2005 Texas Government Code CHAPTER 486. ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AREA AFFECTED BY DEFENSE RESTRUCTURING

GOVERNMENT CODE

CHAPTER 486. ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AREA AFFECTED BY DEFENSE 
RESTRUCTURING

SUBCHAPTER A. GRANTS TO LOCAL AREAS AFFECTED BY DEFENSE BASE 
RESTRUCTURING


	§ 486.001. DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:                                   
		(1)  "Defense worker" means:                                                  
			(A)  an employee of the United States Department 
of Defense, including a member of the armed forces and a government 
civilian worker;
			(B)  an employee of a government agency or private 
business, or entity providing a department of defense related 
function, who is employed on a defense facility;
			(C)  an employee of a business that provides 
direct services or products to the department of defense and whose 
job is directly dependent on defense expenditures;  or
			(D)  an employee or private contractor employed by 
the United States Department of Energy working on a defense or 
department of energy facility in support of a department of defense 
related project.
		(2)  "Defense worker job" means a department of defense 
authorized permanent position or a position held or occupied by one 
or more defense workers for more than 12 months.
		(3)  "Department" means the Texas Department of 
Commerce.                   
		(4)  "Panel" means the Defense Economic Adjustment 
Assistance Panel.        

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.           


	§ 486.002. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES.  (a) The department 
shall administer and monitor the implementation of this chapter.
	(b)  The department shall establish criteria and procedures 
for evaluations and awarding grants.  The department shall award 
grants equitably based on evaluations so as to not 
disproportionally favor one defense-dependent community over 
another.  In awarding grants under this chapter, the department 
shall give a preference to adversely affected defense-dependent 
communities over positively affected defense-dependent 
communities.
	(c)  The department may use an amount equal to not more than 
two percent of the total amount of grants authorized during each 
biennium to administer this chapter and other law relating to 
readjustment of defense-dependent communities.
	(d)  The department shall adopt rules necessary to carry out 
the purposes of this chapter.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 1280, § 4, eff. Sept. 1, 
2005.


	§ 486.003. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT.  (a) A local 
governmental entity is eligible for a grant under this chapter if it 
is:
		(1)  a municipality or county that is a 
defense-dependent community;        
		(2)  a regional planning commission that has a 
defense-dependent community within its boundaries;
		(3)  a public junior college district all or part of 
which is located in a defense-dependent community;
		(4)  a campus or extension center for education 
purposes of the Texas State Technical College System located in a 
defense-dependent community;  or
		(5)  a defense base development authority created under 
Chapter 379B, Local Government Code.
	(b)  A municipality or county is an adversely affected 
defense-dependent community if the department determines that:
		(1)  the municipality or county includes within its 
boundaries a defense facility that the department of defense or 
applicable military department has publicly proposed for closure or 
realignment;  or
		(2)  the municipality or county:                                              
			(A)  requires assistance because of:                                         
				(i)  the proposed or actual establishment, 
realignment, or closure of a defense facility;
				(ii)  the cancellation or termination of a 
United States Department of Defense contract or the failure of the 
department of defense to proceed with an approved major weapon 
system program;
				(iii)  a publicly announced planned major 
reduction in department of defense spending that would directly and 
adversely affect the municipality or county;  or
				(iv)  the closure or a significant reduction 
of the operations of a defense facility as the result of a merger, 
acquisition, or consolidation of a defense contractor operating the 
facility;  and
			(B)  is expected to experience, during the period 
between the beginning of the federal fiscal year during which an 
event described by Subdivision (2)(A) is finally approved and the 
date that the event is to be substantially completed, a direct loss 
of:
				(i)  2,500 or more defense worker jobs in any 
area of the municipality or county that is located in an urbanized 
area of a metropolitan statistical area;
				(ii)  1,000 or more defense worker jobs in 
any area of the municipality or county that is not located in an 
urbanized area of a metropolitan statistical area;  or
				(iii)  defense worker jobs representing one 
percent of the jobs in the municipality or county.
	(c)  A municipality or county is a positively affected 
defense-dependent community if the department determines that a 
military facility located in or near the local governmental entity 
receives new or expanded military missions as a result of the United 
States Department of Defense base realignment process.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1242, § 1, eff. June 18, 
1999;  Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 1280, § 5, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.


	§ 486.004. GRANT CRITERIA.  (a) From money appropriated 
for this purpose, the department may make a grant to an eligible 
local governmental entity to:
		(1)  allow the entity to meet a matching money or 
investment requirement in order to receive from the United States 
assistance that is provided to allow the local governmental entity 
to respond to or recover from an event described by Section 
486.003(b)(1);
		(2)  match the entity's contribution for a purpose 
described in Section 486.005 on a closed or realigned defense 
facility;  or
		(3)  construct infrastructure and other projects 
necessary to accommodate the new or expanded military missions at a 
military facility located in or near the local governmental entity.
	(b)  A grant may not be less than $50,000 or more than the 
least of:         
		(1)  50 percent of the amount of matching money or 
investment that the local governmental entity is required to 
provide, subject to Subsection (c);
		(2)  50 percent of the local governmental entity's 
investment for purposes described in Section 486.005, in cases 
where United States assistance is not available;  or
		(3)  $2 million.                                                              
	(c)  If the local governmental entity demonstrates to the 
department that, because of a limited budget, resources are not 
available to provide 50 percent of the amount of matching money or 
investment that the local governmental entity is required to 
provide, the grant may be not more than 80 percent of the amount of 
that matching money or investment requirement, but may not be more 
than $2 million.
	(d)  The department may make a grant to an eligible local 
governmental entity described by Section 486.003(a)(3) or (4) 
without regard to the availability or acquisition of matching 
money.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1242, § 2, eff. June 18, 
1999;  Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 1280, § 6, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.


