| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to urban land bank demonstration programs. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 361.1875, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 361.1875. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN POTENTIALLY |
|
|
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES. (a) The commission may not name a person as a |
|
|
responsible party for an enforcement action or require a person to |
|
|
reimburse remediation costs for a site if the commission has |
|
|
conducted an investigation of a site owned or operated by the person |
|
|
and as a result of the investigation has determined that: |
|
|
(1) the contaminants that are the subject of |
|
|
investigation under this subchapter appear to originate from an |
|
|
up-gradient, off-site source that is not owned or operated by the |
|
|
person; |
|
|
(2) additional corrective action is not required at |
|
|
the site owned or operated by the person; and |
|
|
(3) the commission will not undertake a formal |
|
|
enforcement action in the matter. |
|
|
(b) The commission may not name a land bank under Chapter |
|
|
379C, Local Government Code, as a responsible party for an |
|
|
enforcement action or require the land bank to reimburse |
|
|
remediation costs for a site if the commission has conducted an |
|
|
investigation of a site owned or operated by the land bank and as a |
|
|
result of the investigation has determined that: |
|
|
(1) the contaminants that are the subject of |
|
|
investigation under this subchapter: |
|
|
(A) appear to originate from an up-gradient, |
|
|
off-site source that is not owned or operated by the land bank; or |
|
|
(B) appear to have been present on the site |
|
|
before the land bank purchased the site; and |
|
|
(2) the land bank could not have reasonably known |
|
|
about the contaminants at the time the land bank purchased the site. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 379C.003(3), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(3) "Low income household" means a household with a |
|
|
gross income of not greater than 140 [80] percent of the area median |
|
|
family income, adjusted for household size, for the metropolitan |
|
|
statistical area in which the municipality is located, as |
|
|
determined annually by the United States Department of Housing and |
|
|
Urban Development. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 379C.008(a), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by |
|
|
Subsection (f), property that is ordered sold pursuant to |
|
|
foreclosure of a tax lien may be sold in a private sale to a land |
|
|
bank by the officer charged with the sale of the property without |
|
|
first offering the property for sale as otherwise provided by |
|
|
Section 34.01, Tax Code, if: |
|
|
(1) the market value of the property as specified in |
|
|
the judgment of foreclosure is less than the total amount due under |
|
|
the judgment, including all taxes, penalties, and interest, plus |
|
|
the value of nontax liens held by a taxing unit and awarded by the |
|
|
judgment, court costs, and the cost of the sale; |
|
|
(2) the property is not improved with a habitable |
|
|
building or buildings; |
|
|
(3) there are delinquent taxes on the property for a |
|
|
total of at least five [each of the preceding six] years; and |
|
|
(4) the municipality has executed with the other |
|
|
taxing units that are parties to the tax suit an interlocal |
|
|
agreement that enables those units to agree to participate in the |
|
|
program while retaining the right to withhold consent to the sale of |
|
|
specific properties to the land bank. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 379C.010(b), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) At least 20 [25] percent of the land bank properties |
|
|
sold during any given fiscal year to be developed for sale shall be |
|
|
deed restricted for sale to households with gross household incomes |
|
|
not greater than 60 percent of the area median family income, |
|
|
adjusted for household size, for the metropolitan statistical area |
|
|
in which the municipality is located, as determined annually by the |
|
|
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. |
|
|
SECTION 5. Section 379C.011(d), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(d) The municipality shall specify in its plan that the |
|
|
period during which the right of first refusal provided by this |
|
|
section may be exercised by a qualified organization is six [. That
|
|
|
period must be at least nine months but not more than 26] months |
|
|
from the date of the deed of conveyance of the property to the land |
|
|
bank. |
|
|
SECTION 6. Section 11.18, Tax Code, is amended by amending |
|
|
Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (o) 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) acquiring, holding, and transferring unimproved |
|
|
real property under an urban land bank demonstration program |
|
|
established under Chapter 379C, Local Government Code, as or on |
|
|
behalf of a land bank. |
|
|
(o) For purposes of Subsection (a)(2), real property |
|
|
acquired, held, and transferred by an organization that performs |
|
|
the function described by Subsection (d)(21) is considered to be |
|
|
used exclusively by the qualified charitable organization to |
|
|
perform that function. |
|
|
SECTION 7. (a) Section 361.1875, Health and Safety Code, as |
|
|
amended by this Act, applies only to a site investigation conducted |
|
|
by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that begins on or |
|
|
after the effective date of this Act. A site investigation that |
|
|
begins before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law |
|
|
in effect at the time the investigation began, and the former law is |
|
|
continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
(b) The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 379C, |
|
|
Local Government Code, apply only to an urban land bank |
|
|
demonstration program operating in conformance with an urban land |
|
|
bank demonstration plan adopted by the governing body of a |
|
|
municipality on or after the effective date of this Act. An urban |
|
|
land bank demonstration program operating in conformance with an |
|
|
urban land bank demonstration plan adopted before the effective |
|
|
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the |
|
|
plan was adopted until a subsequent plan is adopted, and the former |
|
|
law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
(c) Section 11.18, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, applies |
|
|
only to an ad valorem tax year that begins on or after the effective |
|
|
date of this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007. |