By Wentworth S.B. No. 1364
74R8159 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 franchise tax credit 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 shall issue a tax credit voucher to an
1-16 eligible corporation if the corporation submits to the district:
1-17 (1) a sworn application using a form prescribed by the
1-18 comptroller; and
1-19 (2) proof in the form and manner prescribed by the
1-20 comptroller that the educationally disadvantaged child actually
1-21 enrolled in an accredited private school and is using the
1-22 scholarship to attend that school.
1-23 (c) The corporation must submit to the district the
1-24 application and proof required by Subsection (b) not later than the
2-1 30th day after the date the district's school year begins. Not
2-2 later than the 60th day after the district's school year begins,
2-3 the district shall provide to the comptroller:
2-4 (1) the number of tax credit vouchers the district has
2-5 or will issue under this section for that school year; and
2-6 (2) any other information the comptroller requires.
2-7 (d) A corporation may fund more than one scholarship. For
2-8 each qualifying scholarship, the corporation receives a tax refund
2-9 equal to the amount actually paid to an accredited private school
2-10 to fund a scholarship or to a nonprofit foundation that provides
2-11 scholarships for students who attend accredited private schools,
2-12 but not more than 50 percent of the total state funding the
2-13 district receives per student in statewide average daily attendance
2-14 under the Foundation School Program.
2-15 (e) The corporation must claim the credit on the report for
2-16 which net taxable earned surplus or net taxable capital is based on
2-17 the same period during which the corporation provided the funding.
2-18 (f) A corporation may not claim a credit in an amount that
2-19 exceeds the amount of the tax due for that report. A credit
2-20 allowed under this section may not be carried forward or backward
2-21 or used to create a business loss carryover.
2-22 (g) A corporation may not convey, assign, or transfer the
2-23 credit allowed under this section to another entity unless all the
2-24 assets of the corporation are conveyed, assigned, or transferred in
2-25 the same transaction.
2-26 (h) The corporation, the school district, the private
2-27 school, and the nonprofit foundation, as appropriate, must provide
3-1 to the comptroller any information the comptroller requires to
3-2 determine the validity of the credit claim.
3-3 (i) In this section:
3-4 (1) "Accredited private school" means a nonpublic
3-5 school accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the
3-6 commissioner of education.
3-7 (2) "Educationally disadvantaged child" means a
3-8 student enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the national school
3-9 lunch program for free or reduced-price lunch.
3-10 SECTION 2. Chapter 31, Tax Code, is amended by adding
3-11 Section 31.051 to read as follows:
3-12 Sec. 31.051. TAX CREDIT FOR PAYMENT OF TUITION. (a) The
3-13 governing body of a school district by resolution may authorize a
3-14 corporation to fund a private school scholarship in lieu of paying
3-15 part of the maintenance taxes imposed by the district on property
3-16 owned by the corporation.
3-17 (b) The governing body shall provide that a corporation is
3-18 not eligible to receive a credit under this section unless the
3-19 corporation:
3-20 (1) pays money that is used to fund a scholarship of
3-21 an educationally disadvantaged child who:
3-22 (A) is eligible to attend public free school in
3-23 the school district granting the credit; and
3-24 (B) did not attend an accredited or unaccredited
3-25 private school during the 1994-1995 school year; and
3-26 (2) submits to the district proof that the
3-27 educationally disadvantaged child actually enrolled in an
4-1 accredited private school and is using the scholarship to attend
4-2 that school.
4-3 (c) The corporation must submit to the district the proof
4-4 required by Subsection (b)(2) not later than the 30th day after the
4-5 date the district's school year begins. Not later than the 60th
4-6 day after the district's school year begins, the district shall
4-7 provide to the comptroller:
4-8 (1) the number of scholarships for which the district
4-9 will authorize a credit under this section; and
4-10 (2) any other information the comptroller requires.
4-11 (d) A corporation may fund more than one scholarship. For
4-12 each qualifying scholarship funded, the corporation receives a
4-13 credit against the taxes owed in an amount equal to the amount
4-14 actually paid to an accredited private school to fund a scholarship
4-15 or to a nonprofit foundation that provides scholarships for
4-16 students who attend accredited private schools, but not more than
4-17 50 percent of the school district's tier one local share per
4-18 student in average daily attendance under the Foundation School
4-19 Program.
4-20 (e) In this section:
4-21 (1) "Accredited private school" means a nonpublic
4-22 school accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the
4-23 commissioner of education.
4-24 (2) "Educationally disadvantaged child" means a
4-25 student enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the national school
4-26 lunch program for free or reduced-price lunch.
4-27 SECTION 3. Section 16.006, Education Code, is amended by
5-1 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
5-2 (e) For the year preceding the first year a student attends
5-3 a private school under a scholarship for which a corporation
5-4 receives a franchise tax credit voucher under Section 171.0025, Tax
5-5 Code, the commissioner shall reduce by one student the average
5-6 daily attendance of the school district in which the student is
5-7 eligible to attend public school.
5-8 SECTION 4. Section 171.0025, Tax Code, as added by this Act,
5-9 applies to reports originally due on or after January 1, 1996.
5-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.