By:  Barrientos                                                   S.B. No. 1020


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of certain 
property used by a charitable organization operating a radio 
station that is funded through donations.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 11.18, Tax Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(d)  A charitable organization must be organized exclusively 
to perform religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or 
educational purposes and, except as permitted by Subsections (h) 
and (l), engage exclusively in performing one or more of the 
following charitable functions:
		(1)  providing medical care without regard to the 
beneficiaries' ability to pay, which in the case of a nonprofit 
hospital or hospital system means providing charity care and 
community benefits in accordance with Section 11.1801;
		(2)  providing support or relief to orphans, 
delinquent, dependent, or handicapped children in need of 
residential care, abused or battered spouses or children in need of 
temporary shelter, the impoverished, or victims of natural disaster 
without regard to the beneficiaries' ability to pay;
		(3)  providing support to elderly persons, including 
the provision of recreational or social activities and facilities 
designed to address the special needs of elderly persons, or to the 
handicapped, without regard to the beneficiaries' ability to pay;
		(4)  preserving a historical landmark or site;                                
		(5)  promoting or operating a museum, zoo, library, 
theater of the dramatic or performing arts, or symphony orchestra 
or choir;
		(6)  promoting or providing humane treatment of 
animals;                    
		(7)  acquiring, storing, transporting, selling, or 
distributing water for public use;
		(8)  answering fire alarms and extinguishing fires with 
no compensation or only nominal compensation to the members of the 
organization;
		(9)  promoting the athletic development of boys or 
girls under the age of 18 years;
		(10)  preserving or conserving wildlife;                                      
		(11)  promoting educational development through loans 
or scholarships to students;
		(12)  providing halfway house services pursuant to a 
certification as a halfway house by the pardons and paroles 
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
		(13)  providing permanent housing and related social, 
health care, and educational facilities for persons who are 62 
years of age or older without regard to the residents' ability to 
pay;
		(14)  promoting or operating an art gallery, museum, or 
collection, in a permanent location or on tour, that is open to the 
public;
		(15)  providing for the organized solicitation and 
collection for distributions through gifts, grants, and agreements 
to nonprofit charitable, education, religious, and youth 
organizations that provide direct human, health, and welfare 
services;
		(16)  performing biomedical or scientific research or 
biomedical or scientific education for the benefit of the public;
		(17)  operating a television station that produces or 
broadcasts educational, cultural, or other public interest 
programming and that receives grants from the Corporation for 
Public Broadcasting under 47 U.S.C. Section 396, as amended;
		(18)  providing housing for low-income and 
moderate-income families, for unmarried individuals 62 years of age 
or older, for handicapped individuals, and for families displaced 
by urban renewal, through the use of trust assets that are 
irrevocably and, pursuant to a contract entered into before 
December 31, 1972, contractually dedicated on the sale or 
disposition of the housing to a charitable organization that 
performs charitable functions described by Subdivision (9);
		(19)  providing housing and related services to persons 
who are 62 years of age or older in a retirement community, if the 
retirement community provides independent living services, 
assisted living services, and nursing services to its residents on 
a single campus:
			(A)  without regard to the residents' ability to 
pay; or                   
			(B)  in which at least four percent of the 
retirement community's combined net resident revenue is provided in 
charitable care to its residents; [or]
		(20)  providing housing on a cooperative basis to 
students of an institution of higher education if:
			(A)  the organization is exempt from federal 
income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 
1986, as amended, by being listed as an exempt entity under Section 
501(c)(3) of that code;
			(B)  membership in the organization is open to all 
students enrolled in the institution and is not limited to those 
chosen by current members of the organization;
			(C)  the organization is governed by its members; 
and                      
			(D)  the members of the organization share the 
responsibility for managing the housing; or
		(21)  operating a radio station that broadcasts 
educational, cultural, or other public interest programming, 
including classical music, and that is funded entirely through 
donations made by listeners or other donors.
	SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to an ad valorem tax year 
that begins on or after the effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2006.