81R1947 JD-F
 
  By: Smith of Tarrant H.B. No. 146
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the implementation of a project plan or financing plan
  for a reinvestment zone under the Tax Increment Financing Act and
  the granting of exemptions from ad valorem taxes imposed on real
  property in a reinvestment zone under that Act.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 311.010(b), Tax Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         (b)  The board of directors of a reinvestment zone and the
  governing body of the municipality or county that creates a
  reinvestment zone may each enter into agreements as the board or the
  governing body considers necessary or convenient to implement the
  project plan and reinvestment zone financing plan and achieve their
  purposes. An agreement may provide for the regulation or
  restriction of the use of land by imposing conditions,
  restrictions, or covenants that run with the land. An agreement may
  during the term of the agreement dedicate, pledge, or otherwise
  provide for the use of revenue in the tax increment fund to pay any
  project costs that benefit the reinvestment zone, including project
  costs relating to the cost of buildings, schools, or other
  educational facilities owned by or on behalf of a school district,
  community college district, or other political subdivision of this
  state, railroad or transit facilities, affordable housing, the
  remediation of conditions that contaminate public or private land
  or buildings, the preservation of the facade of a private or public
  building, [or] the demolition of public or private buildings, or
  the construction of a road, sidewalk, or other public
  infrastructure in or out of the zone, including the cost of
  acquiring the real property necessary for the construction of the
  road, sidewalk, or other public infrastructure. An agreement may
  dedicate revenue from the tax increment fund to pay the costs of
  providing affordable housing or areas of public assembly in or out
  of the zone. [An agreement may dedicate revenue from the tax
  increment fund to pay a neighborhood enterprise association for
  providing services or carrying out projects authorized under
  Subchapters E and G, Chapter 2303, Government Code, in the zone.
  The term of an agreement with a neighborhood enterprise association
  may not exceed 10 years.]
         SECTION 2.  Section 311.013(g), Tax Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         (g)  Subject to the provisions of Section 311.0125, in lieu
  of permitting a portion of its tax increment to be paid into the tax
  increment fund, and notwithstanding the provisions of Section
  312.203, a taxing unit, including [other than] a municipality
  [city], may elect to offer the owners of taxable real property in a
  reinvestment zone created under this chapter an exemption from
  taxation of all or part of the value of the property. To be
  effective, an [Any] agreement to exempt real property [concerning
  an exemption] from ad valorem taxes under this subsection must be
  approved by:
               (1)  the board of directors of the reinvestment zone;
  and
               (2)  the governing body of each taxing unit that
  imposes taxes on real property in the reinvestment zone and
  deposits or agrees to deposit any of its tax increment into the tax
  increment fund for the zone [shall be executed in the manner and
  subject to the limitations of Chapter 312; provided, however, the
  property covered by the agreement need not be in a zone created
  pursuant to Chapter 312. A taxing unit may not offer a tax
  abatement agreement to property owners in the zone after it has
  entered into an agreement that its tax increments would be paid into
  the tax increment fund pursuant to Subsection (f)].
         SECTION 3.  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, 2009.