HBA-AMW H.B. 1027 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1027 By: Cook Environmental Regulation 7/18/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 77th Legislature, many properties in Texas known as brownfields were abandoned or underused owing to the liability associated with contamination from old industrial activity. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission had undertaken initiatives to encourage the cleanup of these contaminated properties, but many brownfields still existed in Texas. House Bill 1027 provides for the cleanup of these contaminated sites through the use of sales and use tax proceeds, the elimination of barriers discouraging the use of property tax breaks for contaminated sites, and the encouraged use of supplemental environmental projects. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1027 amends the Government, Tax, and Water codes and the Development Corporation Act of 1979 to modify provisions regarding the cleanup of contaminated property. The bill authorizes the Texas Department of Economic Development, with the assistance of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), to encourage the cleanup of contaminated property by certain industrial development corporations through the use of sales and use tax proceeds. The bill amends the Government Code to require the General Services Commission and state agencies to give preference to goods produced at a facility located on property for which the owner has received a certificate of completion for successfully completing a voluntary cleanup, if the goods meet state specifications regarding quantity, quality, delivery, life cycle costs, and price. For the purposes of determining the average rate of unemployment in an area of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and economic distress, the bill specifies that individuals who are employed by a business and whose principal place of employment is on property for which the business has received a certificate of completion for successfully completing a voluntary cleanup are not considered. H.B. 1027 amends the Tax Code to delete real property the value of which is adversely affected by the release of a hazardous substance or contaminant according to the two preceding appraisals by the appraisal office from the list of criteria that determines the eligibility of a property for certain municipal tax exemptions. The bill also amends the Water Code to authorize TNRCC to encourage the cleanup of contaminated property through the use of supplemental environmental projects. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.