Relating to the grant program distributing money from the transportation infrastructure fund.
Summary
HB 263 revises the formula used to distribute grants from the transportation infrastructure fund to counties. The bill changes the percentage weights assigned to several existing factors tied to oil and gas activity, including reducing the shares based on oil and gas production taxes, horizontal well completions, and vertical well completions, while keeping the weight tolerance permits and oil and gas waste injection factors in place. It also adds two new distribution factors: regularly producing horizontal wells and regularly producing vertical wells in counties adjacent to the county where production occurred, with those amounts to be distributed equally among eligible adjacent counties that apply for grants.
The bill is aimed at updating how transportation infrastructure grant money is allocated among counties, likely to better reflect impacts from nearby oil and gas production and related activity. It amends Section 256.103 of the Transportation Code and takes effect September 1, 2025. The practical effect is to alter the county-level formula used by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, the comptroller, and the Railroad Commission of Texas in determining grant shares from the transportation infrastructure fund.
Impact
HB 263 changes state law governing the transportation infrastructure fund grant program by revising the statutory allocation formula in Transportation Code Section 256.103(b). Counties receiving grants under this subchapter would see their shares recalculated based on the new percentages and the added adjacent-county production factors, affecting how money is distributed among counties with oil and gas activity and those neighboring producing counties. The bill does not create a new program, but it materially changes the distribution criteria used by state agencies to administer existing grant funding.
Sentiment
The available legislative history suggests the bill moved through the House Transportation Committee without recorded votes or transcripted debate in the provided materials, and it was reported to Calendars on May 13, 2025. Based on the bill’s subject matter and lack of recorded opposition in the supplied context, the overall sentiment appears procedural and neutral-to-supportive, with the measure treated as a technical adjustment to an existing funding formula rather than a highly controversial policy change.
Contention
The main point of potential contention is the rebalancing of grant shares among counties. Counties that currently benefit more from the existing oil and gas production tax, horizontal well completion, and vertical well completion formulas may receive smaller allocations under the revised percentages, while counties adjacent to producing counties could gain access to new shares through the added regularly producing well factors. Any debate would likely center on whether the new formula more fairly accounts for infrastructure impacts from energy development and whether adjacent counties should be included in the distribution, but no specific objections or supporters are identified in the provided record.
A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund, the primary road fund, and the statutory allocations fund.(See SF 628.)
A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund.(See SF 2478.)
A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund.
A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund, the primary road fund, and the statutory allocations fund. (Formerly SSB 1219.) Effective date: 07/01/2025.
A bill for an act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund. (Formerly SSB 3186.) Effective date: 07/01/2026.
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