By: Madla S.B. No. 1127
97S0759/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the operation of certain military installations as
1-2 businesses by development corporations.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivision (10), Section 2, Development
1-5 Corporation Act of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil
1-6 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (10) "Project" shall mean the land, buildings,
1-8 equipment, facilities, [and] improvements (one or more), and
1-9 military installations closed or realigned pursuant to
1-10 recommendations of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment
1-11 Commission found by the board of directors to be required or
1-12 suitable for the promotion of development and expansion of
1-13 manufacturing and industrial facilities, transportation facilities
1-14 (including but not limited to airports, ports, mass commuting
1-15 facilities, and parking facilities), sewage or solid waste disposal
1-16 facilities, recycling facilities, air or water pollution control
1-17 facilities, facilities for the furnishing of water to the general
1-18 public, distribution centers, small warehouse facilities capable of
1-19 serving as decentralized storage and distribution centers, and
1-20 facilities which are related to any of the foregoing, and in
1-21 furtherance of the public purposes of this Act, all as defined in
1-22 the rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence
1-23 or required to be identified, acquired, or constructed thereafter.
2-1 As used in this Act, the term "development areas" shall mean any
2-2 area or areas of a city that the city finds and determines, after a
2-3 public hearing, should be developed in order to meet the
2-4 development objectives of the city. In addition, in blighted or
2-5 economically depressed areas, development areas, federally
2-6 designated empowerment zones and enterprise communities designated
2-7 under Section 1391, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or federally
2-8 assisted new communities located within a home-rule city or a
2-9 federally designated economically depressed county of less than
2-10 50,000 persons according to the last federal decennial census, a
2-11 project may include the land, buildings, equipment, facilities, and
2-12 improvements (one or more) found by the board of directors to be
2-13 required or suitable for the promotion of commercial development
2-14 and expansion and in furtherance of the public purposes of this
2-15 Act, or for use by commercial enterprises, all as defined in the
2-16 rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence or
2-17 required to be acquired or constructed thereafter. As used in this
2-18 Act, the term blighted or economically depressed areas shall mean
2-19 those areas and areas immediately adjacent thereto within a city
2-20 which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of
2-21 substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, or
2-22 which suffer from a high relative rate of unemployment, or which
2-23 have been designated and included in a tax incremental district
2-24 created under Chapter 695, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular
2-25 Session, 1979 (Article 1066d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or
3-1 any combination of the foregoing, the city finds and determines,
3-2 after a hearing, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of
3-3 the city, or constitute an economic or social liability and are a
3-4 menace to the public health, safety, or welfare in their present
3-5 condition and use. The department shall adopt guidelines that
3-6 describe the kinds of areas that may be considered to be blighted
3-7 or economically depressed. The city shall consider these
3-8 guidelines in making its findings and determinations. Notice of
3-9 the hearing at which the city considers establishment of a
3-10 development area or an economically depressed or blighted area
3-11 shall be posted at the city hall before the hearing.
3-12 "Federally assisted new communities" shall mean those
3-13 federally assisted areas which have received or will receive
3-14 assistance in the form of loan guarantees under Title X of the
3-15 National Housing Act and a portion of the federally assisted area
3-16 has received grants under Section 107(a)(1) of the Housing and
3-17 Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.
3-18 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 23, Development
3-19 Corporation Act of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-20 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
3-21 (b) The corporation shall not have the power to own or
3-22 operate any project as a business other than as lessor, seller, or
3-23 lender or pursuant to the requirements any trust agreement securing
3-24 the credit transaction. Accordingly, the user pursuant to any
3-25 lease, sale, or loan agreement relating to a project shall be
4-1 considered to be the owner of the project for the purposes of the
4-2 application of any ad valorem, sales, and use taxes or any other
4-3 taxes levied or imposed by this state or any political subdivision
4-4 of this state. The purchase and holding of mortgages, deeds of
4-5 trust, or other security interests and contracting for any
4-6 servicing thereof shall not be deemed the operation of a project.
4-7 The corporation shall, however, have all powers necessary to
4-8 operate a project as a business if the project is a military
4-9 installation or facility closed or realigned pursuant to the
4-10 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (10 U.S.C. Section
4-11 2687 note) as amended.
4-12 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-13 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.