By Uher H.B. No. 3567
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to county development districts.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 383.003(a), Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Small and medium-sized counties in this state need
1-7 programs and the authority to spend public money [incentives] for
1-8 the development of public improvements to attract visitors and
1-9 tourists to those counties, and those counties are at a
1-10 disadvantage in competing with counties in other states for the
1-11 location and development of projects that attract visitors or
1-12 tourists by virtue of the availability and prevalent use of
1-13 financial incentives in other states.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 383.004, Local Government Code, is
1-15 amended by adding Subdivision (9) to read as follows:
1-16 (9) "Visitor" means a person visiting for a business,
1-17 governmental, recreational, health, educational, commercial, or
1-18 economic development purpose. In a district created after June 1,
1-19 1999, the term also includes a person visiting for personal or
1-20 other purposes.
1-21 SECTION 3. Section 383.021(a), Local Government Code, is
1-22 amended to read as follows:
1-23 (a) The commissioners court of a county with a population of
1-24 600,000 [400,000] or less, on petition of the owners of land in a
2-1 proposed district, may commence the creation of a county
2-2 development district.
2-3 SECTION 4. Section 383.022, Local Government Code, is
2-4 amended to read as follows:
2-5 Sec. 383.022. PETITION OF LANDOWNERS. To create a district,
2-6 a petition requesting creation must be filed with the commissioners
2-7 court of the county in which all of the land in the proposed
2-8 district is located. The petition must be accompanied by:
2-9 (1) a sworn statement indicating consent to creation
2-10 signed by the holders of fee simple title of all of the land in the
2-11 proposed district; and
2-12 (2) a copy of an ordinance or resolution supporting
2-13 the creation of the district enacted by each municipality with
2-14 incorporated territory or extraterritorial jurisdiction located in
2-15 the proposed district.
2-16 SECTION 5. Section 383.027, Local Government Code, is
2-17 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and
2-18 (d) to read as follows:
2-19 (a) After the hearing, if the commissioners court finds that
2-20 the petition conforms to the requirements of Section 383.022 and
2-21 that the creation of the district and the proposed project is
2-22 feasible and necessary and would serve a [the public] purpose of
2-23 this chapter [attracting visitors and tourists to the county], the
2-24 commissioners court shall make that finding and enter an order
2-25 creating the district. The order creating the district may specify
2-26 the cost to the county of publishing notice and conducting hearings
2-27 for the creation of the district together with the cost of
3-1 conducting the confirmation and sales and use tax election. The
3-2 county may require the petitioner to pay to the county the amounts
3-3 specified in the order creating the district at the time the order
3-4 becomes final.
3-5 (c) An appeal of an order creating a district under
3-6 Subsection (a) must be filed in a district court of the county in
3-7 which the district is created not later than the 30th day after the
3-8 date of the order. If an appeal is not filed within that time, the
3-9 order becomes final and may not be appealed, and a finding in the
3-10 order becomes incontestable. After the order becomes final, the
3-11 district may exercise any of the powers granted to the district as
3-12 determined by the board.
3-13 (d) The commissioners court, with the written consent of the
3-14 owner of the fee simple title of property, may include the property
3-15 in more than one county development district.
3-16 SECTION 6. Section 383.061, Local Government Code, is
3-17 amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
3-18 (d) A district may contract with any other political
3-19 subdivisions as necessary to carry out a power or duty of the
3-20 district under this chapter.
3-21 (e) A district created after June 1, 1999, may enter into a
3-22 contract with the county under which the district agrees not to
3-23 call an election to authorize an ad valorem tax without the written
3-24 approval of the county.
3-25 SECTION 7. Section 383.081, Local Government Code, is
3-26 amended to read as follows:
3-27 Sec. 383.081. ISSUANCE OF BONDS. (a) The district may
4-1 issue bonds for the purpose of defraying all or part of the cost of
4-2 any project authorized by [as provided in] this chapter. [Sections
4-3 375.201 through 375.208 apply to a district to the extent not
4-4 inconsistent with this chapter.]
4-5 (b) Bonds of the district shall be submitted to the attorney
4-6 general for approval as required by Chapter 53, Acts of the 70th
4-7 Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1987 (Article 717k-8, Vernon's
4-8 Texas Civil Statutes). Bonds issued by a district created after
4-9 June 1, 1999, do not require approval as provided by Section
4-10 50.107, Water Code.
4-11 (c) Notwithstanding Section 375.161, the bonds of a district
4-12 created after June 1, 1999, may be repaid from any source of tax or
4-13 revenue, including assessments on real property.
4-14 SECTION 8. Subchapter F, Chapter 383, Local Government Code,
4-15 is amended by adding Section 383.107 to read as follows:
4-16 Sec. 383.107. CONTRACTS AND PROGRAMS FOR USE OF TAXES AND
4-17 REVENUE. A district created after June 1, 1999, may establish a
4-18 program and enter into an economic development agreement under
4-19 which the taxes and revenue collected by the district may be spent
4-20 to stimulate business, commercial, or economic development activity
4-21 in the county in which the district is located.
4-22 SECTION 9. Section 352.107, Tax Code, is amended to read as
4-23 follows:
4-24 Sec. 352.107. HOTEL TAX AUTHORIZED FOR COUNTY DEVELOPMENT
4-25 DISTRICTS. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to
4-26 the contrary, a commissioners court of a county with a population
4-27 of less than 600,000 [400,000] may impose a hotel occupancy tax not
5-1 to exceed seven percent on a person who pays for the use or
5-2 possession or for the right to the use or possession of a room in a
5-3 hotel ordinarily used for sleeping that is located within the
5-4 boundaries of the county development district created under
5-5 [Subchapter D,] Chapter 383, Local Government Code [312], and that
5-6 is not located within the corporate limits of a municipality,
5-7 subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 352.002(b) and
5-8 (c). Taxes collected by a county under this section shall be
5-9 remitted to the county development district not later than the 10th
5-10 day after the date the county receives such funds and may be used
5-11 by the district for the purposes of attracting visitors and
5-12 tourists to the county. If two or more county development
5-13 districts include the same parcel of land, a hotel occupancy tax
5-14 may be collected only for the first district to include the parcel
5-15 [for which sales and use tax proceeds may be used by the district].
5-16 SECTION 10. The importance of this legislation and the
5-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-22 passage, and it is so enacted.