By: Sibley S.B. No. 1603
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the expenditure of revenue and interest derived from
1-2 the municipal hotel occupancy tax.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 351.001, Tax Code, is amended by adding
1-5 Subdivision (10) to read as follows:
1-6 (10) "Revenue" includes any interest derived from the
1-7 revenue.
1-8 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 351, Tax Code, is amended
1-9 by adding Sections 351.107 and 351.108 to read as follows:
1-10 Sec. 351.107. INJUNCTION AND RELIEF. (a) If it appears
1-11 that a municipality, a person with whom a municipality contracts,
1-12 or any other person is spending or is going to spend revenue from
1-13 the tax imposed under this chapter for a purpose not authorized by
1-14 this chapter, the owner or operator of a hotel that pays the tax
1-15 imposed under this chapter to the municipality or a state
1-16 association of hotels whose membership includes a hotel that pays
1-17 the tax imposed under this chapter to the municipality may
1-18 commence, not later than four years after the date the expenditure
1-19 was made, a civil action in a district court for:
1-20 (1) injunctive relief necessary to prevent the revenue
1-21 from being spent for the unauthorized purpose; and
1-22 (2) return of the full amount of any revenue spent for
1-23 an unauthorized purpose to the account or fund in which the
1-24 municipality's hotel tax is deposited.
2-1 (b) On a finding by the district court that revenue from the
2-2 tax imposed under this chapter has been spent or is going to be
2-3 spent by the municipality, by a person with whom the municipality
2-4 contracts, or by any other person for a purpose not authorized by
2-5 this chapter, the court may:
2-6 (1) grant any injunctive relief necessary to prevent
2-7 the revenue from being spent for the unauthorized purpose; and
2-8 (2) order the full amount of any revenue spent for an
2-9 unauthorized purpose be paid to the account or fund in which the
2-10 municipality's hotel occupancy tax is deposited and be spent only
2-11 for purposes authorized by this chapter.
2-12 (c) A court may not under this section review a pledge of
2-13 revenue from the tax imposed under this chapter for bonds if:
2-14 (1) the pledge has been approved by the attorney
2-15 general and registered by the comptroller; and
2-16 (2) the party requesting review does not allege
2-17 forgery or fraud.
2-18 Sec. 351.108. SEPARATE RECORDS. A municipality shall
2-19 maintain a record that identifies as separate items:
2-20 (1) the amount of revenue derived from the tax imposed
2-21 under this chapter; and
2-22 (2) the amount and purpose of each expenditure from
2-23 that revenue.
2-24 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25 (b) Sections 351.107 and 351.108, Tax Code, as added by this
2-26 Act, apply only to an expenditure made on or after the effective
3-1 date of this Act, without regard to whether the expenditure is from
3-2 revenue collected under Chapter 351, Tax Code, before, on, or after
3-3 that date.
3-4 (c) An expenditure made before the effective date of this
3-5 Act is governed by the law applicable to the action immediately
3-6 before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
3-7 effect for that purpose.
3-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.