76R14039 DRH-D
By Uher H.B. No. 3567
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3567:
By Ramsay C.S.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, personal, health, educational,
1-18 commercial, economic development, or other purpose.
1-19 SECTION 3. Section 383.021(a), Local Government Code, is
1-20 amended to read as follows:
1-21 (a) The commissioners court of a county with a population of
1-22 600,000 [400,000] or less, on petition of the owners of land in a
1-23 proposed district, may commence the creation of a county
1-24 development district.
2-1 SECTION 4. Section 383.022, Local Government Code, is
2-2 amended to read as follows:
2-3 Sec. 383.022. PETITION OF LANDOWNERS. To create a district,
2-4 a petition requesting creation must be filed with the commissioners
2-5 court of the county in which all of the land in the proposed
2-6 district is located. The petition must be accompanied by:
2-7 (1) a sworn statement indicating consent to creation
2-8 signed by the holders of fee simple title of all of the land in the
2-9 proposed district; and
2-10 (2) a copy of an ordinance or resolution supporting
2-11 the creation of the district enacted by each municipality with
2-12 incorporated territory or extraterritorial jurisdiction located in
2-13 the proposed district.
2-14 SECTION 5. Section 383.027, Local Government Code, is
2-15 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and
2-16 (d) to read as follows:
2-17 (a) After the hearing, if the commissioners court finds that
2-18 the petition conforms to the requirements of Section 383.022 and
2-19 that the creation of the district and the proposed project is
2-20 feasible and necessary and would serve a [the public] purpose of
2-21 this chapter [attracting visitors and tourists to the county], the
2-22 commissioners court shall make that finding and enter an order
2-23 creating the district. The order creating the district may specify
2-24 the cost to the county of publishing notice and conducting hearings
2-25 for the creation of the district together with the cost of
2-26 conducting the confirmation and sales and use tax election. The
2-27 county may require the petitioner to pay to the county the amounts
3-1 specified in the order creating the district at the time the order
3-2 becomes final.
3-3 (c) An appeal of an order creating a district under
3-4 Subsection (a) must be filed in a district court of the county in
3-5 which the district is created not later than the 30th day after the
3-6 date of the order. If an appeal is not filed within that time, the
3-7 order becomes final and may not be appealed, and a finding in the
3-8 order becomes incontestable. After the order becomes final, the
3-9 district may exercise any of the powers granted to the district as
3-10 determined by the board.
3-11 (d) The commissioners court, with the written consent of the
3-12 owner of the fee simple title of property, may include the property
3-13 in more than one county development district.
3-14 SECTION 6. Section 383.061, Local Government Code, is
3-15 amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
3-16 (d) A district may contract with any other district or
3-17 person as necessary to carry out a power or duty of the district
3-18 under this chapter.
3-19 (e) A district may enter into a contract with the county
3-20 under which the district agrees not to call an election to
3-21 authorize an ad valorem tax without the written approval of the
3-22 county.
3-23 SECTION 7. Section 383.081, Local Government Code, is
3-24 amended to read as follows:
3-25 Sec. 383.081. ISSUANCE OF BONDS. (a) The district may
3-26 issue bonds for the purpose of defraying all or part of the cost of
3-27 any project authorized by [as provided in] this chapter. [Sections
4-1 375.201 through 375.208 apply to a district to the extent not
4-2 inconsistent with this chapter.]
4-3 (b) Bonds of the district shall be submitted to the attorney
4-4 general for approval as required by Chapter 53, Acts of the 70th
4-5 Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1987 (Article 717k-8, Vernon's
4-6 Texas Civil Statutes). Bonds issued by the district do not require
4-7 approval as provided by Section 50.107, Water Code.
4-8 (c) Notwithstanding Section 375.161, a district's bonds may
4-9 be repaid from any source of tax or revenue, including assessments
4-10 on real property.
4-11 SECTION 8. Subchapter F, Chapter 383, Local Government Code,
4-12 is amended by adding Section 383.107 to read as follows:
4-13 Sec. 383.107. CONTRACTS AND PROGRAMS FOR USE OF TAXES AND
4-14 REVENUE. A district may establish a program and enter into an
4-15 economic development agreement with any person under which the
4-16 taxes and revenue collected by the district may be spent to
4-17 stimulate business, commercial, or economic development activity in
4-18 the county in which the district is located.
4-19 SECTION 9. Section 352.107, Tax Code, is amended to read as
4-20 follows:
4-21 Sec. 352.107. HOTEL TAX AUTHORIZED FOR COUNTY DEVELOPMENT
4-22 DISTRICTS. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to
4-23 the contrary, a commissioners court of a county with a population
4-24 of less than 600,000 [400,000] may impose a hotel occupancy tax not
4-25 to exceed seven percent on a person who pays for the use or
4-26 possession or for the right to the use or possession of a room in a
4-27 hotel ordinarily used for sleeping that is located within the
5-1 boundaries of the county development district created under
5-2 [Subchapter D,] Chapter 383, Local Government Code [312], and that
5-3 is not located within the corporate limits of a municipality,
5-4 subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 352.002(b) and
5-5 (c). Taxes collected by a county under this section shall be
5-6 remitted to the county development district not later than the 10th
5-7 day after the date the county receives such funds and may be used
5-8 by the district for the purposes of attracting visitors and
5-9 tourists to the county. If two or more county development
5-10 districts include the same parcel of land, a hotel occupancy tax
5-11 may be collected only for the first district to include the parcel
5-12 [for which sales and use tax proceeds may be used by the district].
5-13 SECTION 10. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), an
5-14 action taken by the board of directors of a county development
5-15 district created under Chapter 383, Local Government Code, before
5-16 the effective date of this Act is validated as of the date the
5-17 action was taken.
5-18 (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to an action that on the
5-19 effective date of this Act:
5-20 (1) is involved in litigation if the litigation
5-21 ultimately results in the action being held invalid by a final
5-22 judgment of a court; or
5-23 (2) has been held invalid by a final judgment of a
5-24 court.
5-25 SECTION 11. The importance of this legislation and the
5-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-3 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-4 passage, and it is so enacted.