By Hill                                               H.B. No. 1410

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to authorizing economic development corporations to

 1-3     provide affordable housing.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 2(10), Development Corporation Act of

 1-6     1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to

 1-7     read as follows:

 1-8                 (10)  "Project" shall mean the land, buildings,

 1-9     equipment, facilities, and improvements (one or more) found by the

1-10     board of directors to be required or suitable for the promotion of

1-11     development and expansion of manufacturing and industrial

1-12     facilities, transportation facilities (including but not limited to

1-13     airports, ports, mass commuting facilities, and parking

1-14     facilities), sewage or solid waste disposal facilities, recycling

1-15     facilities, air or water pollution control facilities, facilities

1-16     for the furnishing of water to the general public, affordable

1-17     housing (as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 12745), distribution

1-18     centers, small warehouse facilities capable of serving as

1-19     decentralized storage and distribution centers, and facilities

1-20     which are related to any of the foregoing, and in furtherance of

1-21     the public purposes of this Act, all as defined in the rules of the

1-22     department, irrespective of whether in existence or required to be

1-23     identified, acquired, or constructed thereafter.  As used in this

1-24     Act, the term "development areas" shall mean any area or areas of a

 2-1     city that the city finds and determines, after a public hearing,

 2-2     should be developed in order to meet the development objectives of

 2-3     the city.  In addition, in blighted or economically depressed

 2-4     areas, development areas, federally designated empowerment zones

 2-5     and enterprise communities designated under Section 1391, Internal

 2-6     Revenue Code of 1986, or federally assisted new communities located

 2-7     within a home-rule city or a federally designated economically

 2-8     depressed county of less than 50,000 persons according to the last

 2-9     federal decennial census, a project may include the land,

2-10     buildings, equipment, facilities, and improvements (one or more)

2-11     found by the board of directors to be required or suitable for the

2-12     promotion of commercial development and expansion and in

2-13     furtherance of the public purposes of this Act, or for use by

2-14     commercial enterprises, all as defined in the rules of the

2-15     department, irrespective of whether in existence or required to be

2-16     acquired or constructed thereafter.  As used in this Act, the term

2-17     blighted or economically depressed areas shall mean those areas and

2-18     areas immediately adjacent thereto within a city which by reason of

2-19     the presence of a substantial number of substandard, slum,

2-20     deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, or which suffer from a

2-21     high relative rate of unemployment, or which have been designated

2-22     and included in a tax incremental district created under Chapter

2-23     695, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article

2-24     1066d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any combination of the

2-25     foregoing, the city finds and determines, after a hearing,

2-26     substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of the city, or

2-27     constitute an economic or social liability and are a menace to the

 3-1     public health, safety, or welfare in their present condition and

 3-2     use.  The department shall adopt guidelines that describe the kinds

 3-3     of areas that may be considered to be blighted or economically

 3-4     depressed.  The city shall consider these guidelines in making its

 3-5     findings and determinations.  Notice of the hearing at which the

 3-6     city considers establishment of a development area or an

 3-7     economically depressed or blighted area shall be posted at the city

 3-8     hall before the hearing.

 3-9           "Federally assisted new communities" shall mean those

3-10     federally assisted areas which have received or will receive

3-11     assistance in the form of loan guarantees under Title X of the

3-12     National Housing Act and a portion of the federally assisted area

3-13     has received grants under Section 107(a)(1) of the Housing and

3-14     Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.

3-15           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-21     passage, and it is so enacted.