By: Bolton H.B. No. 3098

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use of hotel occupancy tax funds for the construction and maintenance of a children's playground located in a general law city.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Section 351.101, Tax Code Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 351.101. USE OF TAX REVENUE. (a) Revenue from the municipal hotel occupancy tax may be used only to promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry, and that use is limited to the following:

(1) the acquisition of sites for and the construction, improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and maintenance of convention center facilities or visitor information centers, or both;

(2) the furnishing of facilities, personnel, and materials for the registration of convention delegates or registrants;

(3) advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates or registrants to the municipality or its vicinity;

(4) the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and application of the arts, including instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of these major art forms;

(5) historical restoration and preservation projects or activities or advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to encourage tourists and convention delegates to visit preserved historic sites or museums:

(A) at or in the immediate vicinity of convention center facilities or visitor information centers; or

(B) located elsewhere in the municipality or its vicinity that would be frequented by tourists and convention delegates;

(6) for a municipality located in a county with a population of one million or less, expenses, including promotion expenses, directly related to a sporting event in which the majority of participants are tourists who substantially increase economic activity at hotels and motels within the municipality or its vicinity; and

(7) subject to Section 351.1076, the promotion of tourism by the enhancement and upgrading of existing sports facilities or fields, including facilities or fields for baseball, softball, soccer, and flag football, if:

(A) the municipality owns the facilities or fields;

(B) the municipality:

(i) has a population of 80,000 or more and is located in a county that has a population of 350,000 or less;

(ii) has a population of at least 65,000 but not more than 70,000 and is located in a county that has a population of 155,000 or less; or

(iii) has a population of at least 34,000 but not more than 36,000 and is located in a county that has a population of 90,000 or less; and

(C) the sports facilities and fields have been used, in the preceding calendar year, a combined total of more than 10 times for district, state, regional, or national sports tournaments.

(b) Revenue derived from the tax authorized by this chapter shall be expended in a manner directly enhancing and promoting tourism and the convention and hotel industry as permitted by Subsection (a). That revenue may not be used for the general revenue purposes or general governmental operations of a municipality.

(c) The governing body of a municipality by contract may delegate to a person, including another governmental entity or a private organization, the management or supervision of programs and activities funded with revenue from the tax authorized by this chapter. The governing body in writing shall approve in advance the annual budget of the person to which it delegates those functions and shall require the person to make periodic reports to the governing body at least quarterly listing the expenditures made by the person with revenue from the tax authorized by this chapter. The person must maintain revenue provided from the tax authorized by this chapter in a separate account established for that purpose and may not commingle that revenue with any other money. The municipality may not delegate to any person the management or supervision of its convention and visitors programs and activities funded with revenue from the tax authorized by this chapter other than by contract as provided by this subsection. The approval by the governing body of the municipality of the annual budget of the person to whom the governing body delegates those functions creates a fiduciary duty in the person with respect to the revenue provided by the tax authorized by this chapter.

(d) A person with whom a municipality contracts under this section to conduct an activity authorized by this section shall maintain complete and accurate financial records of each expenditure of hotel occupancy tax revenue made by the person and, on request of the governing body of the municipality or other person, shall make the records available for inspection and review to the governing body or other person.

(e) Hotel occupancy tax revenue spent for a purpose authorized by this section may be spent for day-to-day operations, supplies, salaries, office rental, travel expenses, and other administrative costs only if those administrative costs are incurred directly in the promotion and servicing expenditures authorized under Section 351.101(a). If a municipal or other public or private entity that conducts an activity authorized under this section conducts other activities that are not authorized under this section, the portion of the total administrative costs of the entity for which hotel occupancy tax revenue may be used may not exceed the portion of those administrative costs actually incurred in conducting the authorized activities.

(f) Municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue may not be spent for travel for a person to attend an event or conduct an activity the primary purpose of which is not directly related to the promotion of tourism and the convention and hotel industry or the performance of the person's job in an efficient and professional manner.

(g) Nothing in this section shall prohibit any private entity, person, or organization from making subgrants by contract to any other person, entity, or private organization for expenditures under Section 351.101(a)(4). A subgrantee shall:

(1) at least annually make periodic reports to the governing body of its expenditures from the tax authorized by this chapter; and

(2) make records of these expenditures available for review to the governing body or other person.

(8) constructing and maintaining a children's playground located in the vicinity of a hotel in a general law city.

SECTION 2. 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.