|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of property used |
|
|
by a charitable organization operating certain radio stations. |
|
|
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 in the preceding five years has |
|
|
received or been selected to receive one or more grants or similar |
|
|
funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under 47 |
|
|
U.S.C. Section 396, as amended. |
|
|
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, 2008. |