| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral |
Relating to flood control planning and the funding of flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects.
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB7, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2021.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of
funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
SB 7 would create the Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund (TIRF) which will house four accounts: (1) the floodplain management account (which will continue to be used for grants, data collection, stream gaging, and outreach); (2) the Hurricane Harvey account (which will be used to meet local match requirements to leverage federally appropriated money for recovery use); (3) the flood plan implementation account (which will be used to finance flood mitigation projects included in the state flood plan); and (4) the federal matching account (which will be used to meet matching requirements for projects funded partially by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). TIRF is a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund.
SB 7 also includes oversight by an advisory committee, a report from agencies that utilize federal dollars to better track revenue streams and expenses, transparency requirements, and cost-sharing requirements with political subdivisions.
Dedicated funds lack transparency and delegate legislative authority over appropriations, making it difficult to prioritize obligations in lean times. At the same time we recognize that disaster planning and response are legitimate functions of state government. For these reasons, we remain cautiously neutral on SB 7.