Part 9.
TEXAS BOND REVIEW BOARD
Chapter 181.
BOND REVIEW BOARD
Subchapter A. BOND REVIEW RULES
34 TAC §§181.1 - 181.7, 181.10 - 181.12
The Texas Bond Review Board proposes amendments to Title
34 TAC, Chapter 181, §§181.1 - 181.7 and §§181.10 - 181.12.
The rules are amended to comply with changes in Chapter 1231, Government Code,
and to clarify procedures.
James T. Buie, Executive Director of the Bond Review Board, has determined
that for each year of the first five years that the amended sections are in
effect, there will be negligible fiscal implications for state and local government
as a result of enforcing or administering the amended sections.
Mr. Buie has also determined that for each year of the first five years
the amended sections are in effect, the public benefits anticipated as a result
of enforcing the amended sections will be simplification and clarification
of procedures. There will be no effect on small businesses. There is no anticipated
economic cost to persons who are required to comply with the proposed sections.
Comments may be submitted to James T. Buie, Texas Bond Review Board, P.O.
Box 13292, Austin, Texas 78711-3292.
The amended sections are proposed under §3, Chapter 1231,
Government Code, which gives the Texas Bond Review Board the authority to
adopt rules governing application for review, the review process, and reporting
requirements involved in the issuance of state bonds.
The following is the statute that is affected by these rules: Chapter 1231,
Government Code.
§181.1.Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have
the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise
:
[
(1)
Board--The
Bond Review Board, created under Chapter
1078, Acts of the 70th Legislature, Regular Session, 1987 codified as Chapter
1231, Government Code
[
(2)
State
security
[
(A)
an
[
(i) - (iii)
(No change.)
(B)
an installment sale or
lease-purchase
[
(C)
References in these rules to a board member
include the person designated to act on their behalf, except as noted in §181.4(b)
of this title (relating to Meetings).
§181.2.Notice of Intention To Issue.
(a)
An issuer intending to issue state bonds shall submit a
written
or electronic
notice to the bond finance office no later
than three weeks prior to the date requested for board consideration. The
director of the bond finance office shall forward one copy of the notice to
each member of the board. Prospective issuers are encouraged to file the
notice of intention as early in the issuance planning stage as possible. The
notice is for information purposes only, to facilitate the scheduling of board
review activities.
(b)
A notice of intention to issue under this section shall
include:
(1) - (3)
(No change.)
(4)
an agreement to submit the required application
described
[
(c) - (d)
(No change.)
§181.3.Application for Board Approval of State Bond Issuance.
(a)
An officer or entity may not issue state bonds unless the
issuance has been approved or exempted from review by the [
(b)
Applications must be filed with the bond finance office
no later than the first Tuesday of the month in which the applicant requests
board consideration. Applications filed after that date will be considered
at the regular meeting only with the approval of the
Chair
[
(c)
An application for approval of a lease-purchase agreement
must include:
(1) - (3)
(No change.)
(4)
a detailed explanation of the terms of the lease-purchase
agreement
,
including, but not limited to, amount of purchase, trade-in
allowances, interest charges, service contracts, etc.
(d)
An application for all state bonds other than lease-purchase
agreements must include:
(1)
evidence of all necessary approvals from
any state boards or state agencies, except for that of the Attorney General;
(2)
[
(3)
where applicable, evidence of review of
proposed issuance by local entities;
(4)
[
(5)
[
(6)
[
(7)
[
(8)
[
(9)
[
(10)
[
(A)
bond counsel
(B)
financial advisor
(C)
paying agent/registrar
(D)
rating agencies
(E)
official statement printing
(F)
bond printing
(G)
trustee
(H)
credit enhancement
(I)
liquidity facility
(J)
miscellaneous issuance costs;
(11)
[
(A)
management fee
(B)
underwriter's fees
(C)
selling concessions
(D)
underwriter's counsel
(E)
other costs;
(12)
[
(13)
[
(14)
copy of preliminary official statement,
if available;
(15)
[
(16)
[
(17)
[
(A)
the degree of ownership and control of each participant
firm by minorities and women;
(B)
the number and percentage of professionally employed women
and minorities in each participant's firm; and
(C)
a brief description of the effort made by each participant
to encourage and develop participation of women and minorities. This description
can include internal firm recruitment efforts, any offers tendered for apportioning
responsibilities by subcontract or joint venture, and the equal opportunity
goals and policies of each participant's firm.
