By: Villarreal H.B. No. 2316

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to allowing certain tax units to impose a fee for processing a petition requesting that an area in the unit be designated as a tax increment financing reinvestment zone.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 311.008, Tax Code, is amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:

(a) In this section, "educational facility" includes equipment, real property, and other facilities, including a public school building, that are used or intended to be used jointly by the municipality or county and an independent school district.

(b) A municipality or county may exercise any power necessary and convenient to carry out this chapter, including the power to:

(1) cause project plans to be prepared, approve and implement the plans, and otherwise achieve the purposes of the plan;

(2) acquire real property by purchase, condemnation, or other means to implement project plans and sell that property on the terms and conditions and in the manner it considers advisable;

(3) enter into agreements, including agreements with bondholders, determined by the governing body of the municipality or county to be necessary or convenient to implement project plans and achieve their purposes, which agreements may include conditions, restrictions, or covenants that run with the land or that by other means regulate or restrict the use of land; and

(4) consistent with the project plan for the zone:

(A) acquire blighted, deteriorated, deteriorating, undeveloped, or inappropriately developed real property or other property in a blighted area or in a federally assisted new community in the zone for the preservation or restoration of historic sites, beautification or conservation, the provision of public works or public facilities, or other public purposes;

(B) acquire, construct, reconstruct, or install public works, facilities, or sites or other public improvements, including utilities, streets, street lights, water and sewer facilities, pedestrian malls and walkways, parks, flood and drainage facilities, or parking facilities, but not including educational facilities; or

(C) in a reinvestment zone created on or before September 1, 1999, acquire, construct, or reconstruct educational facilities in the municipality; or

(5) impose a fee reasonably related to the estimated cost to the municipality or county for reviewing a project designated or proposed to be designated pursuant to this chapter.

(c) The powers authorized by Subsection (b)(2) prevail over any law or municipal charter to the contrary.

(d) A municipality or county may make available to the public on request financial information regarding the acquisition by the municipality or county of land in the zone when the municipality or county acquires the land.

(e) The implementation of a project plan to alleviate a condition described by Section 311.005(a)(1), (2), or (3) and to promote development or redevelopment of a reinvestment zone in accordance with this chapter serves a public purpose.

(f) The governing body of a municipality or county may impose a reasonable fee on the property owners who submit a petition under Section 311.005(a)(4) for processing the petition.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a petition requesting designation of a reinvestment zone submitted on or after the effective date of this Act. A petition requesting designation of a reinvestment zone submitted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the petition was submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009