1-1  By:  Stiles (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire)               H.B. No. 1611
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House April 3, 1995;
    1-3  April 4, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Finance; May 4, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
    1-5  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 4, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to an exemption from the state sales tax for certain ship
    1-9  equipment.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 151.329, Tax Code, is amended to read as
   1-12  follows:
   1-13        Sec. 151.329.  Certain Ships and Ship Equipment.  The
   1-14  following items are exempted from the taxes imposed by this
   1-15  chapter:
   1-16              (1)  materials, equipment, and machinery that enter
   1-17  into and become component parts of a ship or vessel that is of
   1-18  eight or more tons displacement and is:
   1-19                    (A)  used exclusively and directly in a
   1-20  commercial enterprise, including commercial fishing; or
   1-21                    (B)  used commercially as a vessel for pleasure
   1-22  fishing by individuals as paying passengers on the vessel;
   1-23              (2)  a ship or vessel of eight or more tons
   1-24  displacement, that is used exclusively and directly in a commercial
   1-25  enterprise and is sold by the vessel's builder;
   1-26              (3)  materials and labor used in repairing, renovating,
   1-27  or converting a ship or vessel that is of eight or more tons
   1-28  displacement and that is used exclusively and directly in a
   1-29  commercial enterprise; <and>
   1-30              (4)  materials and supplies purchased by the owner or
   1-31  operator of a ship or vessel operating exclusively in foreign or
   1-32  interstate coastal commerce if the materials and supplies:
   1-33                    (A)  are loaded on the ship or vessel and used in
   1-34  the maintenance and operation of the ship or vessel; or
   1-35                    (B)  enter into and become component parts of the
   1-36  ship or vessel; and
   1-37              (5)  materials and supplies purchased by a person
   1-38  providing stevedoring services for a ship or vessel operating
   1-39  exclusively in foreign or interstate coastal commerce if the
   1-40  materials and supplies are loaded aboard the ship or vessel and are
   1-41  not removed before the departure of the ship or vessel.
   1-42        SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect on the first day of
   1-43  the first calendar quarter beginning on or after the date that it
   1-44  may take effect under Article III, Section 39, of the Texas
   1-45  Constitution.
   1-46        (b)  The change in law made by this Act does not affect taxes
   1-47  imposed before the effective date of this Act, and the law in
   1-48  effect before the effective date of this Act is continued in effect
   1-49  for purposes of the liability for and collection of those taxes.
   1-50        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-51  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-52  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-53  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-54  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-55  and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
   1-56  terms, and it is so enacted.
   1-57                               * * * * *