84th Recap: Disaster Recovery

We tracked SB 1376 this session because of its potential impact on future disaster recovery and planning. Manufactured housing, along with park models, modular homes, and even FEMA units play significant roles in the wake of disasters. Therefore, TMHA always watches and when necessary works legislation that deals with disaster recover. This session SB 1376 nearly made it through on its own. Then it didn't, but nearly made it through as an amendment to another bill. But then didn't.

SB 1376 sought to do two main things: 1) clarify that the General Land Office is the state agency responsible for disaster recovery, and 2) allow local governments to develop local housing recovery plans for the rapid and efficient construction of replacement housing following a natural disaster. The bill called for the local plan to be submitted to the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University in order for the plans to be certified.

After making it through the Senate and all the way to the floor of the House, SB 1376 was killed by the clock. SB 1376 was on the last House Calendar on May 26, which mandates any bill not voted out by midnight to be dead.

The bill author tried as he could to revive HB 1376 by amending a House bill that was over in the Senate, HB 3474. HB 3474 had nothing to do with disaster recovery. HB 3474 dealt with county services, voting procedures for local elections and a study of population growth. But in the final moments of the session it was viewed as a possible vehicle to drop in Senate bills that had perished in the House. And boy did HB 3474 ever have a bunch of passengers jump on for a ride. On May 27, the day after SB 1376 died in the House, 32 Senate floor amendments were adopted to HB 3474. Amendment 20 of the 32 was the language previously in SB 1376.

HB 3474 now being vastly different from the version that passed the House resulted in a conference committee where members of both chambers tried to work out their differences. However, the changes turned out to be too vast and the conference committee could not get on the same page, thus once again ending the briefly resurrected life of SB 1376.

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