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Senate Bill 971 |
Senate Author: Williams et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Deshotel |
Senate Bill 971 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the port commission of a port authority, after determining that action on an unproductive or underdeveloped area in the port authority's jurisdiction would improve the security, movement, and intermodal transportation of cargo or passengers in commerce and trade, to designate a contiguous geographic area as a transportation reinvestment zone to promote a port project. The bill requires all abatements or other relief granted by the port commission in the zone to be equal in rate and caps the annual tax abatement or relief amount granted to the amount of property taxes levied and collected by the authority or the commissioners court on behalf of the authority for that tax year, less any amounts allocated under previous agreements.
Senate Bill 971 provides that a zone or tax abatement agreement terminates on December 31 of the year in which the port authority completes the contractual requirements in connection with a project. A transportation reinvestment zone created by the port authority terminates on December 31 of the 10th year after the year the zone was designated if before that date it is not used for its designated purpose.