79R5021 JD-D

By:  Leibowitz                                                    H.B. No. 1288



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to reducing the amount of school tax credits authorized by 
the Texas Economic Development Act.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 313.104, Tax Code, is amended to read as 
follows:        
	Sec. 313.104.  ACTION ON APPLICATION; GRANT OF CREDIT.  
Before the 90th day after the date the application for a tax credit 
is filed, the governing body of the school district shall:
		(1)  determine the person's eligibility for a tax 
credit under this subchapter; and
		(2)  if the person's application is approved, by order 
or resolution direct the collector of taxes for the school 
district:
			(A)  in the second and subsequent six tax years 
that begin after the date the application is approved, to credit 
against the taxes imposed on the qualified property by the district 
in that year an amount equal to one-seventh of the total amount of 
tax credit to which the person is entitled under Section 313.102, 
except that the amount of a credit granted in any of those tax years 
may not exceed 25 [50] percent of the total amount of ad valorem 
school taxes imposed on the qualified property by the school 
district in that tax year; and
			(B)  in the first tax year that begins on or after 
the date the person's eligibility for the limitation under 
Subchapter B or C expires, to credit against the taxes imposed on 
the qualified property by the district an amount equal to the 
portion of the total amount of tax credit to which the person is 
entitled under Section 313.102 that was not credited against the 
person's taxes under Paragraph (A) in a tax year covered by 
Paragraph (A), except that the amount of a tax credit granted under 
this paragraph in any tax year may not exceed 25 percent of the 
total amount of ad valorem school taxes imposed on the qualified 
property by the school district in that tax year.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to a 
school tax credit in an ad valorem tax year that begins on or after 
January 1, 2006, regardless of whether the taxpayer's application 
for the tax credit was approved before, on, or after that date.
	SECTION 3.  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, 2005.