78R7820 AKH-D

By:  Wentworth                                                    S.B. No. 1049



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 in the 
previous five years:
		(1)  did not consent to or otherwise support the first 
petition filed with the commissioners court of the county to create 
a library district under this chapter; and
		(2)  did not have a municipal public library accredited 
for membership in the state library system on the date the first 
petition was filed.
	(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; 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 as described by Subsection (a)(1) is 
effective and valid for subsequent filing purposes until the fifth 
anniversary of the date on which the petition was 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.  The changes in law made by Sections 2 and 3 of 
this Act apply only to a library district for which a petition is 
filed 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.