81R5742 KLA-D

By: Carona S.B. No. 1272

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to ad valorem and sales and use tax exemptions for high-speed passenger rail facilities.

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

ARTICLE 1. AD VALOREM TAX EXEMPTION

SECTION 1.01. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Tax Code, is amended by adding Section 11.34 to read as follows:

Sec. 11.34. HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAIL FACILITY. (a) In this section:

(1) "Ancillary facility" means property, equipment, or a building that is acquired, installed, or constructed for the construction, management, and operation of a high-speed passenger rail facility.

(2) "Earthworks and structures" means an excavation or embankment of earth made for a high-speed passenger rail facility, including the clearing and grubbing of right-of-way; demolition of structures; relocation of utilities, pipelines, and any other obstacles in right-of-way; stripping and stockpiling; removal of subsoils for embankment or spoil; borrow pits; dressing and seeding of slopes; construction of culverts; road crossings; bridges; restoration of roadway; drainage in right-of-way or along road networks; or restoration of a hydrologic system.

(3) "Environmental facility" means a facility, an improvement, or equipment related to a high-speed passenger rail facility that is required for the enhancement or protection of the environment or the high-speed passenger rail facility or for the mitigation of any adverse environmental effect of the construction, operation, or maintenance of the high-speed passenger rail facility.

(4) "High-speed passenger rail" means a rail or electromagnetically guided technology that permits the operation of rolling stock between scheduled stops at speeds of at least 200 miles per hour.

(5) "High-speed passenger rail facility" means any real, personal, or mixed property or any interest, right, or power in that property that is determined by the owner of the facility to be necessary or convenient for the provision of an intercity high-speed passenger rail transportation system in this state and all property or interests necessary for the financing, refinancing, acquiring, purchasing, condemning, constructing, planning, designing, engineering, enlarging, reconstructing, remodeling, repairing, renovating, extending, improving, bettering, furnishing, maintaining, using, or equipping of the system, including right-of-way, earthworks and structures, trackwork, electrification facilities, train controls, traction power systems, rail stations, rolling stock, ancillary facilities, environmental facilities, and maintenance facilities.

(6) "Maintenance facility" includes a workshop, service facility, garage, equipment or other storage facility, security facility, or personnel facility.

(7) "Personnel facility" includes temporary or transient employee lodging.

(8) "Right-of-way" means an easement or any other interest in real property determined by the owner of a high-speed passenger rail facility to be necessary or convenient for the trackwork of the facility.

(9) "Rolling stock" means high-speed electrically propelled trains that run on rails or electromagnetic guideways.

(10) "Station" means a passenger service building, terminal, or station, including ticketing facilities, waiting areas, platforms, concessions, retail establishments, restaurants, elevators, escalators, facilities for handicapped access, access roads, parking facilities, baggage handling facilities, local maintenance facilities, offices for purposes of the owner of a high-speed passenger rail facility, ancillary facilities, and any interest in real property necessary or convenient for the listed items.

(11) "Trackwork" means track, track beds, track bed preparation, ties, rail fasteners, slabs, rails, emergency crossovers, setout tracks, storage tracks, and switches.

(12) "Traction power systems" means transformers, switches, controls, conductors, and any supports necessary to provide power to rolling stock.

(13) "Train controls" includes signaling, interlocking equipment, speed monitoring equipment, emergency braking systems, central traffic control facilities, and communication systems.

(b) A person is entitled to an exemption from taxation of a high-speed passenger rail facility owned by the person.

(c) A high-speed passenger rail facility may not be exempted under this section for more than 50 years.

SECTION 1.02. Section 11.43(c), Tax Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) An exemption provided by Section 11.13, 11.17, 11.18, 11.182, 11.183, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21, 11.22, 11.23(h), (j), or (j-1), 11.29, 11.30, [or] 11.31, or 11.34, once allowed, need not be claimed in subsequent years, and except as otherwise provided by Subsection (e), the exemption applies to the property until it changes ownership or the person's qualification for the exemption changes. However, the chief appraiser may require a person allowed one of the exemptions in a prior year to file a new application to confirm the person's current qualification for the exemption by delivering a written notice that a new application is required, accompanied by an appropriate application form, to the person previously allowed the exemption.

SECTION 1.03. This article applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed for a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2010.

SECTION 1.04. This article takes effect January 1, 2010, but only if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation a high-speed passenger rail facility is approved by the voters. If that amendment is not approved by the voters, this article has no effect.

ARTICLE 2. SALES AND USE TAX EXEMPTION

SECTION 2.01. Subchapter H, Chapter 151, Tax Code, is amended by adding Section 151.3312 to read as follows:

Sec. 151.3312. HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAIL FACILITY. (a) In this section, "high-speed passenger rail facility," "rolling stock," "trackwork," and "train controls" have the meanings assigned by Section 11.34.

(b) The sale or storage, use, or other consumption of the following items is exempted from the taxes imposed by this chapter:

(1) tangible personal property for the construction or operation of, or that will become an ingredient or component part of, a high-speed passenger rail facility, including rolling stock, trackwork, and train controls; and

(2) services to construct a high-speed passenger rail facility.

SECTION 2.02. The change in law made by this article does not affect tax liability accruing before the effective date of this Act. That liability continues in effect as if this Act had not been enacted, and the former law is continued in effect for the collection of taxes due and for civil and criminal enforcement of the liability for those taxes.

ARTICLE 3. EFFECTIVE DATE

SECTION 3.01. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.