LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 19, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Ken Armbrister, Chair        IN RE:  Senate BillNo. 1346
         Committee on State Affairs                     By: West, Royce
         Senate
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on Senate Bill No.
1346 (Relating to sports facilities.) this office has determined
the following:

This bill would amend the Texas Enterprise Zone Act to authorize
the creation of sports facility enterprise zones and qualified
sports facility projects.  A sports facility enterprise zone
would be defined as an area designated by a municipality as a
reinvestment zone pursuant to the provisions of the Tax Increment
Financing Act chapter of the Tax Code.

A qualified sports facility project would mean an arena,
coliseum, stadium, or speedway (including concession and parking
facilities) intended to be used for professional sporting events,
or for Olympic or international games which would be constructed,
remodeled, or rehabilitated by a municipality, or by an
industrial development corporation created by a municipality.

The Sales Tax chapter of the Tax Code would be amended to allow
project owners to receive rebates, refunds, or payments of state
sales and mixed beverage taxes paid or collected by the project
or businesses operating in the project.  The owner of the project
would have the option of receiving 100 percent of these taxes for
ten years or 80 percent of the taxes for the term of the debt
incurred to build or remodel the facility.

Project owners would also be entitled to receive a rebate,
refund, or payment of the incremental increase in certain
revenues collected from businesses operating within the sports
facility enterprise zone.  In a particular year, the owner of a    




project would receive all sales, hotel occupancy, and mixed 
beverage taxes collected by businesses in a zone in excess of
those revenues reported by the businesses in the zone in the year
before that area was designated a sports facility enterprise
zone.  Again, an owner would have the option of receiving 100
percent of these taxes for ten years or 80 percent of the taxes
for the term of the debt incurred to build or remodel the
facility.

Two municipal taxes, specifically for use with projects, would be
authorized.  An event parking tax could, by city ordinance, be
imposed within a zone during the time which an event at a project
is taking place; the tax could not exceed $2.50 per vehicle.  An
admissions tax could be imposed in the same manner based on a
flat charge per admission or on a percentage of the ticket price;
however, the tax could not exceed $2 per person.

Revenues from the two municipal taxes could only be used for the
acquisition of sites for and the acquisition, construction,
improvement, enlarging, equipping, or repairing of projects.  A
municipality would be required to pledge the revenues from the
parking tax and the admissions tax for the payment of bonds
issued by a municipality for the above purposes.

As the number of sports facilities which might be
built/remodeled/rehabilitated under the provisions of this bill
is unknown, the fiscal impact on the state and units of local
government cannot be determined.

A large stadium in a major Texas city could be expected to
collect and remit over $1.3 million in state sales taxes annually
on ticket, concession, and parking expenditures for professional
sports events.  No assessment of fiscal impact can be made,
however, because when and how many of these facilities would be
built and opened cannot be projected.


The fiscal implication to  the State or units of local government
cannot be determined.


Source:   Comptroller of Public Accounts
          LBB Staff: JK, SM, DF