By Giddings                                           H.B. No. 2963
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the financing of sports facilities in certain
    1-3  municipalities
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 151 of the Tax Code is amended by adding
    1-6  Section 151.433 to read as follows:
    1-7        Section 151.433.  REBATE OF CERTAIN INCREMENTAL TAX PROCEEDS
    1-8  FOR SPORTS FACILITIES.  (a)  For purposes of this section, the
    1-9  following definitions shall apply:
   1-10              (1)  "base year" means the calendar year immediately
   1-11  prior to the year in which the construction of the sports facility
   1-12  begins.
   1-13              (2)  "eligible tax proceeds" means the sum of all tax
   1-14  proceeds generated, paid, or collected by persons or entities
   1-15  located within a tax incremental sports district, including hotel
   1-16  occupancy taxes, sales and use taxes, and mixed beverage taxes.
   1-17              (3)  "incremental tax proceeds" means the eligible tax
   1-18  proceeds generated in any complete calendar year subsequent to the
   1-19  base year less the eligible tax proceeds generated in the base
   1-20  year.
   1-21              (4)  municipality shall mean a city which has a
   1-22  population of not less than one million and is located in a county
   1-23  that is adjacent to a county with a population of not less than
    2-1  500,000.
    2-2              (5)  "sports facility" shall mean a facility, the
    2-3  construction of which begins after January 1, 1995, that is the
    2-4  home or is intended to be the home of a professional sports team
    2-5  and is owned wholly or in substantial part or is financed in whole
    2-6  or in substantial part by the municipality.
    2-7              (6)  "tax incremental sports district" means a
    2-8  contiguous area which surrounds the sports facility, is located
    2-9  entirely within the boundaries of the municipality, and is of a
   2-10  radius of not more than 7500 feet measured from the center of the
   2-11  sports facility.
   2-12        (b)  A municipality, upon submission of a map to the State
   2-13  Comptroller which clearly designates a tax incremental sports
   2-14  district, may apply for and shall be granted from the State
   2-15  Comptroller a rebate of the incremental tax proceeds generated in
   2-16  the previous calendar year.
   2-17        (c)  A municipality shall use the revenue derived from the
   2-18  rebate of the incremental tax proceeds for the construction of the
   2-19  sports facility or for the payment of bonds that are issued by the
   2-20  municipality to finance the construction of the sports facility.
   2-21        (d)  The municipality may apply for and be granted a rebate
   2-22  of the incremental tax proceeds occurring up to December 31 of the
   2-23  twentieth year following the year that the construction of the
   2-24  sports facility is completed.
   2-25        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.