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Senate panel backs bill to expand rural economic development fund eligibility

3378433 · May 19, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The committee advanced House Bill 27 65 to widen eligibility for the Rural Economic Development and Investment Program, aligning Texas definitions with HUD and increasing population limits, allowing more rural communities and infrastructure projects to apply for loans and grants.

House Bill 27 65, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Zaffirini, would expand eligibility and modernize the Rural Economic Development and Investment Program to serve larger rural counties and additional types of projects.

The bill matters because it would raise the population cap for eligible counties from 75,000 to 200,000, align Texas’ definition of rural counties with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program, and broaden who may receive financial assistance to include municipal utilities, certain political subdivisions and…

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