By: Shapiro S.B. No. 1771
99S0811/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to tax abatement procedures and agreements of the Dallas
1-2 County Utility and Reclamation District; validating certain acts of
1-3 the district.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 4B, Chapter 628, Acts of the 68th
1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1983, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 4B. In addition to the powers granted elsewhere in this
1-8 Act, the district is hereby vested with and shall have and may
1-9 exercise the following additional rights, powers, privileges,
1-10 authorities, and functions:
1-11 (1) The district may enter into tax abatement
1-12 agreements and may designate areas as reinvestment zones pursuant
1-13 to Section 1-g, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, this Act, and
1-14 Chapter 312, Tax Code. Chapter 312, Tax Code, shall be followed by
1-15 the district except to the extent modified by this Act. In the case
1-16 of any conflict between this Act and Chapter 312, Tax Code, the
1-17 provisions of this Act shall prevail.
1-18 (2) This Act shall stay in effect during the effective
1-19 dates of all tax abatement agreements entered into by the district
1-20 or until this Act is amended by the legislature, whichever occurs
1-21 later.
1-22 (3) The governing body of the district may designate
1-23 as a reinvestment zone, an area within its boundaries that
1-24 satisfies the requirements of Section 312.202, Tax Code.
2-1 (4) The district and its governing body shall have all
2-2 of a municipality's rights, powers, and authorization contained in
2-3 Chapter 312, Tax Code.
2-4 (5) The district shall [may] enter into tax abatement
2-5 agreements for periods of not to exceed 25 [30] years pursuant to
2-6 the following term schedule:
2-7 If notice for the project, as
2-8 that term is defined in the tax
2-9 abatement policies, is submitted
2-10 in: The term is:
2-11 calendar year 1999 25 years
2-12 calendar year 2000 24 years
2-13 calendar year 2001 23 years
2-14 calendar year 2002 22 years
2-15 calendar year 2003 21 years
2-16 calendar year 2004 or later 20 years
2-17 Tax abatement agreements shall be subject to the rights of holders
2-18 of current and subsequently issued outstanding tax-supported bonds,
2-19 whether heretofore or hereafter issued, and of credit providers of
2-20 the district. The effective tax rate in the tax abatement and
2-21 development agreement, as that term is defined in the tax abatement
2-22 policy guidelines and criteria of the district, shall be:
2-23 Residential Land Use: $.60 per hundred dollars
2-24 of assessed eligible
2-25 property value
3-1 Nonresidential Land Use: $.50 per hundred dollars
3-2 of assessed eligible
3-3 property value
3-4 The tax abatement and development agreement shall be with owners of
3-5 real and personal property within the district for a proposed
3-6 project or projects. The district's definition of project shall be
3-7 incorporated into the tax abatement and development agreement. The
3-8 form and substance of the district's tax abatement agreement
3-9 approved by the district's board of directors and identified as
3-10 "Generic Tax Abatement Agreement" is hereby approved, ratified, and
3-11 validated. The tax abatement project and agreement shall be
3-12 consistent with the district's tax abatement policy guidelines and
3-13 the requirements of the deed restrictions enforced by the Las
3-14 Colinas Association or equivalent restrictions enforced by the
3-15 district, as the sole criteria for the project. The tax abatement
3-16 agreements may include phased projects, do not have to be identical
3-17 within the same reinvestment zone, may incorporate district's
3-18 requirements relative to infrastructure, and are valid for a period
3-19 not to exceed 25 years. The district may enter into tax abatement
3-20 agreements relative to real property and to all personal property.
3-21 The provisions of this Act shall prevail over any inconsistent
3-22 provision in Chapter 312, Tax Code.
3-23 (6) Tax abatement agreements entered into by the
3-24 district are not required to contain identical terms of other tax
3-25 abatement agreements, if any, covering the same or a portion of the
3-26 same exempted property.
4-1 (7) The district may enter into tax abatement
4-2 agreements for facilities and structures that commenced or were
4-3 modified on or after January 1, 1995, but before the effective date
4-4 of this Act.
4-5 (8) The district may exempt personal property located
4-6 on property described in Subdivision (7) in each year covered by
4-7 the agreement except for personal property located on the property
4-8 at any time before the period covered by the agreement began.
4-9 (9) Policy guidelines and criteria adopted by the
4-10 district are effective during the effective dates of all tax
4-11 abatement agreements entered into by the district. The policy
4-12 guidelines and criteria may be amended from time to time by a vote
4-13 of the governing body.
4-14 (10) The designation of a reinvestment zone for
4-15 residential or commercial-industrial tax abatement purposes shall
4-16 be in effect for 25 years or until the termination of all
4-17 outstanding tax abatement agreements, whichever occurs last.
4-18 (11) The tax abatement agreements entered into within
4-19 the same reinvestment zone are not required to be identical.
4-20 (12) A tax abatement agreement may describe the kind,
4-21 number, and location of all proposed improvements in a general
4-22 manner subject to change at such time as the specifics of the
4-23 project are quantified pursuant to a notice of intent to construct
4-24 the project is submitted to the district.
4-25 SECTION 2. With regard to the holders of outstanding bonds,
4-26 this Act is intended to clarify the legislative intent of
5-1 Subdivision (5), Section 4B, Chapter 628, Acts of the 68th
5-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1983, as amended by this Act. The
5-3 legislature intended at the time of the addition of Section 4B by
5-4 Chapter 27, Acts of the 74th Legislature, 1995, Regular Session, to
5-5 include, with regard to the rights of holders of outstanding tax
5-6 supported bonds, any bonds issued before or after the date of any
5-7 tax abatement agreements.
5-8 SECTION 3. The legislature specifically finds and declares
5-9 that the requirements of Article XVI, Section 59(d), of the Texas
5-10 Constitution, have been met and accomplished in due course and time
5-11 and in due order and that the legislature has the authority to
5-12 enact this Act.
5-13 SECTION 4. The organization of the Dallas County Utility and
5-14 Reclamation District and all elections held, all contracts
5-15 excecuted, all bonds and other obligations issued by the district
5-16 and the expenditure of funds in payment or satisfaction thereof,
5-17 all sales and donations of assets, all tax rate reduction
5-18 agreements, and all governmental and proprietary actions are
5-19 validated, ratified, and confirmed. All bonds voted and all
5-20 maintenance taxes authorized at elections held within the district
5-21 may be issued, levied, and collected by the board of directors of
5-22 the district without the necessity of any further elections.
5-23 SECTION 5. If any provision of this Act or its application
5-24 to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid, the invalidity
5-25 does not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that
5-26 can be given effect without the invalid provision or application,
6-1 and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared to be
6-2 severable. All the terms and provisions of this Act are to be
6-3 liberally construed to effectuate the purposes, powers, rights,
6-4 functions, and authorities herein set forth.
6-5 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-6 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
6-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.