	§ 486.005. USE OF PROCEEDS.  (a) The local governmental 
entity may use the proceeds of the grant for purchase of property 
from the department of defense or its designated agent, new 
construction, rehabilitation, or renovation of facilities or 
infrastructure, or purchase of capital equipment or insurance.
	(b)  The local governmental entity may deliver the money to a 
special district, development corporation, or other 
instrumentality of the state or the local governmental entity for 
use as provided by this chapter and other applicable law.
	(c)  An eligible local governmental entity described by 
Section 486.003(a)(3) or (4) may use the proceeds of the grant to 
purchase or lease equipment to train defense workers whose jobs 
have been threatened or lost because of an event described by 
Section 486.003(b)(2)(A).

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1242, § 3, eff. June 18, 
1999.


	§ 486.006. DEFENSE ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE 
PANEL.  The department shall establish a defense economic 
adjustment assistance panel within the department.  The panel 
consists of at least three and not more than five professional 
full-time employees of the department appointed by the executive 
director of the department.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.           


	§ 486.007. APPLICATION FOR GRANT.  A local governmental 
entity may apply for a grant under this chapter to the department on 
a form prescribed by the department.  The department shall 
establish periodic application cycles to enable the panel and 
department to evaluate groups of applicants in relation to each 
other.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.           


	§ 486.008. EVALUATION OF APPLICATION.  The panel shall 
evaluate each application and assign the applicant a score based 
on:
		(1)  the significance of the adverse effect within the 
local governmental entity, including the number of jobs lost in 
relation to the workforce in the local governmental entity's 
jurisdiction and the effect on the area's economy and tax revenue;
		(2)  the extent to which the local governmental entity 
has used its existing resources to promote local economic 
development;
		(3)  the amount of any grant that the local 
governmental entity has previously received under this chapter;
		(4)  the anticipated number of jobs to be created in 
relation to the amount of the grant sought;  and
		(5)  the extent to which the grant will affect the 
region in which the local governmental entity is located.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.           


	§ 486.009. MAKING OF GRANT.  The panel shall submit its 
scores to the department's governing body.  The governing body 
shall use the scores to determine whether to make a grant to an 
applicant.  The governing body may not make a grant unless the 
legislature has appropriated the money for the grant.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 918, § 1, eff. June 18, 1997.           


	§ 486.010. DEFENSE-DEPENDENT COMMUNITY WITH MORE THAN ONE 
MILITARY FACILITY.  For purposes of the preference for adversely 
affected defense-dependent communities under Section 486.002(b), a 
defense-dependent community that contains or is near more than one 
military facility is considered an adversely affected 
defense-dependent community if the local governmental entity is 
applying for a grant under this subchapter for a project relating to 
the military facility that is closed or whose operations are 
significantly reduced.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 1280, § 7, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.          

SUBCHAPTER B. REVOLVING LOANS TO COMMUNITIES POTENTIALLY AFFECTED 
BY DEFENSE BASE REDUCTION PROCESS


	§ 486.051. DEFINITIONS.  In this subchapter:                                
		(1)  "Account" means the community infrastructure 
development revolving loan account.
		(2)  "Eligible community" means a local governmental 
entity eligible for a grant under Section 486.003 and that is 
located less than 25 miles from a defense base facility described by 
Section 486.003(b)(1).
		(3)  "Office" means the Texas Military Preparedness 
Commission.             

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1283, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.  
Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 149, § 4, eff. May 27, 2003.


	§ 486.052. REVOLVING LOAN PROGRAM.  (a) The office shall 
administer a revolving loan program for assistance to an eligible 
community in developing infrastructure to minimize the possibility 
of or the negative effects of defense base reduction on the eligible 
community.  The loans may be granted to an eligible community before 
the neighboring defense base is closed.
	(b)  The office by rule shall establish criteria and 
procedures for evaluations of applications for loans under the 
program.
	(c)  The office by rule shall establish categories of 
eligible infrastructure projects for which an eligible community 
may apply for a loan. 
	(d)  The office shall give first priority to awarding loans 
under the program according to the economic development needs of 
eligible communities with neighboring federal military 
installations that, after the effective date of the legislation 
enacting this subsection and before January 1, 2006, are publicly 
proposed for action by the department of defense or applicable 
military department under the base realignment or closure process.  
This subsection expires September 1, 2007.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1283, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.  
Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 149, § 5, eff. May 27, 2003.


	§ 486.053. REVOLVING LOAN ACCOUNT.  (a) The community 
infrastructure development revolving loan account is an account in 
the general revenue fund. 
	(b)  The account may be used only for loans made under this 
subchapter.      
	(c)  The office may accept gifts or grants from any source 
for the purposes of this subchapter.  The office shall deposit gifts 
or grants to the credit of the account.
	(d)  The office shall deposit to the credit of the account 
all loan payments made by an eligible community.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1283, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.