By Truitt H.B. No. 2050 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the land uses authorized at certain airports operated 1-3 jointly by two municipalities. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Title 3, Chapter 22, Transportation Code, is 1-6 amended by adding Section 22.080 to read as follows: 1-7 Sec. 22.080. DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY. (a) It is the policy of 1-8 the State that real property owned by airports jointly owned by two 1-9 municipalities shall be used only for essential airport services. 1-10 The State acknowledges that it is not the role of governmental 1-11 entities to compete with private sector entrepreneurship. 1-12 Moreover, the State has adopted a system of school finance that 1-13 requires all real and personal property that is not used for 1-14 governmental purposes to be subject to ad valorem property taxation 1-15 for the betterment of all school children in the State. 1-16 (b) An airport described in this subchapter shall determine 1-17 its long-term plans for all of the real property situated within 1-18 its boundaries and designate the uses for said land in a report to 1-19 the Department no later than December 31, 2001. An airport's land 1-20 use report shall specify the current and planned uses of such land 1-21 over the next succeeding five years, including any planned 1-22 expansion that will require annexation. 1-23 (c) An airport described in this subchapter shall be 1-24 required to divest itself of ownership of any real property that is 2-1 not designated for essential airport services in the land use 2-2 report described in subsection (b) above. 2-3 (1) In this subsection, essential airport service 2-4 means use as a runway, an airport terminal, runway right-of-way, an 2-5 air navigation facility, or an airport hazard area. Improvements 2-6 such as commercial buildings may be considered to be used for 2-7 essential airport services only if they are used by companies whose 2-8 products or services are directly related to air navigation and 2-9 transportation. The Department shall be authorized to approve all 2-10 designations of essential airport services made pursuant to this 2-11 section. 2-12 (2) An airport shall be required to sell real property 2-13 not planned to be utilized for essential airport services before 2-14 the fifth anniversary of the submission to the Department of the 2-15 land use report required herein. If the real property cannot be 2-16 sold for fair market value as determined by an independent 2-17 appraisal, then the airport may be allowed to retain ownership of 2-18 said property, upon the approval of the Department, providing that 2-19 the municipality in which said land is located shall be authorized 2-20 to regulate said land's uses through its zoning authority, 2-21 notwithstanding any other law to the contrary. 2-22 (d) The Department shall perform an audit of each airport 2-23 that is jointly owned by two municipalities each fifth year after 2-24 the effective date of this Act, and if it determines that land that 2-25 remains owned by the airport is not used for essential airport 2-26 services, then the Department shall issue a warning to the airport 2-27 that said finding has been made. If the next audit performed by 3-1 the Department finds the real property identified in the prior 3-2 audit is still not used for essential airport services, then the 3-3 Department shall commence an action to enforce the intent of this 3-4 Act and to secure the divestiture of said real property 3-5 immediately. 3-6 (e) An airport owned by two municipalities shall be required 3-7 to reimburse the Department for the costs incurred in performing 3-8 the audits required in this Section. 3-9 (f) The Department is authorized to adopt rules to implement 3-10 the intent of this section. 3-11 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 3-12 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 3-13 provided by Section 39, Article II, Texas Constitution. If this 3-14 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 3-15 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.