JH S.B. 974 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS URBAN AFFAIRS S.B. 974 By: Carona (Hill) 4-18-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Currently, Texas law requires a taxing unit which intends to resell the property it has foreclosed on for taxes to resell it only for the total amount of taxes due or the market value of the property, whichever is less. The taxing unit is not allowed to make a profit. As a result, many properties which have underground storage tanks are not foreclosed on by jurisdictions because no buyer is willing to purchase the property with potentially hazardous environmental problems. Moreover, the taxing jurisdictions lack incentive to incur the costs of cleanup because they are unable to recoup those costs when reselling the property. This bill would add a provision to current law to allow a taxing jurisdiction that incurs environmental cleanup costs to add those costs into the resale price, thereby enabling taxing jurisdictions to foreclose on the property, clean up the property, and resell it. PURPOSE As proposed, S.B. 974 allows a taxing jurisdiction to recover from the proceeds of a resale of a property it has foreclosed on any cost incurred in inspecting the property to determine whether there is a release or threatened release of waste, and in taking action to clean up any such waste. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 34.06, Tax Code, by adding Subsection (c), to provide that notwithstanding Subsection (b), the purchasing taxing unit is entitled to recover from the proceeds of a resale of the property any cost incurred in inspecting the property to determine whether there is a release or threatened release of solid waste from the property in violation of Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, or a rule adopted or permit or order issued by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission under that chapter, or a discharge or threatened discharge of waste or a pollutant into or adjacent to water in this state from a point of discharge on the property in violation of Chapter 26, Water Code, or a rule adopted or permit or order issued by the commission under that chapter, and in taking action to remove or remediate the release or threatened release or discharge or threatened discharge regardless of whether the taxing unit was required by law to incur the cost, or obtained the consent of each taxing unit entitled to receive proceeds of the sale under the judgment of foreclosure to incur the cost. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.