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79R5989 QS-F
By: Janek S.B. No. 1044
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to efforts by coastal counties to mitigate coastal erosion
and improve public access to public beaches; authorizing the
issuance of bonds by coastal counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that:
(1) Texas has the third-longest coastline in the
United States;
(2) Texas beaches and bays are extremely popular as
visitor destinations, making beach tourism a multi-billion-dollar
industry in the state;
(3) improved public access to and use of the public
beaches is needed to realize the full potential of these valued
natural resources;
(4) Texas must address long-term solutions to
beachfront erosion along developed areas adjacent to beaches and
inland bays of the Texas coast;
(5) Texas beaches suffer from the highest rate of
erosion in the country;
(6) many structures in Galveston and Brazoria counties
are at risk due to erosion over the next 30 years;
(7) public infrastructure as well as residential
dwellings that generate significant portions of the local property
tax base are threatened by erosion rates of up to 10 feet a year or
greater; and
(8) public works, such as dams and flood-control
projects on inland waterways and jetties, sea walls, and dykes
along the coast, and subsidence caused by the withdrawal of water
are significant causes of erosion, leading to the need for public
assistance as an aid in mitigation.
SECTION 2. Chapter 33, Natural Resources Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. COASTAL PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT
Sec. 33.651. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Bond" means any type of interest-bearing
obligation, including a bond, note, bond anticipation note,
certificate of participation, lease, contract, or other evidence of
indebtedness issued by a coastal county to pay the project costs of
a qualified project.
(2) "Coastal county" means a county that borders on
the Gulf of Mexico.
(3) "Coastal erosion" has the meaning assigned by
Section 33.601.
(4) "Coastal improvement project" means a project to
improve access to a public beach by:
(A) acquiring fee title to property or a right of
public access to a public beach; or
(B) constructing or maintaining public roads,
parking, or other facilities in aid of public access to or use of a
public beach.
(5) "Coastal protection project" means a project to
address or mitigate coastal erosion.
(6) "Coastal protection and improvement fund" means
the coastal protection and improvement fund created under Section
33.653.
(7) "County coastal protection and improvement fund"
means a county coastal protection and improvement fund created by a
coastal county under Section 33.655.
(8) "Project cost" means a cost or expense incurred in
relation to a qualified project, including the cost of:
(A) designing, engineering, acquiring,
constructing, maintaining, improving, extending, repairing,
replacing, monitoring, removing, or administering a qualified
project; or
(B) financing a qualified project, including the
cost of issuing bonds and the payment of principal, interest, and
redemption price.
(9) "Public beach" has the meaning assigned by Section
61.013.
(10) "Qualified agreement" means an agreement between
the land office and a coastal county in accordance with Section
33.657.
(11) "Qualified payment" means a payment by the
commissioner to a coastal county from the coastal protection and
improvement fund, as provided by this subchapter, that has been
approved in amount and qualification for payment by the land office
and the applicable coastal county.
(12) "Qualified project" means a coastal protection or
improvement project that qualifies for funding under Section
33.656.
Sec. 33.652. APPLICABILITY OF SUBCHAPTER TO CERTAIN
MUNICIPALITIES. The provisions of this subchapter relating to
coastal counties apply to a municipality if all or substantially
all of the gulf beach within a coastal county is located within the
boundaries of the municipality.
Sec. 33.653. CREATION OF COASTAL PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT
FUND. (a) The coastal protection and improvement fund is created
as a trust fund outside the state treasury to be held by the Texas
Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company and administered by the
commissioner as trustee on behalf of the coastal counties.
(b) The comptroller shall deposit money in the fund as
provided by Section 156.2513, Tax Code.
(c) The commissioner shall allocate five percent of the
amount deposited in the fund to the land office to be used only to
pay the cost of administering any coastal protection and
improvement efforts undertaken under this subchapter and to support
a coastal monitoring program by The University of Texas Bureau of
Economic Geology and the sea turtle and shore monitoring programs
of Texas A&M University at Galveston.
(d) The commissioner shall allocate 95 percent of the amount
deposited in the fund for use by the coastal counties as provided by
this subchapter.
Sec. 33.654. USE OF COASTAL PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT
FUND. (a) The coastal protection and improvement fund shall be
used only to:
(1) make a qualified payment to a coastal county
sponsoring a qualified project under this subchapter; or
(2) make an equalization payment as provided by
Section 33.659.
