HB 254

During the 89th Regular Session, the Texas Legislature created the rural infrastructure disaster recovery program to provide grants to rebuild and repair critical infrastructure damaged by a disaster for counties with a population of less than 100,000, a GDP of less than $2 billion, and a poverty rate greater than 15 percent. The bill author has informed the committee that, following the July 4th floods in the Texas Hill Country, officials from Kerrville in need of additional state aid have called for changes to the program's eligibility criteria in order to make additional political subdivisions located in the affected area eligible for grants under the program. H.B. 254 seeks to address this issue by revising the economic eligibility criteria for grants under the rural infrastructure disaster