Texas Bond Review Board:

An Inventory of Bond Review Board Minutes and Agenda at the Texas State Archives, 1987-2010

Agency History

The Texas Bond Review Board was created in 1987 (Senate Bill 1027, 70th Texas Legislature, Regular Session). Its main function is to review and approve all bonds, installment sales, and lease-purchases issued by state agencies and universities with a principal greater than $250,000 or a term greater than five years. The board is responsible for formulating and enforcing policies regarding debt and bond issues for the state. It furnishes public information about bonded indebtedness and provides full disclosure on the costs and methods of debt issuance to citizens. The board develops consistent guidelines to ensure the security of public money and the integrity of the projects to which bond proceeds are directed. It also provides definitive guidelines for bond issuers and coordinates the timing of bond sales to ensure the most favorable conditions for those sales. Legislation was passed in 1997 which required the board to compile a statewide capital expenditure plan for the 2000-01 biennium that identifies the state's capital needs, alternatives to financing those needs, and the possible budget impact on the state's debt capacity.

The board was authorized to implement the Public School Facilities Funding Act, established in 1989 and whose original intent was to address concerns that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) arbitrage rules would result in the Permanent School Fund (PSF) no longer being allowed to guarantee school district bonds. The Act would allow the board to lend funds to low-wealth, high-debt school districts to finance or refinance acquisition, construction, renovation, and improvement of facilities and capital assets used to support classroom instruction. The state was given the ability to issue bonds to buy school district bonds thereby conferring the state's credit rating on the transaction. A 1990 IRS ruling alleviated the initial concerns and the legislation was never used. There were several attempts to make the Public School Facilities Funding Act (PSFFA) work. Each attempt found it more costly to use PSFFA than to issue the bonds directly with the guarantee of the PSF due to the double issuance cost of both state and local bonds being issued and sold. The Act was repealed in June 2005.

Originally composed of five members (the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, state comptroller, and state treasurer), it is now composed of four (the position of state treasurer was abolished following a constitutional amendment in 1996). The governor serves as chair. The board appoints an Executive Director. The agency had 10.5 full-time equivalent employees in 2001.

(Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 11th edition (2001); HB 1106 Bill Analysis by the Texas House of Representatives Public Education Committee, 79th Legislature, Regular Session; the agency web site, http://www.brb.state.tx.us/, including the Annual Report for FY 2005; and the article "Texas Bond Review Board" by Laurie E. Jasinski in Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mdtln; both online resources accessed September 25, 2012.)

Scope and Contents of the Records

The Texas Bond Review Board approves state bond issues and lease purchases with an initial principal amount of greater than $250,000 or a term of longer than five years; is responsible for the collection, analysis and reporting of information on the debt of the state and local political subdivisions in Texas; and administers the state’s Private Activity Bond Allocation Program. These records document those functions, and include copies of minutes, agenda, transcripts, and occasional exhibits, dating 1987-2010. They comprise the minutes and agenda of meetings of the Texas Bond Review Board, and the minutes for staff planning sessions of the Bond Review Board. Agenda are present beginning in late 1989, but not every meeting afterward contains an agenda. Transcripts are included with minutes for three meetings in the early 1990s, and are substituted for minutes for almost all meetings between October 2001 and June 2002. Exhibits (such as presentations or application summaries) are rare. Staff planning sessions are documented for the years 1989-1994.

The bulk of the meeting minutes pertain to consideration of proposed issues of bonds, installment sales, and lease-purchases, and give the following information: (1) the name of the issuing state agency or university; (2) the nature of the proposed transaction (e.g. Multifamily Housing Mortgage Revenue Bonds, Series 2002--Wheatland Villas Apartments; Consolidated Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2002B; Tax Exempt Commercial Paper Revenue Notes, Series 2003; lease purchase of Oracle software; etc.); (3) a discussion of the issues, including (but not limited to) names of representatives present, the amounts, the purpose(s), the methods for placing and issuing, how they would be secured, how they would be repaid, the names of consultants, the dates of sales and closings, etc.; and (4) the decision of the board and terms of approval (in all caps).

Other business of the board is also briefly documented, including such things as changes to the board's rules; the legislative appropriations request; debt issuers guidelines; possible legislative changes; the internal audit plan, report, and charter; reports from the Executive Director; etc.

Minutes are created to document in a thorough yet summary fashion the official actions of the board in its meetings. Agenda inform the public as to what will be discussed and/or decided at each board meeting. Transcripts are verbatim records of the proceedings of a meeting.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

None.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Texas Bond Review Board minutes and agenda. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession numbers: 1998/118, 1999/178, 2000/028, 2001/113, 2004/002, 2004/011, 2004/199, 2005/116, 2006/035, 2006/093, 2007/072, 2008/076, 2009/102, 2010/080, 2011/033

These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Legislative Budget Board on October 31, 1997; by the Texas Bond Review Board on May 19, 1998; June 28, 1999; September 29, 1999; March 30, 2001; September 2, 2003; December 13, 2004; October 25, 2005; December 12, 2006; December 7, 2007; February 25, 2009; February 8, 2010; and October 12, 2010; and by the Texas Legislative Reference Library on September 8, 2003; July 7, 2004; and December 20, 2005.

Processing Information

Processed by Tony Black, July 2001

New accessions added by Tony Black, September 2003, January 2004, March 2005

New accessions added, and further encoding to DACS standards by Tony Black, December 2006

Four new accessions added by Rebecca Romanchuk, September 2012

Accruals

The Texas Bond Review Board periodically transfers copies of minutes and agenda to the Texas State Archives.

Other Formats for the Records

The Texas Bond Review Board posts on its website electronic copies of its recent agenda, http://www.brb.state.tx.us/agency/agenda.aspx, as well as its board planning session and meeting minutes from September 2000 forward, http://www.brb.state.tx.us/agency/minutes.aspx.

Location of Originals

The record copies of minutes and agenda are maintained by the Texas Bond Review Board.

Detailed Description of the Records