BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 821 By: Madla (Gallego) March 30, 1995 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND By Title D, the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed environmental requirements on municipal landfills. Subsequently, some counties in Texas are finding it difficult to properly dispose of waste and are seeking new remedies. Another problem for certain counties is raising enough revenue to meet financial obligations for their criminal detention centers. Criminal detention centers may house county, state and federal prisoners. For example, Maverick County is experiencing a problem making the bond payments on their facilities because these payments and the operational costs of the center surpasses the budget for the center. This has resulted in the probability that the county will be unable to make its bond payments in the future. PURPOSE This bill provides for an election to raise the sales and use tax in qualifying counties for the purposes of building, operating or maintaining a landfill or a criminal detention center. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subtitle C, Title 3, Tax Code, by adding Chapter 325 (County Sales and Use Tax for Landfill and Criminal Detention Center). Chapter 325 creates a county sales and use tax to build, operate or maintain a landfill and a criminal detention center. Counties of 37,500 or less that border the Rio Grande containing a municipality with a population of more than 15,000 may adopt this tax by an election of the voters. The tax rate would be set at 1/2 percent and may only take effect if the combined rate of all sales and use taxes imposed by the county and other qualifying subdivisions of the state do not exceed two percent at any location in the county. Election procedures and ballot language are also established. SECTION 2. Emergency clause EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENT COMMITTEE AMENDMENT #1 requires that any additional money beyond what is necessary for the landfill and detention center shall be used for the reduction of property taxes. Upon retirement of the criminal detention center bonds and the closure or sale of the landfill, the tax shall expire. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION Pursuant to an announcement on the House Floor, the committee met in a formal meeting on March 29, 1995. Without objection, committee amendment #1 by Representative Heflin was adopted. By a record vote of 8 ayes, 0 nays, 0 present not voting and 3 absent, the committee voted to report S.B. 821 to the House with amendment with the recommendation that it do pass.