(18)
[
(e)
In addition to the information required by
subsections
[
(f)
(No change.)
§181.4.Meetings.
(a)
The regular meeting of the board shall be held the Thursday
following the third Tuesday of each month
, with the exception of the
months of January, July and September. No meetings will be held in those months
unless called by the Chair
.
(b)
The Chair
[
(c)
A planning session will be held regarding applications
pending before the board on or before the second Tuesday of each month
, with the exception of the months of January, July, and September
.
Planning sessions regarding applications to be heard at additional meetings
of the board will be held as far in advance of the additional board meeting
as
is
practicable. At a planning session, board members, their
designated representatives, or their staff representatives may discuss pending
applications[
(d)
At a meeting of the board,
the
[
(e)
(No change.)
(f)
The
Executive Director
[
(g)
If applicable law requires the approval by the
Attorney
General
[
(h)
(No change.)
§181.5.Submission of Final Report.
(a)
Within 60 days after
the
signing of a lease-purchase
agreement or delivery of the state bonds and receipt of the state bond proceeds,
the issuer or purchaser, as applicable, shall submit one original [
(b)
A final report for
lease purchases
[
(c)
A final report for all state bonds other than lease-purchase
agreements must include:
(1)
all actual costs of issuance
,
including, as
applicable, the specific items listed in §181.3
(d)(10) and (11)
[
(2)
a complete bond transcript
,
including the preliminary
official statement and the final official statement, private placement memorandum,
if applicable, or any other offering documents as well as all other executed
documents pertaining to the issuance of the state bonds. The issuer also must
submit a copy of the [
(d)
(No change.)
(e)
The bond finance office shall prepare and
make available
to
[
§181.6.Official Statement.
(a)
The official statement or any other offering documents
prepared in connection with issuance of bonds approved by the board must conform,
to the extent feasible, to the most recent Disclosure Guidelines for State
and Local Government Securities published by the Government Finance Officers
Association. The preliminary official statement[
(b)
The comptroller shall certify the accuracy and completeness
of statewide economic and demographic data, as well as revenues, expenditures,
current fund balances, and debt-service requirements of bonded indebtedness
of the state contained in the preliminary official statement. This data shall
be used unchanged in the final official statement unless changes are approved
in writing by the comptroller. The comptroller may execute a waiver of any
part of this subsection.
§181.7.Designation of Representation.
A member of the board may designate another person to represent the
member on the board by filing a designation to that effect with the
Executive Director
[
§181.10.Annual Issuer Report.
All state bond issuers whose bonds are subject to review by the board
must file a report
with the bond finance office
no later than September
15 of each year
,
[
(1)
the investment status of all unspent state bond proceeds
(i.e., the amount of proceeds, name of institution, type of investment program
or instrument, maturity
,
and interest rate);
(2)
an explanation of any change during the fiscal year previous
to the deadline for this report, in the debt-retirement schedule for any outstanding
bond issue (e.g. exercise of redemption provision, conversion from
short-term
[
(3)
a description of any bond
issues
[
(4)
a list of all bond issues outstanding
and corresponding debt service schedules for all bonds outstanding in a digital
and hard copy format.
§181.11.Filing of Requests for Proposal.
The Bond Review Board wishes to encourage use of the request for proposal
process to maximize participation in the bond issuance process. Any state
bond issuer whose bonds are subject to review by the board is requested, for
information purposes only, to submit to the
Executive Director
[
§181.12.Charges for Public Records.
The charge to any person requesting copies of any public records of
the Texas Bond Review Board will be the charge established by the General
Services Commission; however, the Texas Bond Review Board will charge the
following amounts necessary to recoup the costs of items as follows:
(1)
computer resources charges (mainframe and programming time)
,
[
(2)
Copies of public records shall be furnished without charge
or at a reduced charge if the Executive Director determines that waiver or
reduction of the fee is in the public interest because furnishing the information
can be considered as primarily benefiting the general public.
(3)
Any additional reasonable cost will be added at actual
cost, with full disclosure to the requesting party as soon as it is known.
