AN ACT
1-1 relating to the administration of park and recreation districts in
1-2 certain counties.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 324.062, Local Government
1-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (c) The board may call on the county attorney, district
1-7 attorney, or criminal district attorney for the legal services it
1-8 requires. In addition, or in the alternative, the board may
1-9 contract for and compensate its own legal staff.
1-10 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 324.064, Local Government
1-11 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-12 (b) If the contract is for $15,000 or less [than $10,000],
1-13 the board may enter into the contract without advertisement. If
1-14 the contract is for more than $15,000 [$10,000 or more], the
1-15 contract is subject to the bidding provisions for contracts
1-16 applicable to the county.
1-17 SECTION 3. Subsection (d), Section 324.066, Local Government
1-18 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-19 (d) The county attorney, the district attorney, the criminal
1-20 district attorney, or an attorney retained by the board for this
1-21 purpose may bring an action to enjoin a violation of board rules or
1-22 ordinances, and if the board authorizes, may seek damages and
1-23 attorney's fees based on the violation, if the violation involves:
2-1 (1) the providing or offering of a service or the use
2-2 or rental of a facility or an item for remuneration by a person who
2-3 does not hold a revenue permit issued by the district or for which
2-4 collection of a tax is required;
2-5 (2) failure of a revenue permit holder to remit a tax
2-6 imposed and the tax has been due for more than 60 days; or
2-7 (3) violation by a revenue permit holder of a district
2-8 rule relating to an activity that endangers the health or safety of
2-9 a person or property in the district.
2-10 SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 324, Local Government Code,
2-11 is amended by adding Section 324.0665 to read as follows:
2-12 Sec. 324.0665. BOND. If the board brings an action to
2-13 enforce this subchapter or enjoin a violation of a rule or
2-14 ordinance adopted by the board under this subchapter, the board is
2-15 not required to post a bond.
2-16 SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Section 324.099, Local Government
2-17 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-18 (b) The taxes that a district may levy apply only within the
2-19 district and are:
2-20 (1) a tax on the price paid for a camping or picnic
2-21 space or river ingress or egress privileges, at a rate not greater
2-22 than five percent established by resolution of the board, imposed
2-23 on each person who, under a lease, concession, permit, right of
2-24 access, license, contract, or agreement pays for the use or
2-25 possession of a camping or picnic space or for river ingress or
3-1 egress privileges costing at least $1 each day;
3-2 (2) a tax imposed by resolution of the board at a rate
3-3 not greater than four percent on the cost of occupancy of a hotel
3-4 if the cost of occupancy is $2 or more each day; a tax is not
3-5 imposed if the accommodations are leased or contracted to one party
3-6 for at least 30 consecutive days; [and]
3-7 (3) a tax imposed by resolution of the board at a rate
3-8 not greater than five percent on the price paid for recreational
3-9 guide or shuttle services or on the rental of any parking space and
3-10 any water-oriented recreational equipment, including a canoe, tube,
3-11 raft, boat, personal watercraft, windsurfer, or sailing craft
3-12 intended for use on public inland water in the district; boat
3-13 slips; fishing tackle; and life jackets; and
3-14 (4) a tax imposed by resolution of the board at a rate
3-15 not greater than five percent on initiation fees and membership
3-16 fees of any private club or organization that owns and provides for
3-17 the use of its members water-oriented recreational equipment
3-18 described by Subdivision (3).
3-19 SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act by the
3-20 amendment of Subsection (b), Section 324.064, Local Government
3-21 Code, and by the addition of Section 324.0665, Local Government
3-22 Code, applies only to a contract entered into or an action brought
3-23 by a district on or after the effective date of this Act. A
3-24 contract entered into or an action brought by a district before the
3-25 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when
4-1 the contract was entered into or the action was brought, and the
4-2 former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
4-3 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-9 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 199 passed the Senate on
February 26, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and
that the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 15, 1997, by a
viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 199 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 13, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor