1-1     By:  Hill (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)                    H.B. No. 1410

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 18, 1997;

 1-3     April 22, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 1, 1997, reported favorably by the

 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 1, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to authorizing economic development corporations to

 1-9     provide affordable housing.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 2(10), Development Corporation Act of

1-12     1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to

1-13     read as follows:

1-14                 (10)  "Project" shall mean the land, buildings,

1-15     equipment, facilities, and improvements (one or more) found by the

1-16     board of directors to be required or suitable for the promotion of

1-17     development and expansion of manufacturing and industrial

1-18     facilities, transportation facilities (including but not limited to

1-19     airports, ports, mass commuting facilities, and parking

1-20     facilities), sewage or solid waste disposal facilities, recycling

1-21     facilities, air or water pollution control facilities, facilities

1-22     for the furnishing of water to the general public, affordable

1-23     housing (as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 12745), distribution

1-24     centers, small warehouse facilities capable of serving as

1-25     decentralized storage and distribution centers, and facilities

1-26     which are related to any of the foregoing, and in furtherance of

1-27     the public purposes of this Act, all as defined in the rules of the

1-28     department, irrespective of whether in existence or required to be

1-29     identified, acquired, or constructed thereafter.  As used in this

1-30     Act, the term "development areas" shall mean any area or areas of a

1-31     city that the city finds and determines, after a public hearing,

1-32     should be developed in order to meet the development objectives of

1-33     the city.  In addition, in blighted or economically depressed

1-34     areas, development areas, federally designated empowerment zones

1-35     and enterprise communities designated under Section 1391, Internal

1-36     Revenue Code of 1986, or federally assisted new communities located

1-37     within a home-rule city or a federally designated economically

1-38     depressed county of less than 50,000 persons according to the last

1-39     federal decennial census, a project may include the land,

1-40     buildings, equipment, facilities, and improvements (one or more)

1-41     found by the board of directors to be required or suitable for the

1-42     promotion of commercial development and expansion and in

1-43     furtherance of the public purposes of this Act, or for use by

1-44     commercial enterprises, all as defined in the rules of the

1-45     department, irrespective of whether in existence or required to be

1-46     acquired or constructed thereafter.  As used in this Act, the term

1-47     blighted or economically depressed areas shall mean those areas and

1-48     areas immediately adjacent thereto within a city which by reason of

1-49     the presence of a substantial number of substandard, slum,

1-50     deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, or which suffer from a

1-51     high relative rate of unemployment, or which have been designated

1-52     and included in a tax incremental district created under Chapter

1-53     695, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article

1-54     1066d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any combination of the

1-55     foregoing, the city finds and determines, after a hearing,

1-56     substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of the city, or

1-57     constitute an economic or social liability and are a menace to the

1-58     public health, safety, or welfare in their present condition and

1-59     use.  The department shall adopt guidelines that describe the kinds

1-60     of areas that may be considered to be blighted or economically

1-61     depressed.  The city shall consider these guidelines in making its

1-62     findings and determinations.  Notice of the hearing at which the

1-63     city considers establishment of a development area or an

1-64     economically depressed or blighted area shall be posted at the city

 2-1     hall before the hearing.

 2-2           "Federally assisted new communities" shall mean those

 2-3     federally assisted areas which have received or will receive

 2-4     assistance in the form of loan guarantees under Title X of the

 2-5     National Housing Act and a portion of the federally assisted area

 2-6     has received grants under Section 107(a)(1) of the Housing and

 2-7     Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.

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

 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-13     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-14     passage, and it is so enacted.

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