82R8342 JAM-F
 
  By: Menendez H.B. No. 3491
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to establishment and functions of certain urban land bank
  programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 374.022, Local Government Code, is
  amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
         (c)  An urban renewal agency created under this subchapter
  may serve as a land bank under Chapter 379E.
         SECTION 2.  Section 379E.003, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subdivision (3) and adding Subdivision (4-a) to
  read as follows:
               (3)  "Land bank" means an entity established or
  approved by the governing body of a municipality for the purpose of
  acquiring, holding, and transferring [unimproved real] property
  under this chapter.
               (4-a) "Property" means real property and includes
  tax-foreclosed properties and any other type of property conveyed
  to a land bank under this chapter.
         SECTION 3.  Section 379E.004, Local Government Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 379E.004.  URBAN LAND BANK PROGRAM. (a) The governing
  body of a municipality may:
               (1)  adopt an urban land bank program in which the
  officer charged with selling [real] property ordered sold pursuant
  to foreclosure of a tax lien may sell certain eligible [real]
  property by private sale for purposes of affordable housing
  development as provided by this chapter;
               (2)  enter into an interlocal agreement with any taxing
  authority or other governmental entity to allow a type of property
  other than a tax-foreclosed property to be conveyed to the land
  bank;
               (3)  approve an urban renewal agency created under
  Chapter 374 to serve as a land bank; and
               (4)  enter into an interlocal agreement with another
  municipality to administer a joint urban land bank program under
  this chapter.
         (b)  The governing body of a municipality that adopts an
  urban land bank program shall establish or approve a land bank for
  the purpose of acquiring, holding, and transferring [unimproved
  real] property under this chapter.
         (c)  A land bank established as part of a joint urban land
  bank program under this chapter may be dissolved by resolution of
  the governing body of any municipality that is a party to the
  agreement establishing the land bank.  At any time, a participating
  municipality may withdraw from the agreement establishing the
  program without requiring a dissolution of the land bank.
         SECTION 4.  Section 379E.007(b), Local Government Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  The city manager or the city manager's designee shall
  provide notice of the hearing to:
               (1)  all community housing development organizations
  and to any other known qualified participating developers; and
               (2)  all [to] neighborhood associations identified by
  the municipality as serving the neighborhoods in which properties
  anticipated to be available for sale to the land bank under this
  chapter are located.
         SECTION 5.  Section 379E.008, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (j) and
  (k) to read as follows:
         (a)  Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
  Subsection (f), property that is ordered sold pursuant to
  foreclosure of a tax lien may be sold in a private sale to a land
  bank by the officer charged with the sale of the property without
  first offering the property for sale as otherwise provided by
  Section 34.01, Tax Code, if:
               (1)  the market value of the property as specified in
  the judgment of foreclosure is less than the total amount due under
  the judgment, including all taxes, penalties, and interest, plus
  the value of nontax liens held by a taxing unit and awarded by the
  judgment, court costs, and the cost of the sale;
               (2)  the property is not improved with a habitable
  building or buildings, as described by the municipality's health
  and safety code;
               (3)  there are delinquent taxes on the property for a
  total of at least two [five] years; and
               (4)  the municipality has executed with the other
  taxing units that are parties to the tax suit an interlocal
  agreement that enables those units to agree to participate in the
  program while retaining the right to withhold consent to the sale of
  specific properties to the land bank.
         (j)  Notwithstanding any other law, public property may be
  conveyed to a land bank without providing prior public notification
  with the consent of each governmental entity holding an interest in
  the property.
         (k)  Notwithstanding any other provisions in this section or
  any other law, a land bank may acquire property through voluntary
  donations or transfers from private owners.
         SECTION 6.  Chapter 379E, Local Government Code, is amended
  by adding Section 379E.0081 to read as follows:
         Sec. 379E.0081.  ACQUISITION AND DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY BY
  LAND BANK. (a) A land bank shall hold in its own name all property
  conveyed to the land bank.  The property must be held for the
  benefit of any governmental entity establishing or approving the
  land bank for the purposes of this chapter.
         (b)  A land bank may, at the time the land bank sells or
  otherwise disposes of property, extinguish all delinquent property
  taxes owed on the property and all other nontax liens on the
  property if all affected taxing units enter into an interlocal
  agreement for that purpose.
         (c)  A land bank:
               (1)  shall inventory and appraise all property held by
  the land bank, with the appraisal value to be determined by the
  local county tax appraisal district and the inventory to be
  maintained as a public record;
               (2)  on the basis of suitability for use, shall
  organize and classify all property held by the land bank; and
               (3)  may manage, maintain, protect, rent, lease,
  repair, insure, alter, sell, trade, exchange, or otherwise dispose
  of any property held by the land bank if the disposition complies
  with any applicable law or agreement.
         (d)  A land bank may determine the sale price of a property to
  be sold by the land bank. The proceeds, if any, from the sale of
  property by a land bank must be:
               (1)  used in furtherance of land bank operations;
               (2)  used for the recovery of land bank expenses; and
               (3)  distributed pursuant to a resolution of the
  governing body of the municipality.
         (e)  A land bank may receive, from the date of the actual sale
  and for a period to be determined by agreement, a percentage of the
  property tax revenues of a property sold by the land bank if the
  affected taxing units agree to assign a portion of that revenue to
  the land bank.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.