80R7445 MTB-D
 
  By: King of Zavala H.B. No. 2660
 
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use of money from the Texas economic development
bank fund for rural rail development.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Section 489.102(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
       (b)  The bank may:
             (1)  provide, as provided under the programs the bank
administers under Section 489.108 or otherwise as provided by law:
                   (A)  qualifying communities with tax incentives
for expanding businesses or businesses relocating to this state;
                   (B)  incentives to lenders to:
                         (i)  make loans to near-bankable businesses
in the lender's community; and
                         (ii)  make low-interest loans to qualifying
businesses; and
                   (C)  bond-based long-term debt financing for
capital investment in public entities, in large commercial and
industrial projects, and for other economic development purposes;
             (2)  act as a link between businesses searching for
investment capital and potential investors;
             (3)  inform institutional lenders of economic
development plans and strategies for each region of this state and
encourage institutional lenders to support those plans in their
marketing and investment strategies;
             (4)  offer communities a one-stop source of financing
for their economic development efforts;
             (5)  provide communities with technical assistance in
the development of their incentive programs to attract and retain
businesses and in the design of incentive packages for specific
proposals; [and]
             (6)  provide expanding businesses or businesses
relocating to this state with a single source of information
concerning financial incentives offered by this state to those
businesses; and
             (7)  provide grants or financing to the Texas
Department of Transportation to implement the department's powers
and duties relating to rural rail development under Chapter 91,
Transportation Code.
       SECTION 2.  Section 489.104, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
       Sec. 489.104.  ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES.  The bank may
allocate its resources as necessary to efficiently meet the level
of demand experienced by:
             (1)  each program or service described by Section
489.108; and
             (2)  the Texas Department of Transportation under
Section 489.102(b)(7).
       SECTION 3.  Section 91.071(b), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
       (b)  Except for money received from the Texas economic
development bank fund under Section 489.102, Government Code, the
[The] department may not spend money from the general revenue fund
to implement this chapter except pursuant to a line-item
appropriation.
       SECTION 4.  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, 2007.