1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the purposes for which the municipal hotel occupancy
1-3 tax may be used.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 351.001(2), Tax Code, is amended to read
1-6 as follows:
1-7 (2) "Convention center facilities" or "convention
1-8 center complex" means facilities that are primarily used to host
1-9 conventions and meetings. The term means civic centers, civic
1-10 center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and coliseums that
1-11 are owned by the municipality or other governmental entity or that
1-12 are managed in whole or part by the municipality. In a
1-13 municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more, "convention
1-14 center facilities" or "convention center complex" means civic
1-15 centers, civic center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and
1-16 coliseums that are owned by the municipality or other governmental
1-17 entity or that are managed in part by the municipality, hotels
1-18 owned by the municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored
1-19 local government corporation created under Chapter 431,
1-20 Transportation Code, within 1,000 feet of a convention center owned
1-21 by the [a] municipality [with a population of 1,500,000 or more],
1-22 or a historic hotel owned by the [a] municipality or a nonprofit
1-23 municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
1-24 Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within one mile of a convention
2-1 center owned by the [a] municipality [with a population of
2-2 1,500,000 or more]. The term includes parking areas or facilities
2-3 that are for the parking or storage of conveyances and that are
2-4 located at or in the vicinity of other convention center
2-5 facilities. The term also includes a hotel owned by or located on
2-6 land that is owned by an eligible central municipality or by a
2-7 nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
2-8 municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention
2-9 center facility owned by the municipality.
2-10 SECTION 2. Section 351.102, Tax Code, is amended by adding
2-11 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
2-12 (c) An eligible central municipality may pledge the revenue
2-13 derived from the tax imposed under this chapter from a hotel
2-14 project that is owned by or located on land owned by the
2-15 municipality or by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an
2-16 eligible central municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet
2-17 of a convention center facility owned by the municipality for the
2-18 payment of bonds or other obligations issued or incurred to
2-19 acquire, lease, construct, and equip the hotel and any facilities
2-20 ancillary to the hotel, including shops and parking facilities.
2-21 For bonds or other obligations issued under this subsection, an
2-22 eligible central municipality may only pledge revenue or other
2-23 assets of the hotel project benefiting from those bonds or other
2-24 obligations.
2-25 SECTION 3. Section 2, Chapter 63, Acts of the 59th
2-26 Legislature, Regular Session, 1965 (Article 1269j-4.1, Vernon's
2-27 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (c) to read
3-1 as follows:
3-2 (c) An eligible central municipality, as defined by Section
3-3 351.001, Tax Code, may establish, acquire, lease as lessee or
3-4 lessor, purchase, construct, improve, enlarge, equip, repair,
3-5 operate, or maintain a hotel, and any facilities ancillary to the
3-6 hotel, including shops and parking facilities, that are owned by or
3-7 located on land owned by the municipality or by a nonprofit
3-8 corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central municipality
3-9 and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention center
3-10 facility owned by the municipality. An eligible central
3-11 municipality may also issue bonds or incur other obligations to
3-12 acquire, lease, construct, or equip a hotel and any facilities
3-13 ancillary to the hotel, including shops and parking facilities,
3-14 that are owned by or located on land owned by the municipality or
3-15 by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
3-16 municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention
3-17 center owned by the municipality.
3-18 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-19 (b) This Act does not apply to the use of tax revenue
3-20 pledged to secure bonds issued before the effective date of this
3-21 Act. Tax revenue pledged to secure bonds issued before the
3-22 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
3-23 date the bonds were issued, and that law is continued in effect for
3-24 that purpose.
3-25 (c) This Act does not apply to the use of tax revenue
3-26 pledged or dedicated before the effective date of this Act for the
3-27 acquisition of sites for and the construction, improvement,
4-1 enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and maintenance of
4-2 convention center facilities. Tax revenue pledged for these
4-3 purposes before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
4-4 law in effect on the date the revenue was pledged, and that law is
4-5 continued in effect for that purpose.
4-6 (d) This Act does not apply to the use of tax revenue for a
4-7 convention center complex or minor league baseball stadium that was
4-8 under construction on the effective date of this Act, including the
4-9 pledging of such revenue to secure bonds, additional bonds, and
4-10 refunding bonds. Tax revenue used for a convention center complex
4-11 or minor league baseball stadium that was under construction on the
4-12 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
4-13 April 1, 1999, and that law is continued in effect for that
4-14 purpose.
4-15 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2844 was passed by the House on April
20, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2844 on May 21, 1999, by a non-record
vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2844 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 19, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor