By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1289
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to donations and other transfers of real or personal
1-2 property to institutions of higher education.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 272.001, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (j) to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) Except for the types of land and interests covered by
1-8 Subsection (b), (g), (h), [or] (i), or (j) and except as provided
1-9 by Section 253.008, before land owned by a political subdivision of
1-10 the state may be sold or exchanged for other land, notice to the
1-11 general public of the offer of the land for sale or exchange must
1-12 be published in a newspaper of general circulation in either the
1-13 county in which the land is located or, if there is no such
1-14 newspaper, in an adjoining county. The notice must include a
1-15 description of the land, including its location, and the procedure
1-16 by which sealed bids to purchase the land or offers to exchange the
1-17 land may be submitted. The notice must be published on two
1-18 separate dates and the sale or exchange may not be made until after
1-19 the 14th day after the date of the second publication.
1-20 (j) A political subdivision may donate, exchange, convey,
1-21 sell or lease land and improvements, or any other interest in real
1-22 property, to an institution of higher education, as that term is
2-1 defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, to promote a public
2-2 purpose related to higher education. A political subdivision may
2-3 donate, exchange, convey, sell or lease the land for less than its
2-4 fair market value and without complying with the notice and bidding
2-5 requirements of Subsection (a).
2-6 SECTION 2. Article 5190.6, Revised Statutes, is amended by
2-7 amending Subsection 2(10), and adding Subsection 2(15) to read as
2-8 follows:
2-9 (10) "Project" shall mean the land, buildings, equipment,
2-10 facilities, and improvements (one or more) found by the board of
2-11 directors to be required or suitable for the promotion of
2-12 development and expansion of manufacturing and industrial
2-13 facilities, transportation facilities (including but not limited to
2-14 airports, ports, mass commuting facilities, and parking
2-15 facilities), sewage or solid waste disposal facilities, recycling
2-16 facilities, air or water pollution control facilities, facilities
2-17 for the furnishing of water to the general public, distribution
2-18 centers, [and] small warehouse facilities capable of serving as
2-19 decentralized storage and distribution centers, and facilities for
2-20 use by institutions of higher education, and for the promotion of
2-21 development or redevelopment and expansion, including costs of
2-22 administration and operation, of a military base closed or
2-23 realigned pursuant to recommendation of the Defense Closure and
2-24 Realignment Commission pursuant to the Defense Base Closure and
2-25 Realignment Act of 1990 (10 U.S.C. Section 2687 note) as amended,
2-26 and of facilities which are related to any of the foregoing, and in
3-1 furtherance of the public purposes of this Act, all as defined in
3-2 the rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence
3-3 or required to be identified, acquired, or constructed thereafter.
3-4 As used in this Act, the term "development areas" shall mean any
3-5 area or areas of a city that the city finds and determines, after a
3-6 public hearing, should be developed in order to meet the
3-7 development objectives of the city. In addition, in blighted or
3-8 economically depressed areas, development areas, federally
3-9 designated empowerment zones and enterprise communities designated
3-10 under Section 1391, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or federally
3-11 assisted new communities located within a home-rule city or a
3-12 federally designated economically depressed county of less than
3-13 50,000 persons according to the last federal decennial census, a
3-14 project may include the land, buildings, equipment, facilities, and
3-15 improvements (one or more) found by the board of directors to be
3-16 required or suitable for the promotion of commercial development
3-17 and expansion and in furtherance of the public purposes of this
3-18 Act, or for use by commercial enterprises, all as defined in the
3-19 rules of the department, irrespective of whether in existence or
3-20 required to be acquired or constructed thereafter. As used in this
3-21 Act, the term blighted or economically depressed areas shall mean
3-22 those areas and areas immediately adjacent thereto within a city
3-23 which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of
3-24 substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, or
3-25 which suffer from a high relative rate of unemployment, or which
3-26 have been designated and included in a tax incremental district
4-1 created under Chapter 695, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular
4-2 Session, 1979 (Article 1066d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or
4-3 any combination of the foregoing, the city finds and determines,
4-4 after a hearing, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of
4-5 the city, or constitute an economic or social liability and are a
4-6 menace to the public health, safety, or welfare in their present
4-7 condition and use. The department shall adopt guidelines that
4-8 describe the kinds of areas that may be considered to be blighted
4-9 or economically depressed. The city shall consider these
4-10 guidelines in making its findings and determinations. Notice of
4-11 the hearing at which the city considers establishment of a
4-12 development area or an economically depressed or blighted area
4-13 shall be posted at the city hall before the hearing.
