain employees COMMITTEE: Juvenile Justice and Family Issues — committee substitute recommended VOTE: 8 ayes — Neave, Swanson, Cook, Frank, Ramos, Talarico, Vasut, Wu 0 nays 1 absent — Leach WITNESSES: For — Keith Maples, Texas Family Law Foundation; (Registered, but did not testify: Amy Bresnen, Texas Family Law Foundation; Cecilia Wood) Against — Julie Campbell On — Charles Reed, Dallas County Commissioners Court; Joel Rogers, Office of the Attorney General-Child Support Division BACKGROUND: Family Code sec. 101.011 defines earnings to mean a payment to or due an individual, regardless of source and how denominated. The term includes a periodic or lump-sum payment for: wages, salary, compensation received as an independent contractor, overtime pay, severance pay, commission, bonus, and interest income; payments made under a pension, an annuity, workers' compensation, and a disability or retirement program; and unemployment benefits. Occupations Code sec. 2402.001 defines a "transportation network company" to mean a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or other entity that, for compensation, enables a passenger to prearrange with a driver, exclusively through the entity's digital network, a digitally prearranged ride. DIGEST: CSHB 458 would add to the types of periodic or lump-sum payments that are considered "earnings" in the Family Code to include compensation - 74 - HB 458 House Research Organization page 2 from a transportation network company and compensation from a person that operates a technology platform used to make deliveries to customers. The bill would change the definition of "employee" as applicable to the Office of the Attorney General-Child Support Division's state directory of new hires to include: a driver who logged in to the digital network of a transportation network company regardless of whether the driver was considered an independent contractor under the Occupations Code; and an individual who logged in to or otherwise used a technology platform to make deliveries for compensation. The bill would include among the persons who were considered employers a transportation network company and a person that operates a technology platform used to make deliveries to customers. An employee who had not received earnings from the employer and an employee who was previously employed by the employer but had not received earnings from the employer for at least 60 consecutive days would be included among the persons considered newly hired employees. The bill would take effect September 1, 2021. SUPPORTERS CSHB 458 would help to ensure that Texas children get the financial SAY: support they deserve by amending the Family Code to clarify the requirements for collecting child support wages from certain transportation network companies, such as ride-share operators Uber and Lyft, who hire "gig" employees. Current law requires a court or the Child Support Division of the Office of the Attorney General in a child support proceeding to issue an Income Withholding Order (IWO) so that income may be withheld from an individual's income to pay child support. However, many "gig economy" employers do not currently report the independent contractors who perform these tasks to the state directory of new hires. As a result, the attorney general's office has incomplete information about an obligor's income and resources and is unable to issue IWOs to ensure child support is paid promptly and consistently. - 75 - HB 458 House Research Organization page 3 CRITICS