Texas Bond Review Board Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2013-2017 Page: 18
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To maintain an efficient system of collecting and reporting debt issuance and debt-outstanding
information on over 4,500 local government entities, as well as addressing statutory mandates
regarding local debt reporting and analysis, the BRB has:
* Continually worked to streamline the local government debt database (including the debt of
school districts, counties, community/junior colleges, cities, health/hospital districts, water
districts and other special districts) to create a simplified review and data entry process that
enables staff to focus on improved analysis and communication efforts;
* Created the Local Government Annual Report that provides greater detail about all seven
categories of local debt information collected and complies with the statutory biennial
reporting requirements for local debt by placing this information on the agency's website,
thereby increasing availability and reducing costs; and
* Expanded local government debt information on the agency's website. Visitors to the site
can access and download spreadsheets that contain debt outstanding, debt ratio and
population data by government type at fiscal year end. As part of the calculation for an
outcome-based performance measure, the agency keeps a log of the users of the searchable
database and the number of files downloaded each month.
Data collection and reporting is now maintained on more than 4,500 local government entities, thus
documentation and periodic review of staff procedures is paramount to accurate and consistent data
analysis and reporting. Since fiscal 2006, stability in the local government staff has contributed to
more efficient and rapid compilation of local year-end data for the agency's website.
Private Activity Bond Allocation Program
The goal of this program is to ensure that the private activity bond cap authorized for Texas state
and local entities is allocated in a manner consistent with legislative mandates, in the most equitable
manner possible and in the best interest of the people of Texas. The BRB is responsible for drafting
rules and application guidelines to ensure compliance with statutory and federal requirements for the
program. The agency does not have in-house counsel but relies heavily for legal support from the
Public Finance Division of the Office of the Attorney General.
The BRB primarily allocates the state's volume cap by a lottery process held at the end of October.
Lottery applications are thoroughly reviewed to ensure compliance with federal and statutory
requirements. State statute determines the annual set-asides for each of the six subceilings: mortgage
revenue bonds, state-voted issues, qualified small issue industrial development bonds, residential
rental projects, student loan bonds and all other issues.
The Legislature mandates program changes in the six subceilings periodically to maintain an
equitable process and to distribute volume cap to meet the needs of Texas. However, as the
program's administrator, the BRB also has the ongoing challenge of identifying issues that need to
be addressed by the legislature to assure that the program continues to meet its goals. With the
passage of SB 2064 during the 81s Legislative Session, improvements were made to the Private
Activity Bond Program by providing issuers with increased flexibility during difficult market
conditions such as those experienced during fiscal 2009. In addition, SB 2064 increased the
responsibilities of the BRB by allowing it to respond to the announcement of new federal bond
programs.18
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Texas Bond Review Board. Texas Bond Review Board Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2013-2017, book, July 2, 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth531984/m1/21/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.