1-1     By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1739

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Finance; April 18, 1997,

 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0;

 1-5     April 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the listing on an ad valorem tax appraisal roll of

 1-9     certain possessory interests in exempt property.

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

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 25.07, Tax Code, is

1-12     amended to read as follows:

1-13           (b)  Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c) of Section

1-14     11.11 of this code, a leasehold or other possessory interest in

1-15     exempt property may not be listed if:

1-16                 (1)  the property is permanent university fund land;

1-17                 (2)  the property is county public school fund

1-18     agricultural land;

1-19                 (3)  the property is a part of a public transportation

1-20     facility owned by an incorporated city or town and:

1-21                       (A)  is an airport passenger terminal building or

1-22     a building used primarily for maintenance of aircraft or other

1-23     aircraft services, for aircraft equipment storage, or for air

1-24     cargo;

1-25                       (B)  is an airport fueling system facility;

1-26                       (C)  is in a foreign-trade zone:

1-27                             (i)  that has been granted to a joint

1-28     airport board under Chapter 129, Acts of the 65th Legislature,

1-29     Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446.8, Vernon's Texas Civil

1-30     Statutes);

1-31                             (ii)  the area of which in the portion of

1-32     the zone located in the airport operated by the joint airport board

1-33     does not exceed 2,500 acres; and

1-34                             (iii)  that is established and operating

1-35     pursuant to federal law; or

1-36                       (D)(i)  is in a foreign trade zone established

1-37     pursuant to federal law after June 1, 1991, which operates pursuant

1-38     to federal law;

1-39                             (ii)  is contiguous to or has access via a

1-40     taxiway to an airport located in two counties, one of which has a

1-41     population of 500,000 or more according to the federal decennial

1-42     census most recently preceding the establishment of the foreign

1-43     trade zone; and

1-44                             (iii)  is owned, directly or through a

1-45     corporation organized under the Development Corporation Act of 1979

1-46     (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), by the same

1-47     incorporated city or town which owns the airport;

1-48                 (4)  the interest is in a part of a park, market,

1-49     fairground, or similar public facility that is owned by an

1-50     incorporated city or town;

1-51                 (5)  the interest involves only the right to use the

1-52     property for grazing or other agricultural purposes; [or]

1-53                 (6)  the property is owned by the Texas National

1-54     Research Laboratory Commission or by a corporation formed by the

1-55     Texas National Research Laboratory Commission under Section

1-56     465.008(g), Government Code, and is used or is useful in connection

1-57     with an eligible undertaking as defined by Section 465.021,

1-58     Government Code; or

1-59                 (7)  the property is owned by an incorporated city or

1-60     town, a public port, or a navigation district created or operating

1-61     under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, or under a

1-62     statute enacted under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution,

1-63     and is used as a facility or aid incidental or useful in the

1-64     operation or development of a port or waterway or in aid of

 2-1     navigation-related commerce.

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

 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-8     passage, and it is so enacted.

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