By Hill                                         H.B. No. 1410

      75R4231 BEM-D                           

                                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, distribution centers, small warehouse facilities capable

1-18     of serving as  decentralized storage and distribution centers, and

1-19     facilities which are related to any of the foregoing, and in

1-20     furtherance of the public purposes of this Act, all as defined in

1-21     the rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence

1-22     or required to be identified, acquired, or constructed thereafter.

1-23     As used in this Act, the term "development areas" shall mean any

1-24     area or areas of a city that the city finds and determines, after a

 2-1     public hearing, should be developed in order to meet the

 2-2     development objectives of the city.  In addition, in blighted or

 2-3     economically depressed areas, development areas, federally

 2-4     designated empowerment zones and enterprise communities designated

 2-5     under Section 1391, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or federally

 2-6     assisted new communities located within a home-rule city or a

 2-7     federally designated economically depressed county of less than

 2-8     50,000 persons according to the last federal decennial census, a

 2-9     project may include the land, buildings, equipment, facilities, and

2-10     improvements (one or more) found by the board of directors to be

2-11     required or suitable for the promotion of commercial development

2-12     and expansion and in furtherance of the public purposes of this

2-13     Act, or for use by commercial enterprises, all as defined in the

2-14     rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence or

2-15     required to be acquired or constructed thereafter.  As used in this

2-16     Act, the term blighted or economically depressed areas shall mean

2-17     those areas and areas immediately adjacent thereto within a city

2-18     which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of

2-19     substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, or

2-20     which suffer from a high relative rate of unemployment, or which

2-21     have been designated and included in a tax incremental district

2-22     created under Chapter 695, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular

2-23     Session, 1979 (Article 1066d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or

2-24     any combination of the foregoing, the city finds and determines,

2-25     after a hearing, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of

2-26     the city, or constitute an economic or social liability and are a

2-27     menace to the public health, safety, or welfare in their present

 3-1     condition and use.  The department shall adopt guidelines that

 3-2     describe the kinds of areas that may be considered to be blighted

 3-3     or economically depressed.  The city shall consider these

 3-4     guidelines in making its findings and determinations.  Notice of

 3-5     the hearing at which the city considers establishment of a

 3-6     development area or an economically depressed or blighted area

 3-7     shall be posted at the city hall before the hearing.

 3-8           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-13     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-14     passage, and it is so enacted.