By:  Johnson, Jerry                                    H.B. No. 313
       73R1957 CBH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of certain counties to impose a county
    1-3  hotel occupancy tax and to the use of revenue from the tax.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 352.002(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (a)  The commissioners courts of the following counties by
    1-8  the adoption of an order or resolution may impose a tax on a person
    1-9  who, under a lease, concession, permit, right of access, license,
   1-10  contract, or agreement, pays for the use or possession or for the
   1-11  right to the use or possession of a room that is in a hotel, costs
   1-12  $2 or more each day, and is ordinarily used for sleeping:
   1-13              (1)  a county that has a population of more than two
   1-14  million;
   1-15              (2)  a county that has a population of 90,000 or more,
   1-16  borders the Republic of Mexico, and does not have three or more
   1-17  cities that each have a population of more than 17,500;
   1-18              (3)  a county in which there is no municipality;
   1-19              (4)  a county in which there is located an Indian
   1-20  reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States government;
   1-21              (5)  a county that has a population of 17,500 or less
   1-22  in which there is located a horse racing track licensed as a class
   1-23  1 or class 2 racetrack under the Texas Racing Act (Article 179e,
   1-24  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
    2-1              (6)  a county that borders the Gulf of Mexico; <and>
    2-2              (7)  a county that has a population of less than 5,000,
    2-3  that borders the Republic of Mexico, and in which there is located
    2-4  a major observatory; and
    2-5              (8)  a county in which any portion of the Toledo Bend
    2-6  Reservoir is located.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 352, Tax Code, is amended
    2-8  by adding Section 352.1034 to read as follows:
    2-9        Sec. 352.1034.  USE OF REVENUE: TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR
   2-10  COUNTIES.  The revenue from a tax imposed under this chapter by a
   2-11  county under Section 352.002(a)(8) may be used only:
   2-12              (1)  for the purposes stated in Section 351.101;
   2-13              (2)  to clean public beaches and the reservoir
   2-14  waterfront;
   2-15              (3)  to acquire, furnish, or maintain facilities,
   2-16  including parks, that enhance public access to beaches and the
   2-17  reservoir waterfront;
   2-18              (4)  to provide and maintain public restrooms on or
   2-19  adjacent to beaches or the reservoir waterfront or to beach or
   2-20  waterfront access facilities;
   2-21              (5)  to provide and maintain litter containers on or
   2-22  adjacent to beaches or the reservoir waterfront or to beach or
   2-23  waterfront access facilities; and
   2-24              (6)  to build and maintain public boat docks.
   2-25        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-26  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-27  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-3  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-4  passage, and it is so enacted.