HBA-JEK H.B. 3310 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3310
By: Dunnam
Public Education
4/8/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, the state equalizes bond payments for a school
district's instructional facilities under the Instructional Facilities
Allotment and Existing Debt Allotment programs.  The local share of the
guaranteed yield must be paid from interest and sinking fund (I&S) taxes
levied to raise revenue to pay principal and interest on debt.  Although a
district may use a variety of other local funds for debt payments, those
funds do not count toward the district's local share, thus forcing some
districts to levy higher than necessary I&S tax rates to receive the full
guaranteed yield from the state.  House Bill 3310 authorizes a district to
pay the district's share of existing debt for instructional facilities
using certain bond taxes, maintenance and operations taxes, and other local
sources of revenue. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3310 amends the Education Code to authorize a school district to
pay the district's share of existing debt service for instructional
facilities using bond taxes collected for the current year, bond taxes
collected in the preceding tax year in excess of the amount necessary to
pay the bonds for which the taxes were collected, maintenance and
operations taxes collected in excess of the district's enrichment tax rate,
or any other local money, including donations and grants, that is not
obtained from a governmental source or used to generate state financial
support for the district.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.