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Committee considers bill to create searchable statewide database of local bond obligations
Summary
House Bill 3526 would require the Bond Review Board to maintain a searchable database of local governments' bond obligations, issuance and repayment information; taxpayers' and policy groups testified in favor and the committee left the bill pending.
Senator West described House Bill 3526 as a measure to increase transparency of local government borrowing by requiring a searchable database for bond obligations and repayment records.
"What this particular bill does it requires a searchable database for local bond obligations, whether they've been issued and whether they have been paid," Senator West said in his lay‑out of the bill.
Supporters told the committee the database would help taxpayers, journalists and lawmakers understand the scale of local borrowing. Carl Walker of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association said the measure "brings much needed transparency to local governments' debt status" and welcomed inclusion of minimum debt service data to help verify components of the truth‑in‑taxation calculation.
James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation urged passage and provided figures he said illustrate the scope of local borrowing: over recent election cycles voters were asked to consider hundreds of bond propositions worth tens of billions of dollars in principal, and the bill would make that information easier to access and verify.
Committee members noted the Bond Review Board already collects some information and suggested the board may be the appropriate home for a consolidated database. There was no opposition testimony at the hearing.
Public testimony closed and House Bill 3526 was left pending subject to call of the chair.