(4)
A reasonable deposit may be required for requests where
the total charges are over $200.
(5)
All requests will be treated equally. The Executive Director
may
exercise discretion in waiving
[
(6)
If records are requested to be inspected instead of receiving
copies, access will be by appointment only during regular business hours of
the agency and will be at the discretion of the Executive Director.
(7)
Confidential documents will not be made available for examination
or copying except under court order or other directive.
(8)
All open records requests will be referred to the Executive
Director or designee before the agency staff will release the information.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been
reviewed by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority
to adopt.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State, on August 20, 2001.
TRD-200104883
James T. Buie
Executive Director
Texas Bond Review Board
Proposed date of adoption: October 9, 2001
For further information, please call: (512) 463-1741
Subchapter A. PROGRAM RULES
.
]
bond review board created by Acts of the
70th Legislature, 1987, particularly Senate Bill 1027
].
bond
]
A bond or other
] obligation
,including a bond,
issued by:
lease purchase
] obligation issued by or on behalf of an entity listed
in clauses (i), (ii), or (iii) of this subparagraph that has a stated term
of longer than five years or has an initial principal amount of greater than
$250,000.
set forth herein
] in §181.3 of this title (relating
to Application for Board Approval of State Bond Issuance) no later than the
first Tuesday of the month in which the applicant requests board consideration.
Bond Review
] Board. An officer or entity that has not been granted an exemption
from review by the board and that proposes to issue state bonds shall apply
for board approval by filing one application with original signatures and
nine copies with the
Executive Director
[
director
] of
the bond finance office. The
Executive Director
[
director
] of the bond finance office shall forward one copy of the application
to each member of the board and one copy to the Office of the Attorney General.
governor
] or
two
[
three
] or more members of the
board.
(1)
] a substantially complete draft
or summary of the proposed resolution, order, or ordinance providing for the
issuance of state bonds;
(2)
] a brief description of the
program under which the state bonds are proposed to be issued, which may include
a reference to a legislative enactment or to existing rules if the program
is established in accordance with an existing statute or existing rules;
(3)
] the applicant's plans for use
of state bond proceeds, including a description of, statement of the need
for, and cost of each specific project for which bond proceeds are proposed
to be used;
(4)
] the applicant's plans for the
administration and servicing of the state bonds to be issued, including, when
applicable, a disbursement schedule of bond proceeds, the proposed flow of
funds, the sources and methods of repayment, and an estimated debt-service
schedule;
(5)
] a description of the applicant's
investment provisions for bond proceeds, including any specific provisions
for safety and security and a description of the duties and obligations of
the trustee and paying agent/registrar as applicable;
(6)
] a timetable for financing that
contains dates of all major steps in the issuance process, including all necessary
approvals;
(7)
] if the applicant has authority
to issue both general obligation and revenue bonds and the proposed issuance
is of one of these, a statement of the applicant's reasons for its choice
of type of state bonds;
(8)
] a statement of the applicant's
estimated costs of issuance, listed on an item by item basis, including, as
applicable, the estimated costs for:
(9)
] an estimate, if bond sale
is negotiated, of underwriter's spread,
specified in
[
broken
down into
] the following components[
,
] and accompanied by
a list of underwriters' spreads from recent comparable bond issues:
(10)
] a list of the firms providing
the services reported in paragraphs
(10) and (11)
[
(8) and
(9)
] of this subsection and a statement of prior representation of the
issuer by each firm;
(11)
] a justification of the decision
of whether or not to apply for municipal bond insurance or other credit enhancement,
including a comparison of expected bond ratings and borrowing costs for the
issue with and without the particular enhancement(s) considered;
(12)
] a statement of any potential
liability of the general revenue fund or any other state funds resulting from
the issuance;
(13)
] a copy of any preliminary
written review of the issuance that has been made by the attorney general;
(14)
] a statement addressing the
participation of women and minorities. The purpose of this section is to promote
economic opportunity by affording equal access to the procurement of contracts
for professional services for the financing of bonds by state issuers. Therefore,
the following information about each participant (including, but not limited
to, bond counsel, underwriters, underwriter's counsel, and financial advisor)
must be included:
(15)
] The notification procedures
used by or on behalf of the issuer to select the participants referenced in
paragraph
(17) of this subsection
[
(14) above
].
subsection
] (c)
or (d)
of this section, an application
under this section may include any other relevant information the applicant
wants to submit to the board.
