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House Bill 1659 |
House Author: Chavez |
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Effective: 9-1-05 |
Senate Sponsor: Lucio |
House Bill 1659 amends the Government Code to add an area located in a distressed county, defined to mean a county that has certain poverty, education-level, and unemployment characteristics, to the areas that automatically qualify for designation as an enterprise zone. The bill requires the Texas Economic Development Bank administered by the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office to annually compile data identifying the distressed counties that qualify for the enterprise zone designation. The bank is required to make its designations, with regard to enterprise projects, using a weighted scale in which certain percentages of the evaluation depend on the project's location in a distressed county and the project applicant's commitment to the revitalization of the distressed county.