By: Lindsay S.B. No. 868
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the purpose, powers, and duties of Harris County
Improvement District No. 1; authorizing the issuance of bonds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that:
(1) the area within the boundaries of Harris County
Improvement District No. 1 is one of the state's most dynamic
activity centers and is the location of numerous commercial,
office, retail, and residential buildings;
(2) the area within the district is served with an
inadequate public transportation system and has an inadequate
system of streets and public parking facilities;
(3) residents, workers, visitors, customers, and
other persons accessing the area within the district must primarily
use motor vehicles, and such use places an undue burden on the
street system in the district and results in severe congestion that
retards mobility of persons and property and impairs the use of the
district area as one of the state's primary economic and business
centers;
(4) the absence of an adequate system of parking
facilities, including park and ride facilities, discourages the use
of public transportation and further aggravates vehicular
congestion within the area;
(5) motor vehicles are generally powered by internal
combustion engines that emit pollutants into the air, which results
in dangers to the public health and welfare;
(6) the proliferation of the use of motor vehicles for
passenger transportation within the district is caused in
substantial part by the absence of an adequate public
transportation system and an adequate system or network of public
parking facilities;
(7) provision of an adequate system of public parking
facilities and public transit and transportation facilities will
accomplish the public purposes of Section 52-a, Article III, Texas
Constitution, by stimulating transportation and commerce within
the area of the district and in the state and will serve the further
public purpose of reducing the pollutants discharged into the air
thus reducing the threat to the public health and welfare; and
(8) in order for the area within the district to have
an adequate public transit system and an adequate system of public
parking, it will be necessary for the district to be able to take
advantage of all public and private funds and opportunities
available and be empowered to contract with other public agencies
and with private entities to jointly provide such facilities.
SECTION 2. Chapter 1026, Acts of the 70th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1987, is amended by adding Section 5A to read as
follows:
Sec. 5A. PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM AND PARKING FACILITIES.
(A) The district shall have the power to acquire, lease as lessor
or lessee, construct, develop, own, operate, and maintain a public
transit system to serve the area within the boundaries of the
district. Before the district may acquire, construct, or develop a
mass transit improvement or facility pursuant to this subsection,
there must be filed with the district a petition requesting the
improvement or facility executed by owners representing either a
majority in value or a majority in square footage of the real
property in the district abutting the right-of-way in which the
improvement or facility is proposed to be located. The calculation
of the property owners signing the petition, whether based on value
or square footage, shall be based on the landowners along the entire
right-of-way of the transit project and shall not be calculated on a
block by block basis.
(B) The district shall have the power to acquire, lease as
lessor or lessee, construct, develop, own, operate, and maintain
parking facilities or a system of parking facilities. Parking
facilities include lots, garages, parking terminals, or other
structures or accommodations for the parking of motor vehicles off
the streets and include equipment, entrances, exits, fencing, and
other accessories necessary for safety and convenience in the
parking of vehicles. All parking facilities of the district will
either be leased to or operated for the district by a private entity
or an entity other than the district. The district's parking
facilities will serve the public purposes expressed in Section 1 of
this Act and be owned, used, and held for public purposes even if
leased or operated by a private entity for a term of years, and the
district's public parking facilities and any lease to a private
entity will be exempt from the payment of ad valorem taxes and state
and local sales and use taxes.
(C) The district may use any of its resources, including
revenues, assessments, taxes, and grant or contract proceeds, to
pay the cost of acquiring and operating a public transit system or a
system of public parking facilities. The district may adopt rules
and regulations covering its public transit system and its public
parking system provided, however, that any rules relating to or
affecting the use of the public right-of-way or requirements for
off-street parking shall be subject to all applicable municipal
charter, code, and ordinance requirements. The district may set
and determine and the district may charge, impose, levy, and
collect fees, charges, and tolls for the use of the public transit
system or the public parking facilities and may issue bonds or notes
to finance the cost of these facilities. If the district pays for
or finances the cost of acquiring and operating a public transit
system or a system of public parking facilities with resources
other than assessments, then no petition of property owners or
public hearing thereon is required, just as no petition of property
owners and public hearing thereon is required for the provision of
all other district services and improvements not paid for or
financed with assessments. Notwithstanding this subsection, a
petition is required as provided in Subsection (A) of this section
before the district may construct transit improvements.
(D) The district is authorized to make contracts, leases,
and agreements with, and accept grants and loans from, the United
States of America, the state, municipalities, other political
subdivisions, and private persons or entities to carry out the
purposes of this Act upon such terms and conditions and for such
period of time as the governing body of the district may determine.
(E) If the district's acquisition of property for a parking
facility which is leased to or operated by a private entity results
in the removal from a taxing unit's tax rolls of real property
otherwise subject to ad valorem taxation, the district shall pay to
the taxing unit in which the property is located, on or before
January 1 of each year, as a payment in lieu of taxes, an amount
equal to the ad valorem taxes that otherwise would have been levied
for the preceding tax year on that real property by the taxing unit,
without including the value of any improvements constructed on the
property.
SECTION 3. (a) The legislature validates and confirms all
governmental acts and proceedings of Harris County Improvement
District No. 1 and the district's board of directors that occurred
before the effective date of this Act.
(b) This section does not apply to any matter that on the
effective date of this Act:
(1) is involved in litigation, if the litigation
ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final
judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
(2) has been held invalid by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
SECTION 4. 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.