H.B. No. 2628
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to an exemption from ad valorem taxation of certain
  property owned by a charitable organization and used in providing
  housing and related services to certain individuals.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 11.18(d), Tax Code, as amended by
  Chapters 1034 (H.B. 1742) and 1341 (S.B. 1908), Acts of the 80th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, is reenacted and 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 parole [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;
               (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;
               (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; [or]
               (22)  acquiring, holding, and transferring unimproved
  real property under an urban land bank program established under
  Chapter 379E, Local Government Code, as or on behalf of a land bank;
  or
               (23)  providing housing and related services to
  individuals who:
                     (A)  are unaccompanied and homeless and have a
  disabling condition; and
                     (B)  have been continuously homeless for a year or
  more or have had at least four episodes of homelessness in the
  preceding three years.
         SECTION 2.  Section 11.18, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (p) to read as follows:
         (p)  The exemption authorized by Subsection (d)(23) applies
  only to improvements that:
               (1)  are owned by a charitable organization that has
  been in existence for at least 10 years;
               (2)  are used to provide housing and related services
  to individuals described by that subsection; and
               (3)  are located on a single campus owned by a
  municipality with a population of more than 600,000 and less than
  700,000.
         SECTION 3.  This Act applies only to an ad valorem tax year
  that begins on or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2010.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2628 was passed by the House on May 5,
  2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2628 was passed by the Senate on May
  19, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor