SECTION 16.160. Funding Allocation Adjustments

(a) Changes in funding. Changes in the allocation of funds under §16.153 or §16.154 of this subchapter (relating to Funding Categories and Transportation Allocation Funding Formulas, respectively) may result from significant changes in the department's funding and consideration of performance results.

(b) Allocation revisions. If a significant change in funding is identified by the department's chief financial officer in an updated planning cash flow forecast prepared and published in accordance with §16.152(a) of this subchapter (relating to Cash Flow Forecasts), the commission may revise the allocation of funds to each program funding category or from the program funding categories to the districts and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) and may approve:

(1) a specific percentage increase or decrease in the allocation of funds and, subject to the mandates of state and federal law, apply the percentage change equally to each program funding category; or

(2) an increase or decrease in the allocation of funds to one or more program funding categories, after considering the:

(A) total amount of the change;

(B) priority of the funding category based on performance results and the category's relationship to the stated commission goals as provided in the statewide long-range transportation plan under §16.54 of this chapter (relating to Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan (SLRTP));

(C) mandates of state and federal law; and

(D) best interests of the state.

(c) Adjustment of programs. After the commission approves a change in the allocation of funds to a program funding category under subsection (b) of this section, the funds allocated to individual districts and MPOs will be adjusted and the unified transportation program, statewide transportation improvement program, and metropolitan transportation improvement programs will be revised in accordance with the applicable change in funding. Specific projects will be advanced or delayed in the order of the planning organization's and department's listed priorities in the applicable programs.

(d) Letting. If a significant change in funding is identified by the department's chief financial officer in an updated base cash flow forecast prepared and published in accordance with §16.152(b) of this subchapter (relating to Cash Flow Forecasts), the chief financial officer may revise the letting schedule to maintain the constraint of the base cash flow forecast. Projects eligible for letting include all authorized projects or allocation programs covered in the unified transportation program or the statewide transportation improvement program. Specific projects will be advanced or delayed relative to the order of listed priorities in the applicable programs, fund source eligibility, and the completion of project benchmarks sufficient to proceed to construction.

(e) Public involvement. The department will hold at least one statewide public hearing regarding a proposed change in the allocation of funds to a program funding category under this section with an available comment period of at least 30 days after the date the hearing notice appears in the Texas Register in accordance with the procedures set forth in §16.105(g) of this chapter (relating to Unified Transportation Program (UTP)).

(f) Publication. Documents describing each change in the allocation of funds to a program funding category will be available for viewing by the public on the department's website and at each of the district offices and at the department's Financial Management Division offices in Austin.

Source Note: The provisions of this §16.160 adopted to be effective January 1, 2011, 35 TexReg 8388; amended to be effective November 15, 2012, 37 TexReg 8981; amended to be effective January 1, 2017, 41 TexReg 10670; amended to be effective September 1, 2018, 43 TexReg 5240