By Averitt                                             H.B. No. 347
         76R2067 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the financing of certain eligible projects for criminal
 1-3     justice purposes.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 361.051(4) and (5), Local Government
 1-6     Code, are amended to read as follows:
 1-7                 (4)  "Lease obligation" means an obligation incurred by
 1-8     the Texas Board [Department] of Criminal Justice under Section
 1-9     495.021, Government Code [Corrections of the nature contemplated by
1-10     Article 6166g-4, Revised Statutes].
1-11                 (5)  "Obligations" means:
1-12                       (A)  certificates of obligation of an entity
1-13     issued pursuant to this subchapter in the manner prescribed by the
1-14     Certificate of Obligation Act of 1971 (Subchapter C, Chapter 271[,
1-15     Local Government Code]);
1-16                       (B)  certificates of participation representing
1-17     an undivided interest in a lease obligation; [or]
1-18                       (C)  revenue bonds of an entity issued pursuant
1-19     to this subchapter; or
1-20                       (D)  contractual obligations incurred by an
1-21     entity under a lease agreement, lease-purchase agreement, purchase
1-22     on an installment contract, or other agreement providing for the
1-23     lease, lease-purchase, installment purchase, or other acquisition
1-24     of title to an eligible project.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  Section 361.052, Local Government Code, is
 2-2     amended to read as follows:
 2-3           Sec. 361.052.  FINANCING ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.  (a)  The
 2-4     governing body of an entity is empowered and authorized to issue,
 2-5     or to provide for the issuance of, obligations and to execute
 2-6     credit agreements in relation thereto in order to finance project
 2-7     costs of an eligible project, or to refund obligations issued or
 2-8     incurred in connection with an eligible project.  This subsection
 2-9     applies regardless of when:
2-10                 (1)  the obligation is due; or
2-11                 (2)  title to the project is transferred to the entity.
2-12           (b)  Money [It is specifically provided that money] to be
2-13     paid pursuant to a lease obligation and revenues derived by an
2-14     entity from the operation of an eligible project constitute
2-15     [constitutes] revenues to an entity that [which] may be pledged to
2-16     secure or pay any obligations, and the entity's [such] obligations
2-17     may be made payable from and secured by, in whole or in part, those
2-18     [such] revenues.  An entity may apply the provisions of (i)
2-19     Sections 2 through 11 of Chapter 656, Acts of the 68th Legislature,
2-20     Regular Session, 1983 (Article 717q, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-21     Statutes), (ii) Section 271.052, [Local Government Code,] (iii)
2-22     Section 361.053 [of this subchapter], or (iv) any combination of
2-23     the foregoing to the issuance of obligations and the execution of
2-24     credit agreements to satisfy the purposes of this subchapter.
2-25           SECTION 3.  Section 361.053(d), Local Government Code, is
2-26     amended to read as follows:
2-27           (d)  The bonds may be secured additionally by a trust
 3-1     indenture or a deed of trust granting a security interest in an
 3-2     eligible project, under which the trustee may be a financial
 3-3     institution,  domiciled inside or outside the state, which has
 3-4     trust power.
 3-5           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-10     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-11     passage, and it is so enacted.