BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4660

By: Isaac

Ways & Means

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Wimberley is a beautiful, unique town in the heart of the Texas Hill Country that benefits from Dark Sky and ecotourism events which attract tourists to the area. Wimberley's Dark Sky designation and ecotourism events have a huge impact and mean so much to the people and businesses in the community. C.S.H.B. 4660 seeks to authorize Wimberley to utilize a portion of its municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for the promotion and preservation of dark skies through construction and maintenance of infrastructure and the purchase and installation of hardware that reduces light pollution and sky glow.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4660 amends the Tax Code to authorize a municipality with a population of less than 3,000 through which the Blanco River flows that is located in a county adjacent to the county in which the State Capitol is located and that has a population of at least 250,000 to use municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for the following purposes:

· the promotion and preservation of dark skies through construction and maintenance of infrastructure and the purchase and installation of hardware that reduces light pollution and sky glow; and

· promotional and event expenses for an ecological tourism event, including an event for which the primary attraction is traveling to an area of natural or ecological interest for the purpose of observing and learning about wildlife and the area's natural environment, contingent on a majority of the event's participants being tourists and the event substantially increasing economic activity at hotels and motels within or in the vicinity of the municipality.

The bill requires the municipality to determine the amount of area hotel revenue attributable to events and activities related to those purposes for five years after the date the municipality first uses the municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for such a purpose and then caps the total amount of such revenue the municipality may use for those purposes at the determined area hotel revenue. Additionally, the bill caps the amount of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue that the municipality may use for these purposes at 25 percent of the municipality's annual hotel occupancy tax revenue. The bill prohibits the municipality from reducing the amount of the municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue the municipality uses for advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates or registrants to the municipality or its vicinity to an amount that is less than the average amount of revenue used by the municipality for that purpose during the 36-month period that precedes the municipality's use of revenue for the purposes authorized by the bill.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 4660 differs from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways by conforming to certain bill drafting conventions.