1-1     By:  Cuellar (Senate Sponsor - Madla)                 H.B. No. 2406
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 19, 1999;
 1-3     April 20, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Finance; May 5, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to a refund of sales and use taxes paid on items exported
 1-9     beyond the limits of the United States.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 151.307, Tax Code, is amended by amending
1-12     Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read as
1-13     follows:
1-14           (d)  A retailer who receives documentation under Subsection
1-15     (b)(2) relating to the purchase of tangible personal property
1-16     exported beyond the limits of the United States may not refund the
1-17     tax paid under this chapter on that purchase before:
1-18                 (1)  the 24th hour after the hour stated as the time of
1-19     export on the documentation, if the retailer is located in a county
1-20     that borders the United Mexican States; or
1-21                 (2)  the seventh day after the day stated as the date
1-22     of export on the documentation, if the retailer is located in a
1-23     county that does not border the United Mexican States.
1-24           (e)  A retailer who makes a refund before the time prescribed
1-25     by Subsection (d) or makes a refund that is undocumented or
1-26     improperly documented is liable for the amount of the tax refunded
1-27     with interest.
1-28           (f)  In this section:
1-29                 (1)  "Air forwarder" means a licensed International Air
1-30     Transportation Association freight forwarder.
1-31                 (2)  "Ocean forwarder" means a licensed Federal
1-32     Maritime Commission freight forwarder.
1-33           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-34     applies to an exemption to the sales and use tax imposed under
1-35     Chapter 151, Tax Code, claimed on or after January 1, 2000.  An
1-36     exemption to the sales and use tax imposed under Chapter 151, Tax
1-37     Code, claimed before January 1, 2000, is governed by the law in
1-38     effect when the exemption was claimed, and that law is continued in
1-39     effect for that purpose.
1-40           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-41     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-42     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-43     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-44     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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