4-14 "Federally assisted new communities" shall mean those
4-15 federally assisted areas which have received or will receive
4-16 assistance in the form of loan guarantees under Title X of the
4-17 National Housing Act and a portion of the federally assisted area
4-18 has received grants under Section 107(a)(1) of the Housing and
4-19 Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.
4-20 (15) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
4-21 assigned by Section 61.003, Education Code.
4-22 SECTION 3. Article 5190.6, Revised Statutes, is amended by
4-23 amending Section 3 to read as follows:
4-24 Sec. 3. It is hereby found, determined, and declared:
4-25 (1) that the present and prospective right to gainful
4-26 employment and general welfare of the people of this state require
5-1 as a public purpose the promotion and development of new and
5-2 expanded business enterprises;
5-3 (2) that the existence, development, and expansion of
5-4 business, commerce, [and] industry, and higher education are
5-5 essential to the economic growth of the state and to the full
5-6 employment, welfare, and prosperity of its citizens;
5-7 (3) that the assistance provided by industrial development
5-8 corporations in promoting higher education opportunities will
5-9 encourage and foster the development and diversification of the
5-10 economy of the State and the elimination of unemployment and
5-11 underemployment in the State;
5-12 (4) that the means and measures authorized by this Act and
5-13 the assistance provided in this Act, especially with respect to
5-14 financing, are in the public interest and serve a public purpose of
5-15 the state in promoting the welfare of the citizens of the state
5-16 economically by the securing and retaining of business enterprises
5-17 and the resulting maintenance of a higher level of employment,
5-18 economic activity, and stability;
5-19 (5) that community industrial development corporations in
5-20 Texas have themselves invested substantial funds in successful
5-21 industrial development projects and have experienced difficulty in
5-22 undertaking such additional projects by reason of the partial
5-23 inadequacy of their own funds or funds potentially available from
5-24 local subscription sources and by reason of limitations of local
5-25 financial institutions in providing additional and sufficiently
5-26 sizable first mortgage loans; and
6-1 (6) that communities in this state are at a critical
6-2 disadvantage in competing with communities in other states for the
6-3 location or expansion of such enterprises by virtue of the
6-4 availability and prevalent use in all other states of financing and
6-5 other special incentives; therefore, the issuance of revenue bonds
6-6 by corporations on behalf of political subdivisions of the state as
6-7 hereinafter provided for the promotion and development of new and
6-8 expanded business enterprises to provide and encourage employment
6-9 and the public welfare is hereby declared to be in the public
6-10 interest and a public purpose.
6-11 This Act shall be liberally construed in conformity with the
6-12 intention of the legislature herein expressed.
