| (H) Receive requests for reallocated funds and funds
reverted from participating SWCDs that received a direct allocation.
(I) Act on appeals filed by applicants.
(J) Process vouchers and issue warrants for cost-share
to eligible recipients.
(2) The SWCDs shall:
(A) Designate, from State Board approved list, those
conservation practices that will be eligible for cost-share incentive
funding in their SWCD.
(B) Administer cost-share incentive funding with funds
allocated by the State Board if the SWCD received a direct allocation.
(C) Establish, under guidelines of the State Board,
the priority system to be used for evaluation of applications for
incentive funding through a direct allocation to the SWCD, and to
be used for evaluation of applications for cost-share incentive priorities.
(D) Establish the period(s) of time, under the guidelines
of the State Board, for accepting applications and announce the availability
of cost-share incentive funding locally.
(E) Accept and process cost-share incentive funding
applications.
(F) Determine eligibility of lands and persons for
cost-share incentive funding under guidelines established by the State
Board.
(G) Notify applicants of the SWCD's decisions on approval
of applications.
(H) File approved applications in the SWCD's copy of
the applicant's water quality management plan.
(I) Obligate allocated funds for applications receiving
final approval.
(J) Provide or arrange for technical assistance to
applicants, or approve applicant and provide for an alternate source
of technical assistance.
(K) Certify completed conservation practices to the
State Board prior to payment.
(L) Submit required reports on the unobligated balance
of directly allocated funds and on accomplishments to the State Board.
(e) Administration of Funds.
(1) Allocation of Funds. The State Board may allocate
funds appropriated from general revenue fund and other sources for
cost-share incentive funding among particular soil and water conservation
land improvement measures, specific SWCDs, among areas of the state
through cost-share incentive priorities, or a combination thereof,
and may adjust such allocations throughout the year as available funds
and SWCD needs and priorities change in order to achieve the most
efficient use of state funds. The State Board may designate a portion
of the funds allocated to a SWCD or to cost-share incentive priorities
to reimburse SWCDs for obligations incurred in administering cost-share
incentive activities.
(2) Approval of Cost-share Incentive Priority Allocations.
The State Board may allocate cost-share incentive funding to priorities
identified by the State Board, local SWCDs through the stakeholder
process described at subsection (c) of this section, and other entities.
Higher consideration will be given to priorities recommended through
the stakeholder process. Priorities will be approved consistent with
the purpose of cost-share incentives specified at subsection (a) of
this section. A cost-share incentive priority shall exist for no more
than two program years without re-approval by the State Board.
(3) Requests for Direct Allocations. SWCDs within areas
designated for cost-share program may submit requests for a direct
cost-share incentive fund allocation to the State Board. Such requests
must be submitted by September 1st of each program year, and must
include a description of how the allocation will control soil erosion,
conserve water, and/or protect water quality. Allocations requested
to address documented problems with water quality will be considered
before other requests, and any request will be subject to the availability
of funds after allocations are made to approved cost-share incentive
priorities as described in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(4) Approval of Direct Allocations to SWCDs. The State
Board shall consider and approve, reject or adjust SWCD requests for
direct allocations giving consideration to the amount of available
funding not already allocated to cost-share incentive priorities,
relative need for funding and SWCD workload and fund balances, as
well as other information deemed necessary by the State Board. Only
SWCDs for which the State Board has established an allocation are
eligible to directly claim cost-share incentive funds.
(5) Maximum Allowable Amount of Cost-Share Funds per
Operating Unit. The maximum allowable amount of cost-share funds that
may be applied to any single operating unit will be adopted by the
State Board prior to the beginning of each biennium. This provision
applies only to general revenue funds appropriated by the Texas Legislature
to assist program participants with the implementation of soil and
water conservation land improvement measures as allowed by Agriculture
Code §201.301. In cases where the funding for cost-share incentives
originates from sources other than appropriations made directly to
this program by the Texas Legislature, the maximum allowable amount
of cost-share incentive funding per operating unit will be established
by the terms of the contractual agreement providing the funds until
otherwise specified by the State Board.
(f) Eligibility for Cost-Share Incentive Funding.
(1) Eligible person. Any individual, partnership, administrator
for a trust or estate, family-owned corporation, or other legal entity
who as an owner, lessee, tenant, or sharecropper, participates in
an agricultural or silvicultural operation and has a certified water
quality management plan on an operating unit within a SWCD shall be
eligible for cost-share incentive funding.
(2) Ineligible for Cost-Share Assistance. State Board
Members and State Board Employees are governed by a July 17, 2003,
State Board policy that prohibits persons employed by the State Board
and members of the State Board from entering into a cost-share (financial
assistance) agreement while employed or serving on the State Soil
and Water Conservation Board.
(3) Conflict of Interest for Cost-Share Assistance.
District Directors and District Employees must follow all WQMP guidelines,
complete all required WQMP forms, and recuse themselves from any and
all discussions and considerations of the application for a WQMP contract.
(A) District Directors and District Employees must
recuse themselves in any situation in which a relative, as defined
by Chapter 573, Government Code, Nepotism Prohibitions, has applied
for a WQMP contract.
(B) SWCD Board minutes are required to reflect that
any District Director or District Employee recuse himself/herself
from the deliberation on a contract and there was no undue influence
regarding consideration of a contract.
(C) These same prohibitions apply to certifying work
performed on a contract and any certification for payment of financial
assistance under an approved WQMP contract.
(4) In accordance with the terms of this chapter an
eligible person may receive cost-share only once for an operating
unit. The State Board, on a case-by-case project or watershed basis
and in consultation with the SWCD, may grant a waiver to this requirement
in situations where:
(A) Research and/or advanced technology indicate(s)
a plan modification to include additional measures to meet Texas surface
water quality standards is needed;
(B) The operating unit is significantly increased in
size by the addition of new land areas or the amount of animal waste
production is significantly increased requiring additional conservation
practices, not previously cost-shared, in order to meet Texas surface
water quality standards;
(C) More stringent measures become necessary to meet
Texas surface water quality standards;
(D) A landowner has assumed the responsibility of a
maintenance agreement in cases where the landowner was not the applicant;
or
(E) A landowner has previously received cost-share
through this program but an additional practice or practices has/have
been subsequently mandated by state law or the laws, rules, or regulations
of a political subdivision. This waiver is only applicable to the
mandated practice or practices and may not be applied more than one
time to a single practice.
(5) Eligible land. Any of the following categories
of land shall be eligible for cost-share incentive funding:
(A) Land within the State that is privately owned by
an eligible person.
(B) Land leased by an eligible person over which he/she
has adequate control and which land is utilized as a part of his/her
operating unit.
(C) Land owned by the State, a political subdivision
of the State, or a nonprofit organization that holds land in trust
for the state.
(6) Ineligible lands. Allocated funds shall not be
used:
(A) To reimburse other units of government for implementing
conservation practices.
Cont'd... |
