LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              April 1, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Tom Ramsay, Chair, House Committee on County
               Affairs
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB2628  by Wolens (Relating to the powers and rights of a
               cultural educational facilities finance corporation.), As
               Introduced
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The bill would amend the Cultural Education Facilities Finance
Corporation Act to exempt from all taxes imposed by the state or by any
political subdivision of the state the property owned by a non-profit
cultural educational facilities finance corporation; property owned by a
nonprofit corporation or limited liability company whose sole member is
such a corporation; the income from the property; all bonds issued by the
corporation; the income from bonds; and, the transfer of bonds.

The bill would allow the authority of a corporation to be exercised
outside of the limits of the city or county that created the corporation
without the consent of that city or county, unless the articles of
incorporation or bylaws of the corporation provided differently.
  
Local Government Impact
  
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.

Under current law, cities or counties may create non-profit cultural
educational facilities finance corporations for the sole purpose of
acquiring, constructing, providing, improving, financing, and
refinancing cultural facilities for public purposes.  Exempting such
corporations from state and local taxes would provide a savings for the
corporations. The savings would vary depending on the amount of
property, bonds, and income from each owned by the corporation.  Local
political subdivision taxing authorities could experience a revenue loss
equivalent to the portion of the corporation's savings that would be
based on savings from local tax exemptions; however, since the
corporations are created by cities and counties, the overall local
fiscal impact would be expected to be minimal.
  
  
Source Agencies:   813   Texas Commission on the Arts, 701   Texas
                   Education Agency, 304   Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff:         JK, DB, CT, PF