6-13 SECTION 4. Article 5190.6, Revised Statutes, is amended by
6-14 amending Subsection 23(a) to read as follows:
6-15 Sec. 23. (a) The corporation shall have and exercise all of
6-16 the rights, powers, privileges, authority, and functions given by
6-17 the general laws of this state to nonprofit corporations
6-18 incorporated under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, as amended
6-19 (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); but to
6-20 the extent that the provisions of the general laws are in conflict
6-21 or inconsistent with this Act, this Act prevails. In addition, the
6-22 corporation shall have the following powers with respect to
6-23 projects together with all powers incidental thereto or necessary
6-24 for the performance of those hereinafter stated:
6-25 (1) to acquire, whether by construction, devise, purchase,
6-26 gift, lease, or otherwise or any one or more of such methods and to
7-1 construct, improve, maintain, equip, and furnish one or more
7-2 projects located within the state or within the coastal waters of
7-3 the state and within or partially within the limits of the unit
7-4 under whose auspices the corporation was created or within the
7-5 limits of a different unit where the governing body thereof
7-6 requests the corporation to exercise its powers therein;
7-7 (2) to lease to a user all or any part of any project for
7-8 such rentals and upon such terms and conditions as its board of
7-9 directors may deem advisable and not in conflict with the
7-10 provisions of this Act;
7-11 (3) to sell by installment payments or otherwise and convey
7-12 all or any part of any project to a user for such purchase price
7-13 and upon such terms and conditions as its board of directors may
7-14 deem advisable and not in conflict with the provisions of this Act;
7-15 (4) to donate, exchange, convey, sell or lease land,
7-16 improvements, or any other interest in real property or
7-17 furnishings, fixtures or equipment, or personal property to an
7-18 institution of higher education for a legal purpose of the
7-19 institution upon such terms and conditions as the corporation's
7-20 board of directors may deem advisable that are not in conflict with
7-21 the provisions of this Act;
7-22 (5) to make secured or unsecured loans to a user for the
7-23 purpose of providing temporary or permanent financing or
7-24 refinancing of all or part of the cost of any project, including
7-25 the refunding of any outstanding obligations, mortgages, or
7-26 advances issued, made, or given by any person for the cost of a
8-1 project; and to charge and collect interest on such loans for such
8-2 loan payments and upon such terms and conditions as its board of
8-3 directors may deem advisable and not in conflict with the
8-4 provisions of this Act;
8-5 (6) [(5)] to issue bonds for the purpose of defraying all or
8-6 part of the cost of any project, whether or not the bonds are
8-7 exempt in whole or part from federal income taxation, to secure the
8-8 payment of such bonds as provided in this Act, and to sell bonds at
8-9 a price or prices determined by the board of directors or to
8-10 exchange bonds for property, labor, services, material, or
8-11 equipment comprising a project or incidental to the acquisition of
8-12 a project, and those bonds may bear interest at any rate or rates
8-13 determined by the board of directors, subject to the limitations
8-14 set forth in this Act;
8-15 (7) [(6)] as security for the payment of the principal of
8-16 and interest on any bonds issued and any agreements made in
8-17 connection therewith, to mortgage and pledge any or all of its
8-18 projects or any part or parts thereof, whether then owned or
8-19 thereafter acquired, and to assign any mortgage and repledge any
8-20 security conveyed to the corporation to secure any loan made by the
8-21 corporation and to pledge the revenues and receipts therefrom;
8-22 (8) [(7)] to sue and be sued, complain and defend, in its
8-23 corporate name;
8-24 (9) [(8)] to have a corporate seal and to use the same by
8-25 causing it or a facsimile thereof to be impressed on, affixed to,
8-26 or in any manner reproduced upon instruments of any nature required
9-1 to be executed by its proper officers;
9-2 (10) [(9)] to make and alter bylaws not inconsistent with
9-3 its articles of incorporation or with the laws of this state with
9-4 the approval of the unit under whose auspices the corporation was
9-5 created by resolution of the governing body for the administration
9-6 and regulation of the affairs of the corporation;
9-7 (11) [(10)] to cease its corporate activities and terminate
9-8 its existence by voluntary dissolution as provided herein; and
9-9 (12) [(11)] whether included in the foregoing or not, to
9-10 have and exercise all powers necessary or appropriate to effect any
9-11 or all of the purposes for which the corporation is organized which
9-12 powers shall be subject at all times to the control of the
9-13 governing body of the unit under whose auspices the corporation was
9-14 created.
9-15 SECTION 5. Subchapter A, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
9-16 amended by adding Sec. 130.0021 to read as follows:
9-17 Sec. 130.0021. CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY. A
9-18 public junior college or a public junior college district may
9-19 donate, exchange, convey, sell or lease land, improvements, or any
9-20 other interest in any real property for less than the fair market
9-21 value of the interest if the donation, conveyance, exchange, sale
9-22 or lease is being made to a university system and the governing
9-23 board of the public junior college or the public junior college
9-24 district also finds that the donation, conveyance, exchange, sale
9-25 or lease of the interest promotes a public purpose related to
9-26 higher education within the service area of the public junior
10-1 college or the public junior college district.
10-2 SECTION 6. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
10-3 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
10-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
10-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
10-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
10-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
10-8 passage, and it is so enacted.