(b) The commissioner may make a qualified payment from the
fund to a coastal county only if and to the extent that the coastal
county is sponsoring a project that qualifies for funding as
certified by the coastal county and the land office.
(c) The amount and timing of a qualified payment shall be
determined by agreement between the land office and the coastal
county sponsoring the project. The amount of a qualified payment
may not exceed the estimated project costs.
(d) The total amount of money a coastal county may receive
as qualified payments in a fiscal year may not exceed the amount
estimated for that county by the comptroller for that fiscal year
under Subsection (e).
(e) The comptroller shall estimate the amount of revenue the
comptroller will receive from hotels in each coastal county in a
fiscal year under Chapter 156, Tax Code, and deposit in the coastal
protection and improvement fund as provided by Section 156.2513,
Tax Code. The comptroller shall inform the commissioner of the
amount estimated for each county.
Sec. 33.655. COUNTY COASTAL PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT
FUND. (a) Each coastal county shall create a county coastal
protection and improvement fund.
(b) Each coastal county shall deposit any qualified payment
or equalization payment under Section 33.659 that it receives into
its county coastal protection and improvement fund and shall use
the money in the fund only to pay the project costs of a qualified
project as provided by this subchapter.
Sec. 33.656. PROJECTS THAT QUALIFY FOR FUNDING. (a) To
qualify for funding under this subchapter, a project must:
(1) be sponsored by a coastal county;
(2) be located within the sponsoring coastal county
along or adjacent to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, an inland bay,
or a connecting channel between the Gulf of Mexico and an inland
bay;
(3) be accessible by public roads or a common carrier
ferry;
(4) be identified and approved for funding by a
coastal county and the land office; and
(5) except as provided by Subsection (b), require more
than $5 million to complete, as estimated by the land office.
(b) Subsection (a)(5) does not apply to a project financed
by equalization payments.
Sec. 33.657. QUALIFIED AGREEMENT. (a) The land office and
a coastal county may enter into one or more agreements relating to a
qualified project and the payment of the associated project costs.
An agreement is governed by this subchapter.
(b) An agreement may provide that the commissioner will pay
to the coastal county an agreed amount from the coastal protection
and improvement fund over a term of years to be used by the coastal
county for a project that qualifies for funding under this
subchapter.
Sec. 33.658. QUALIFIED PAYMENT. (a) The commissioner
shall make qualified payments to a coastal county based on the land
office's estimate of the expected project costs of any qualified
projects undertaken by that county in the fiscal year in which the
payment is made.
(b) To the extent that the aggregate of qualified payments
by the commissioner to a coastal county in a fiscal year exceeds the
project costs of qualified projects undertaken by the county during
that year, the commissioner shall recover the amount of the
overpayment by:
(1) requiring the county to remit the amount of the
overpayment to the commissioner for deposit in the coastal
protection and improvement fund; or
(2) taking a credit against qualified payments due
that county the following year or years.
(c) If a coastal county that received an overpayment is not
due additional qualified payments the following year, the county
shall promptly remit the amount of the overpayment to the
commissioner for deposit in the coastal protection and improvement
fund.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), the commissioner may
not take a credit against qualified payments due a coastal county
the following year if the county needs the full amount of the
qualified payment that year to:
(1) pay the principal or interest on, or the
redemption price of, bonds issued to finance a qualified project;
or
(2) fund a reserve or other fund required by the
documents authorizing the issuance of bonds.
(e) The failure of a coastal county to use the full amount of
a qualified payment in the fiscal year in which it is received does
not prejudice the right of the county to receive money from the
coastal protection and improvement fund in future years as may be
provided in the county's qualified agreement.
(f) A coastal county may not use a qualified payment as a
local match for funding under a state program.
(g) A coastal county may use a qualified payment as a local
match for funding under a federal program.
Sec. 33.659. EQUALIZATION PAYMENT. If in a fiscal year the
amount of revenue from hotel occupancy taxes imposed under Chapter
156, Tax Code, and received by the comptroller from hotels located
in a coastal county is more than the average revenue from those
taxes from all coastal counties, the qualified payments to that
county in that fiscal year shall be 95 percent of the amount that
the county would otherwise be entitled to receive under this
subchapter. The remaining 5 percent of the amount that the county
would otherwise be entitled to receive shall be divided among the
coastal counties from which less-than-average hotel occupancy tax
revenue was received by the comptroller for that fiscal year, in
inverse proportion to the amount of hotel occupancy taxes received
from hotels in each of those counties. The comptroller shall
compute the average of the revenue from hotel occupancy taxes
received from hotels located in coastal counties and the amount
received from each coastal county and shall inform the commissioner
of those amounts.
