By Grusendorf H.B. No. 900
74R4454 CBH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a franchise tax and property tax credit for certain
1-3 corporations for payment of certain tuition.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Tax Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Section 171.0025 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 171.0025. TAX CREDIT FOR PAYMENT OF TUITION. (a) A
1-8 corporation is entitled to receive a tax credit voucher if the
1-9 corporation pays money that is used to fund a scholarship payable
1-10 toward the private school tuition of an educationally disadvantaged
1-11 child who:
1-12 (1) is eligible to attend the public free schools; and
1-13 (2) did not attend an accredited or unaccredited
1-14 private school during the 1994-1995 school year.
1-15 (b) A school district may issue a tax credit voucher to an
1-16 eligible corporation only if the corporation submits to the
1-17 district:
1-18 (1) a sworn application using a form prescribed by the
1-19 comptroller; and
1-20 (2) proof in the form prescribed by the comptroller
1-21 that the educationally disadvantaged child actually enrolled in an
1-22 accredited private school and is using the scholarship to attend
1-23 that school.
1-24 (c) The corporation must submit to the district the
2-1 application and proof required by Subsection (b) not later than the
2-2 30th day after the date the district's school year begins. Not
2-3 later than the 60th day after the district's school year begins,
2-4 the district shall provide to the comptroller:
2-5 (1) the number of tax credit vouchers the district has
2-6 or will issue under this section for that school year; and
2-7 (2) any other information the comptroller requires.
2-8 (d) A corporation may fund more than one scholarship. For
2-9 each qualifying scholarship, the corporation receives a tax refund
2-10 voucher equal to the amount actually paid to the accredited private
2-11 school to fund the scholarship, but not more than 50 percent of the
2-12 state's tier one share per student in statewide average daily
2-13 attendance under the Foundation School Program.
2-14 (e) The corporation must claim the credit on the report for
2-15 which net taxable earned surplus is based on the same period during
2-16 which the corporation provided the funding.
2-17 (f) A corporation may not claim a credit in an amount that
2-18 exceeds the amount of the tax due for that report. A credit
2-19 allowed under this section may not be carried forward or backward
2-20 or used to create a business loss carryover.
2-21 (g) A corporation may not convey, assign, or transfer the
2-22 credit allowed under this section to another entity unless all the
2-23 assets of the corporation are conveyed, assigned, or transferred in
2-24 the same transaction.
2-25 (h) The corporation, the school district, and the private
2-26 school, as appropriate, must provide to the comptroller any
2-27 information the comptroller requires to determine the validity of
3-1 the credit claim.
3-2 (i) In this section:
3-3 (1) "Accredited private school" means a nonpublic
3-4 school accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the
3-5 commissioner of education.
3-6 (2) "Educationally disadvantaged child" means a
3-7 student enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the national school
3-8 lunch program for free or reduced-price lunch.
3-9 SECTION 2. Chapter 31, Tax Code, is amended by adding
3-10 Section 31.051 to read as follows:
3-11 Sec. 31.051. TAX CREDIT FOR PAYMENT OF TUITION. (a) The
3-12 governing body of a school district by resolution may authorize a
3-13 corporation to fund a private school scholarship in lieu of paying
3-14 part of the maintenance taxes imposed by the district on property
3-15 owned by the corporation.
3-16 (b) The governing body shall provide that a corporation is
3-17 not eligible to receive a credit under this section unless the
3-18 corporation:
3-19 (1) pays money that is used to fund a scholarship of
3-20 an educationally disadvantaged child who:
3-21 (A) is eligible to attend public free school in
3-22 the school district granting the credit; and
3-23 (B) did not attend an accredited or unaccredited
3-24 private school during the 1994-1995 school year; and
3-25 (2) submits to the district proof that the
3-26 educationally disadvantaged child actually enrolled in an
3-27 accredited private school and is using the scholarship to attend
4-1 that school.
4-2 (c) The corporation must submit to the district the proof
4-3 required by Subsection (b)(2) not later than the 30th day after the
4-4 date the district's school year begins. Not later than the 60th
4-5 day after the district's school year begins, the district shall
4-6 provide to the comptroller:
4-7 (1) the number of scholarships for which the district
4-8 will authorize a credit under this section; and
4-9 (2) any other information the comptroller requires.
4-10 (d) A corporation may fund more than one scholarship. For
4-11 each qualifying scholarship funded, the corporation receives a
4-12 credit against the taxes owed in an amount equal to the amount
4-13 actually paid to the accredited private school to fund the
4-14 scholarship, but not more than 50 percent of the school district's
4-15 tier one local share per student in average daily attendance under
4-16 the Foundation School Program.
4-17 (e) In this section:
4-18 (1) "Accredited private school" means a nonpublic
4-19 school accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the
4-20 commissioner of education.
4-21 (2) "Educationally disadvantaged child" means a
4-22 student enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the national school
4-23 lunch program for free or reduced-price lunch.
4-24 SECTION 3. Section 16.006, Education Code, is amended by
4-25 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
4-26 (e) For the year preceding the first year a student attends
4-27 a private school under a scholarship for which a corporation
5-1 receives a franchise tax credit voucher under Section 171.0025, Tax
5-2 Code, the commissioner shall reduce by one student the average
5-3 daily attendance of the school district in which the student is
5-4 eligible to attend public school.
5-5 SECTION 4. Section 171.0025, Tax Code, as added by this Act,
5-6 applies to reports originally due on or after January 1, 1996.
5-7 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.