| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the purposes and designation of a municipal |
|
|
transportation reinvestment zone. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 222.105, Transportation Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 222.105. PURPOSES. The purposes of Sections 222.106 |
|
|
and 222.107 are to: |
|
|
(1) promote public safety; |
|
|
(2) facilitate the development or redevelopment of |
|
|
property; |
|
|
(3) facilitate the movement of traffic; [and] |
|
|
(4) enhance a local entity's ability to sponsor a |
|
|
project authorized under Section 222.104; and |
|
|
(5) enhance a municipality's ability to provide for |
|
|
freight or passenger rail facilities or systems. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 222.106, Transportation Code, is amended |
|
|
by amending Subsections (b), (c), (g), (i), and (j) and adding |
|
|
Subsections (k-1) and (m) to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) This section applies only to a municipality the |
|
|
governing body of which intends to: |
|
|
(1) enter into an agreement with the department under |
|
|
Section 222.104; or |
|
|
(2) acquire, construct, improve, or operate a freight |
|
|
or passenger rail facility or system, including commuter rail, |
|
|
intercity rail, high-speed rail, and tri-track. |
|
|
(c) If the governing body determines an area to be |
|
|
unproductive and underdeveloped and that action under this section |
|
|
will further the purposes stated in Section 222.105, the governing |
|
|
body of the municipality by ordinance may designate a contiguous |
|
|
geographic area in the jurisdiction of the municipality to be a |
|
|
transportation reinvestment zone to promote: |
|
|
(1) a transportation project described by Section |
|
|
222.104 that cultivates development or redevelopment of the area; |
|
|
or |
|
|
(2) the acquisition, construction, improvement, or |
|
|
operation of a freight or passenger rail facility or system by the |
|
|
municipality. |
|
|
(g) The ordinance designating an area as a transportation |
|
|
reinvestment zone must: |
|
|
(1) describe the boundaries of the zone with |
|
|
sufficient definiteness to identify with ordinary and reasonable |
|
|
certainty the territory included in the zone; |
|
|
(2) provide that the zone takes effect immediately on |
|
|
passage of the ordinance; |
|
|
(3) assign a name to the zone for identification, with |
|
|
the first zone designated by a municipality designated as |
|
|
"Transportation Reinvestment Zone Number One, (City or Town, as |
|
|
applicable) of (name of municipality)," and subsequently |
|
|
designated zones assigned names in the same form, numbered |
|
|
consecutively in the order of their designation; |
|
|
(4) establish an ad valorem tax increment account for |
|
|
the zone; [and] |
|
|
(5) contain findings that promotion of the |
|
|
transportation or rail project will cultivate development or |
|
|
redevelopment of the zone; and |
|
|
(6) for a zone intended to promote the acquisition, |
|
|
construction, improvement, or operation of a freight or passenger |
|
|
rail facility or system, provide a date for termination of the zone. |
|
|
(i) Money deposited to a tax increment account must be used, |
|
|
as applicable, to fund: |
|
|
(1) projects authorized under Section 222.104, |
|
|
including the repayment of amounts owed under an agreement entered |
|
|
into under that section; or |
|
|
(2) the acquisition, construction, improvement, or |
|
|
operation of a freight or passenger rail facility or system. |
|
|
(j) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (k) and |
|
|
(k-1), a transportation reinvestment zone terminates on December 31 |
|
|
of the year in which the municipality complies with a contractual |
|
|
requirement, if any, that included the pledge of money deposited to |
|
|
a tax increment account or the repayment of money owed under the |
|
|
agreement under Section 222.104 in connection with which the zone |
|
|
was designated. |
|
|
(k-1) A transportation reinvestment zone designated to |
|
|
promote the acquisition, construction, improvement, or operation |
|
|
of a freight or passenger rail facility or system terminates on the |
|
|
earlier of: |
|
|
(1) the termination date specified in the ordinance |
|
|
designating the zone or an earlier or later termination date |
|
|
specified by an ordinance adopted subsequent to the ordinance |
|
|
designating the zone; or |
|
|
(2) the date on which all costs incurred in the |
|
|
acquisition, construction, improvement, or operation of the |
|
|
freight or passenger rail facility or system, tax increment bonds |
|
|
and interest on those bonds, and other obligations have been paid in |
|
|
full. |
|
|
(m) In this section, "rail facility" has the meaning |
|
|
assigned by Section 91.001. |
|
|
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. |