As chairman of the board, the
governor
] may call additional meetings of the board and is responsible
for filing notice of meetings as required by
Chapter 551, Government
Code
[
Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6252.17
], and giving
timely notice of meetings to members of the board. On the petition of
two
[
three
] or more members of the board, the governor shall
call an additional meeting of the board or cancel a meeting.
, but may not conduct board business
]. Applicants
may be required to attend a planning session and may be asked to make a presentation
and answer questions regarding their application. Applicants may be asked
to submit written answers to questions regarding their application in lieu
of, or in addition to, their attendance at a planning session.
a
]
board [
member or designated representative
] may allow an applicant
to make an oral presentation to the board.
executive director
] of the bond finance office shall notify applicants in writing of any
action taken regarding their application. A letter of approval shall contain
the terms and conditions of the issue as approved by the board. Issuers must
inform the
Executive Director
[
director
] of the bond
finance office of changes to the aspects of their application
that
[
which
] are specified in the approval letter. Such changes may
prompt reconsideration of the application by the
Bond Review Board
[
bond review board
]. A copy of the approval letter shall be forwarded
to the
Office of the Attorney General
[
attorney general
].
attorney general
] of an issuance of state bonds
that are not exempt from review by the board,
Attorney General
[
attorney general
] approval must be obtained after approval by
the board.
and
one copy
] of a final report to the bond finance office and a single
copy of the final report to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
lease-purchases
] must include a detailed explanation of the terms of the lease-purchase
agreement
,
including, but not limited to, amount of purchase, trade-in
allowance, interest charges, service contracts, etc.
(c)(8) and (9)
], as well as the underwriting spread for
competitive financings and the private placement fee for private placements,
all closing costs, and any other costs incurred during the issuance process;
and
winning
] bid form
or a listing of orders
and allotments
and a final
debt-service
[
debt service
] schedule (if applicable).
distribute to
] the members of the bond review board a
summary
[
summarization
] of each final report within 30 days
after the final report has been submitted by the issuer. This
summary
[
summarization
] shall
compare
[
include a
comparison of
] the estimated costs of issuance for the items listed
in §181.3
(d)(10) and (11)
[
(c)(8) and (9)
] contained
in the application for approval with the actual costs of issuance listed in
subsection (c)(1) of this section
[
§181.5(b)(1)
] submitted
in the final report. This
summary
[
summarization
] must
also include [
such
] other information
that
[
which
] in the opinion of the bond finance office[
,
] represents
a material addition to[
,
] or a substantial deviation from[
,
] the application for approval.
,
] or other offering
documents
may
[
, shall
] be submitted to and reviewed
by the
Executive Director
[
director
] of the bond finance
office prior to mailing. [
Issuers should submit early drafts of the preliminary
official statement to the director of the bond finance office to allow adequate
time for review.
] Review of the preliminary official statement by the
Executive Director
[
director
] of the bond finance office
is not to be interpreted as a certification as to the accuracy, timeliness,
and completeness of the specific data in the document. These standards remain
the responsibility of the provider(s) of the data.
director
] of the bond finance office.
A designation of representation filed under this section is effective until
revoked by a subsequent filing by the member with the bond finance office.
During the time a designation of representation is in effect, the person designated
has all powers and duties as a member of the board, except the authority to
make a designation under this section.
with the bond finance office
] to include:
short term
] to
long-term
[
long term
]
bonds, etc.); [
and
]
issue
] expected during the fiscal year, including type of issue, estimated
amount, and expected month of sale
; and
[
.
]
executive director
] at the time of distribution one copy of any
request for proposal for consultants prepared in connection with the planned
issuance of state bonds. The
bond finance office
[
Bond Finance
Office
], upon request, will make the request for proposals available
to consultants, other state bond issuers[
,
] and the general public.
shall be
] as determined by the Department of Information
Resources.
waive
] charges [
at his/her discretion
].
Chapter 190.
ALLOCATION OF STATE'S LIMIT ON CERTAIN PRIVATE ACTIVITY BONDS