By: Keel, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth) H.B. No. 1770
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 2003;
April 28, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on
Intergovernmental Relations; May 24, 2003, reported favorably by
the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 24, 2003, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation and taxes of a library district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 326, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 326.097 to read as follows:
Sec. 326.097. EFFECT OF TAX ON CERTAIN OTHER TAXING UNITS.
(a) This section applies only to a municipality that does not have
a municipal public library.
(b) An election to adopt or increase the local sales and use
tax under this subchapter is to be treated also as an election that
will have the effect of reducing the tax rate of an industrial
development district if:
(1) all or any part of the proposed district is
included within the boundaries of an industrial development
corporation created under Section 4B, Development Corporation Act
of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), by the
municipality after the date of the first filing of a petition with
the commissioners court of the county to create a library district
under this chapter; and
(2) the adoption or increase of the local sales and use
tax under this subchapter would result in a combined tax rate of
more than two percent in any location in the proposed district.
(c) If the voters approve the adoption or increase of the
district tax under Subsection (b), the tax rate to which the
development corporation's tax is reduced is the highest rate that
will not result in a combined tax rate of more than two percent in
any location in the proposed district.
(d) The rate of the tax imposed by the development
corporation is increased without further action of the board or the
voters of the development corporation or the district on the date on
which the tax imposed under this subchapter is decreased or
expires. The development corporation's tax rate increases only to
the extent that any tax imposed by the development corporation was
reduced under this section when the tax imposed by the district was
adopted or increased.
(e) This section does not permit a taxing unit to impose
taxes at different tax rates in the territory of the unit.
(f) For the purposes of holding an election under this
chapter, a petition filed with the commissioners court of the
county to create a library district under this chapter is effective
and valid for subsequent filing purposes until the second
anniversary of the date on which the petition was first filed.
SECTION 2. Section 326.003(3), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(3) "Municipal public library" means a library that
is:
(A) financed and operated by a municipality;
[and]
(B) accredited for membership in the state
library system; and
(C) open free of charge to all members of the
public under identical conditions.
SECTION 3. Section 326.022(c), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) If the boundaries of the proposed district include any
territory that, on the date on which a petition is filed [an
election is ordered] on the question of creating the district, is
part of a municipality that operates [operated] a municipal public
library, then the governing authority of that municipality must
consent by resolution to allow the inclusion of that municipal
territory in the proposed district.
SECTION 4. Section 326.097(f), Local Government Code, as
added by this Act, applies to a petition that is filed before, on,
or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
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