By Hartnett H.B. No. 3796
76R8769 T
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to Dallas County Utility and Reclamation District tax
1-3 abatement procedures and agreements; and all prior elections,
1-4 contracts, conveyances and sales of assets, tax-rate reductions and
1-5 payment agreements, bonds and other obligations, all expenditures,
1-6 and all governmental and proprietary actions.
1-7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-8 SECTION 1. Chapter 628 Acts of the 68th Legislature, regular
1-9 session, 1983, is amended by amending Section 4B(5) to read as
1-10 follows:
1-11 "(5) The district [may] shall enter into tax abatement
1-12 agreements for periods of not to exceed [30] 25 years as further
1-13 limited pursuant to the following term schedule: if Notice for the
1-14 Project, as that term is defined in the tax abatement policies is:
1-15 A. submitted in calendar year 1999 - 25 year
1-16 term
1-17 B. submitted in calendar year 2000 - 24 year
1-18 term
1-19 C. submitted in calendar year 2001 - 23 year
1-20 term
1-21 D. submitted in calendar year 2002 - 22 year
1-22 term
1-23 E. submitted in calendar year 2003 - 21 year
1-24 term
2-1 F. submitted in calendar year 2004 or later 20
2-2 year term. Tax Abatement Agreements shall be subject to the rights
2-3 of holders of current and subsequently issued outstanding
2-4 tax-supported bonds whether heretofore or hereafter issued and
2-5 credit providers of the district. The effective tax rate in the
2-6 Tax Abatement and Development Agreement, as that term is defined in
2-7 the Tax Abatement policy guidelines and criteria of the district,
2-8 shall be:
2-9 Residential Land Use: $.60 per hundred dollars of assessed
2-10 eligible property value
2-11 Nonresidential Land Use: $.50 per hundred dollars of
2-12 assessed eligible property value
2-13 The Tax Abatement and Development Agreement shall be with owners of
2-14 real and personal property within the district for a proposed
2-15 project or projects. The district's definition of project shall be
2-16 incorporated into the Tax Abatement and Development Agreement. The
2-17 form and substance of the district's Tax Abatement Agreement
2-18 approved by the district's Board of Directors, heretofore, and
2-19 identified as "Generic Tax Abatement Agreement" is hereby approved,
2-20 ratified and validated. The tax abatement project and agreement
2-21 shall be consistent with the district's Tax Abatement policy
2-22 guidelines and the requirements of the deed restrictions enforced
2-23 by the Las Colinas Association, or equivalent restrictions,
2-24 enforced by the district, as the sole criteria for the project.
2-25 The Tax Abatement Agreements may include phased projects. do not
2-26 have to be identical within the same reinvestment zone, may
2-27 incorporate district's requirements relative to infrastructure and
3-1 are valid for a period not to exceed twenty five (25) years.
3-2 The district may enter into tax abatement agreements relative to
3-3 real property and to all personal property. The provisions of this
3-4 Act shall prevail over any inconsistent provision in chapter 312 of
3-5 the Tax Code.
3-6 SECTION 2. Chapter 628 Acts of the 68th Legislative, Regular
3-7 Session, is amended by adding new sections 4B(8)(9)(10) and (11) to
3-8 read as follows:
3-9 8. "Policy guidelines and criteria adopted by
3-10 the district are effective during the effective dates of all Tax
3-11 Abatement Agreements entered into by the district. The policy
3-12 guidelines and criteria may be amended from time to time by a vote
3-13 of the governing body."
3-14 9. The designation of a reinvestment zone for
3-15 residential or commercial-industrial Tax Abatement purposes stays
3-16 in effect for twenty-five (25) years or until the termination of
3-17 all outstanding Tax Abatement Agreements whichever occurs last.
3-18 10. The Tax Abatement Agreements entered into
3-19 within the same reinvestment zone are not required to be identical.
3-20 11. A Tax Abatement Agreement may describe the
3-21 kind, number and location of all proposed improvements in a general
3-22 manner subject to change at such time as the specifics of the
3-23 project are quantified pursuant to a Notice of Intent to construct
3-24 the project is submitted to the District.
3-25 SECTION 3. With regard to the holders of outstanding bonds,
3-26 this Act is intended to clarify the legislative intent of section
3-27 4B(5), chapter 628, Acts of the 68th Legislature, regular session,
4-1 1983, as amended. The legislature intended at the time of the
4-2 addition of section 4B in 1995 to include with regard to the rights
4-3 of holders of outstanding tax supported bonds any bonds issued
4-4 before or after the date of any Tax Abatement Agreements.
4-5 SECTION 4. The legislature specifically finds and declares
4-6 that the requirements of Article XVI, Section 59(d), of the Texas
4-7 Constitution, have been met, done, and accomplished in due course
4-8 and time and in due order and that the legislature has the power
4-9 and authority to enact this Act.
4-10 SECTION 5. The organization of Dallas County Utility and
4-11 Reclamation District and all elections held, all contracts
4-12 executed, and all bonds and other obligations issued by the
4-13 district, and the expenditure of funds in payment or satisfaction
4-14 thereof, all sales and donations of assets, tax rate reduction
4-15 agreements and all governmental and proprietary actions are hereby
4-16 in all things validated, ratified, and confirmed. All bonds
4-17 heretofore voted and all maintenance taxes heretofore authorized at
4-18 elections held within the district may be issued, levied, and
4-19 collected by the board of directors of the district without the
4-20 necessity of any further elections with respect thereto.
4-21 SECTION 6. If any word, phrase, clause, paragraph, sentence,
4-22 part, portion, or provision of this Act or the application thereof
4-23 to any person or circumstance shall be held to be invalid or
4-24 unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act shall nevertheless be
4-25 valid, and the legislature hereby declares that this Act would have
4-26 been enacted without such invalid or unconstitutional word, phrase,
4-27 clause, paragraph, sentence, part, portion, or provision. All the
5-1 terms and provisions of this Act are to be liberally construed to
5-2 effectuate the purposes, powers, rights, functions, and authorizes
5-3 herein set forth.
5-4 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
5-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.