Sec. 33.660. GENERAL POWERS OF COASTAL COUNTIES. (a) In
addition to all other powers that a coastal county has under general
law, a coastal county has the rights, powers, privileges,
authority, and functions that are necessary or convenient to:
(1) the designing, engineering, acquiring,
constructing, improving, maintaining, extending, repairing,
replacing, monitoring, removing, administering, and financing of a
qualified project located in a coastal county; and
(2) the funding of a reserve or other fund relating to
bonds.
(b) A coastal county may issue bonds to pay the project
costs of a qualified project. For purposes of this subchapter, a
coastal county is an issuer and a qualified project is an eligible
project within the meaning of Chapter 1371, Government Code, and
the provisions of Chapter 1371, Government Code, are applicable to
bonds issued by a coastal county.
(c) A coastal county may:
(1) enter into agreements with a public or private
person for the joint ownership, financing, or operation of a
qualified project;
(2) enter into contracts, leases, and agreements with,
and accept grants and loans from, any person to perform all acts
necessary for the full exercise of the powers vested in the county
on terms and for the term the county determines to be advisable;
(3) acquire property under a conditional sales
contract, lease, equipment trust certificate, or other form of
contract or trust agreement; and
(4) do anything necessary, convenient, or desirable to
carry out the powers expressly granted or implied by this
subchapter.
Sec. 33.661. AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. (a) A coastal county
may contract with a state agency, municipality, county, or other
political subdivision of the state or any agency or instrumentality
of the federal government to implement a qualified project under
this subchapter. A contract under this section may:
(1) be for a period on which the parties agree;
(2) include terms on which the parties agree; and
(3) be payable from taxes, qualified payments, or any
other source of revenue available for that purpose.
(b) A coastal county may enter into a contract, lease, or
agreement with or make or accept grants and loans to or from:
(1) the United States;
(2) the State of Texas;
(3) a county, municipality, or other political
subdivision of the state;
(4) a public or private corporation; or
(5) any other person.
Sec. 33.662. FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR QUALIFIED PROJECTS.
(a) A coastal county may pay the project costs of a qualified
project from general or available funds, payments received from the
land office, including payments from the coastal protection and
improvement fund, contract reserves, ad valorem taxes, sales taxes,
the proceeds of bonds, or any combination of those funds.
(b) Payments made by the commissioner under this subchapter
are in addition to any other funds to which the coastal county may
be entitled under any other state law or program.
(c) This subchapter does not preclude a contribution to a
qualified project from any state, federal, private, or other
source.
Sec. 33.663. BONDS ELIGIBLE FOR PURCHASE. Bonds issued by a
coastal county under this subchapter may be purchased by the Texas
Water Development Board for purposes authorized by Chapter 17,
Water Code.
Sec. 33.664. CONSTRUCTION OF SUBCHAPTER. This subchapter
shall be liberally construed to accomplish the purposes of
mitigation of coastal erosion and improvement of public access to
public beaches.
SECTION 3. Subchapter F, Chapter 156, Tax Code, is amended
by adding Section 156.2513 to read as follows:
Sec. 156.2513. ALLOCATION OF REVENUE TO CERTAIN COASTAL
COUNTIES. (a) Beginning September 1, 2007, not later than the
last day of the month following a calendar quarter, the comptroller
shall:
(1) compute the amount of revenue derived from the
collection of taxes imposed under this chapter at a rate of four
percent and received from hotels located in counties that border on
the Gulf of Mexico; and
(2) issue to the coastal protection and improvement
fund created under Section 33.653, Natural Resources Code, a
warrant drawn on the general revenue fund in the amount computed
under Subdivision (1).
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a)(2), for each fiscal year
the comptroller may not issue a warrant in an amount that exceeds
the aggregate of the amounts needed, as estimated by the General
Land Office, for qualified projects, as defined by Section 33.651,
Natural Resources Code, for that fiscal year. Any amount computed
by the comptroller in excess of the aggregate of the amounts needed
for qualified projects shall be deposited in the general revenue
fund.
(c) The money deposited in the coastal protection and
improvement fund under this section may be used only as provided by
Subchapter I, Chapter 33, Natural Resources Code.
SECTION 4. The commissioner of the General Land Office
shall make the first distribution of money from the coastal
protection and improvement fund created under Section 33.653,
Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, on or after January 1,
2008.
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, 2005.