Specialty License Plate Revenue: Changes to Certain General Revenue Dedicated Accounts

Overview

Applicable to

State agencies and institutions of higher education

Summary

Certain accounts eliminated

House Bill 7, 83rd Legislature, Regular Session:

• Required all dedicated accounts established for specialty license plates under Transportation Code, Chapter 504, Subchapter G, to be eliminated.
• Directed the balances of those dedicated accounts to be set aside, presumably so that the balances could be appropriated by subsequent legislatures.
• On and after Sept. 1, 2013, required fees designated for deposit to such dedicated accounts instead be paid to License Plate Trust Fund 0802.

Note: If an agency collects specialty license plate revenue under GR or other funds (ex. Fund 0001, 0573, 0334), the provisions of HB 7 (from either the 83rd or 84th Legislature) do not apply.

HB 7, 84th Legislature, Regular Session:

• Expands on the provisions of HB 7, 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, by applying that bill’s requirements to all dedicated accounts established for specialty license plates, not just those established under Transportation Code, Chapter 504, Subchapter G.
• Beginning Sept. 1, 2015, this effectively requires agencies collecting license plate revenues under Account 5140 – Specialty License Plates General to instead deposit those amounts to License Plate Trust Fund 0802.
• Eliminates account 5140 effective Sept. 30, 2015. Agencies currently collecting license plate revenue under account 5140 include:

  Agency	License Plate Description
  305 – General Land Office	Texas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, San Jacinto Texas Historic District, Buffalo Soldiers and Adopt a Beach
  332 – Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs	Texas Realtors Association
  411 – Texas Commission on Fire Protection	Professional Firefighter
  537 – Department of State Health Services	Rotary International
  551 – Department of Agriculture	American Quarter Horse, Texas Masons
  582 – Texas Commission on Environmental Quality	Take Care of Texas
  701 – Texas Education Agency	Texas Trails
  781 – Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board	Conserve Water, Omega Psi Phi

  Note: Revenue collected under accounts 5032, 5036, 5055, 5089, 5113, 5134 and 5154 was redirected to License Plate Trust Fund 0802 during appropriation years (AYs) 2014-15; however, the accounts themselves were not eliminated. Those accounts are eliminated for AY 2016-17 effective Sept. 30, 2015.

Disposition of balances in dedicated accounts established for specialty license plates

HB 1, the General Appropriations Act, 84th Legislature, Regular Session, provides additional guidance on the treatment of license plate revenue and the disposition of license plate balances during the 2016-17 biennium. Where applicable, please refer to your agency’s bill pattern for agency-specific guidance.

• Article III, Special Provisions, Section 60: Appropriates all unexpended balances that may exist and all receipts deposited in the state treasury in the Texas Collegiate License Plate Scholarships program during the biennium beginning Sept. 1, 2015. Appropriates any balances on hand at the end of fiscal 2016 for fiscal 2017 to the collecting agency.
• Article IX, Other Appropriation Authority, Section 8.13: Appropriates to a collecting agency all unexpended balances that may exist and all revenue collected by the agency on or after Sept. 1, 2015, that is associated with the sale of a Texas specialty license plate.

These riders appropriate unexpended amounts collected during the 2014-15 biennium for use during AY 2016, and appropriate any cumulative amounts remaining in AY 2016 for use in AY 2017.

Note that “unexpended balances” does not include amounts collected prior to Sept. 1, 2013, that were previously moved to unappropriated Fund 0802. Those amounts will need to be moved as unappropriated revenue to the current appropriation year for future appropriation by subsequent legislatures.

Contact your appropriation control officer if you have questions about the ending balances of General Revenue-Dedicated (GRD) accounts.