By Seaman H.B. No. 2814
76R8899 DRH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to funding for certain causeways or bridges.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
1-5 is amended by adding Section 502.1725 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 502.1725. OPTIONAL COUNTY FEE FOR CERTAIN CAUSEWAYS OR
1-7 BRIDGES. (a) The commissioners court of a county that borders the
1-8 Gulf of Mexico may impose an additional fee, not to exceed $2, for
1-9 registering a vehicle in the county.
1-10 (b) A vehicle that may be registered under this chapter
1-11 without payment of a registration fee may be registered in a county
1-12 imposing a fee under this section without payment of the additional
1-13 fee.
1-14 (c) A fee imposed under this section may take effect only on
1-15 January 1 of a year. The county must adopt the order and notify
1-16 the department not later than September 1 of the year preceding the
1-17 year in which the fee takes effect.
1-18 (d) The county assessor-collector of a county imposing a fee
1-19 under this section shall collect the additional fee for a vehicle
1-20 when other fees imposed under this chapter are collected.
1-21 (e) The department shall collect the additional fee on a
1-22 vehicle that is owned by a resident of a county imposing a fee
1-23 under this section and that, under this chapter, must be registered
1-24 directly with the department. The department shall send all fees
2-1 collected for a county under this subsection to the county
2-2 treasurer to be credited to the county road and bridge fund.
2-3 (f) Revenue from a fee imposed under this section shall be
2-4 deposited in a special fund in the county treasury that may be used
2-5 only to pay for the costs of construction, improvement, or
2-6 maintenance of a causeway or bridge in the county between the
2-7 mainland and a barrier island. The causeway or bridge may be owned
2-8 by the county or the department.
2-9 (g) A fee imposed under this section expires when the
2-10 commissioners court determines that the cost of the causeway or
2-11 bridge project has been paid. The expiration takes effect on
2-12 January 1 of the year following the year the commissioners court
2-13 makes the determination. The commissioners court shall notify the
2-14 department not later than December 1 of the year preceding the year
2-15 in which the expiration takes effect.
2-16 (h) The department shall adopt rules and develop forms
2-17 necessary to administer registration by mail for a vehicle being
2-18 registered in a county imposing a fee under this section.
2-19 SECTION 2. Section 311.005(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
2-20 as follows:
2-21 (a) To be designated as a reinvestment zone, an area must:
2-22 (1) substantially arrest or impair the sound growth of
2-23 the municipality creating the zone, retard the provision of housing
2-24 accommodations, or constitute an economic or social liability and
2-25 be a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its
2-26 present condition and use because of the presence of:
2-27 (A) a substantial number of substandard, slum,
3-1 deteriorated, or deteriorating structures;
3-2 (B) the predominance of defective or inadequate
3-3 sidewalk or street layout;
3-4 (C) faulty lot layout in relation to size,
3-5 adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;
3-6 (D) unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
3-7 (E) the deterioration of site or other
3-8 improvements;
3-9 (F) tax or special assessment delinquency
3-10 exceeding the fair value of the land;
3-11 (G) defective or unusual conditions of title; or
3-12 (H) conditions that endanger life or property by
3-13 fire or other cause;
3-14 (2) be predominantly open and, because of obsolete
3-15 platting, deterioration of structures or site improvements, or
3-16 other factors, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of
3-17 the municipality; or
3-18 (3) be in a federally assisted new community located
3-19 in the municipality or in an area immediately adjacent to a
3-20 federally assisted new community;
3-21 (4) be located on or adjacent to a barrier island on
3-22 the Gulf of Mexico and be primarily undeveloped or underdeveloped;
3-23 or
3-24 (5) be an area described in a petition requesting that
3-25 the area be designated as a reinvestment zone, if the petition is
3-26 submitted to the governing body of the municipality by the owners
3-27 of property constituting at least 50 percent of the appraised value
4-1 of the property in the area according to the most recent certified
4-2 appraisal roll for the county in which the area is located.
4-3 SECTION 3. Section 311.006, Tax Code, is amended by adding
4-4 Subsection (f) to read as follows:
4-5 (f) Subsection (a) does not apply to a reinvestment zone
4-6 designated under Section 311.005(a)(4).
4-7 SECTION 4. Section 311.008(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
4-8 as follows:
4-9 (a) A municipality may exercise any power necessary and
4-10 convenient to carry out this chapter, including the power to:
4-11 (1) cause project plans to be prepared, approve and
4-12 implement the plans, and otherwise achieve the purposes of the
4-13 plan;
4-14 (2) acquire real property by purchase, condemnation,
4-15 or other means to implement project plans and sell that property on
4-16 the terms and conditions and in the manner it considers advisable;
4-17 (3) enter into agreements, including agreements with
4-18 bondholders, determined by the governing body of the municipality
4-19 to be necessary or convenient to implement project plans and
4-20 achieve their purposes, which agreements may include conditions,
4-21 restrictions, or covenants that run with the land or that by other
4-22 means regulate or restrict the use of land; and
4-23 (4) consistent with the project plan for the zone:
4-24 (A) acquire blighted, deteriorated,
4-25 deteriorating, undeveloped, or inappropriately developed real
4-26 property or other property in a blighted area or in a federally
4-27 assisted new community in the zone for the preservation or
5-1 restoration of historic sites, beautification or conservation, the
5-2 provision of public works or public facilities, or other public
5-3 purposes; or
5-4 (B) acquire, construct, reconstruct, or install
5-5 public works, facilities, or sites or other public improvements,
5-6 including utilities, streets, street lights, bridges, causeways,
5-7 water and sewer facilities, pedestrian malls and walkways, parks,
5-8 flood and drainage facilities, educational facilities, or parking
5-9 facilities.
5-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-16 passage, and it is so enacted.