House Bill No. 318 aims to establish two grant programs to provide financial assistance to sheriff's departments in rural Texas counties. The first program, the Rural Sheriff's Deputy Shortage Relief Grant Program, targets counties with populations of 300,000 or less and a deputy-to-resident ratio of less than 15 to 10,000 as of January 1, 2025. Qualified counties can apply for grants of $50,000 for each qualified deputy position, with an additional $50,000 for previously unfunded positions. The second program, the Rural Sheriff's Investigator Shortage Relief Grant Program, focuses on counties with an investigator-to-patrol ratio of less than 1 to 3, offering similar grant amounts. Both programs require counties to maintain specified budget ratios and set funding caps of $100 million for the deputy program and $50 million for the investigator program.

The bill also introduces provisions for managing grant distributions when total requests exceed fiscal year limits, requiring the comptroller to proportionally reduce grant amounts. It mandates the comptroller to create rules for the application process, including deadlines and compliance monitoring. Additionally, the bill defines "qualified counties" and stipulates that they cannot apply for grants under the new sections of the Local Government Code before January 1, 2026. The bill is set to take effect on September 1, 2025, allowing time for the necessary preparations and rule-making to be completed.

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