By Stiles                                             H.B. No. 1611
       74R5137 DAK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to an exemption from the state sales tax for certain ship
    1-3  equipment.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 151.329, Tax Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 151.329.  Certain Ships and Ship Equipment.  The
    1-8  following items are exempted from the taxes imposed by this
    1-9  chapter:
   1-10              (1)  materials, equipment, and machinery that enter
   1-11  into and become component parts of a ship or vessel that is of
   1-12  eight or more tons displacement and is:
   1-13                    (A)  used exclusively and directly in a
   1-14  commercial enterprise, including commercial fishing; or
   1-15                    (B)  used commercially as a vessel for pleasure
   1-16  fishing by individuals as paying passengers on the vessel;
   1-17              (2)  a ship or vessel of eight or more tons
   1-18  displacement, that is used exclusively and directly in a commercial
   1-19  enterprise and is sold by the vessel's builder;
   1-20              (3)  materials and labor used in repairing, renovating,
   1-21  or converting a ship or vessel that is of eight or more tons
   1-22  displacement and that is used exclusively and directly in a
   1-23  commercial enterprise; <and>
   1-24              (4)  materials and supplies purchased by the owner or
    2-1  operator of a ship or vessel operating exclusively in foreign or
    2-2  interstate coastal commerce if the materials and supplies:
    2-3                    (A)  are loaded on the ship or vessel and used in
    2-4  the maintenance and operation of the ship or vessel; or
    2-5                    (B)  enter into and become component parts of the
    2-6  ship or vessel; and
    2-7              (5)  materials and supplies purchased by a person
    2-8  providing stevedoring services for a ship or vessel operating
    2-9  exclusively in foreign or interstate coastal commerce if the
   2-10  materials and supplies are loaded aboard the ship or vessel and are
   2-11  not removed before the departure of the ship or vessel.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect on the first day of
   2-13  the first calendar quarter beginning on or after the date that it
   2-14  may take effect under Article III, Section 39, of the Texas
   2-15  Constitution.
   2-16        (b)  The change in law made by this Act does not affect taxes
   2-17  imposed before the effective date of this Act, and the law in
   2-18  effect before the effective date of this Act is continued in effect
   2-19  for purposes of the liability for and collection of those taxes.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-25  and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
   2-26  terms, and it is so enacted.