By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1611
 
  (McClendon)
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the funding of projects in the boundaries of certain
  intermunicipal commuter rail districts.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 173.002, Transportation Code, is amended
  by adding Subdivision (2-a) to read as follows:
               (2-a)  "Commuter rail service" means the
  transportation of passengers and baggage by rail between locations
  in a district.
         SECTION 2.  Section 173.256, Transportation Code, is amended
  by amending Subsections (b) and (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to
  read as follows:
         (b)  A district may enter into an interlocal contract with
  one or more [a] local government members [member] for the financing
  of transportation infrastructure that is constructed or that is to
  be constructed in the territory of the local governments
  [government] by the district.
         (d)  The agreement may establish one or more transportation
  infrastructure zones.  The district and the local government may
  agree that, at one or more specified times, the local government
  will pay to the district an amount that is calculated on the basis
  of increased ad valorem tax collections in a zone that are
  attributable to increased values of property located in the zone
  resulting from an infrastructure project.  Except as provided by
  Subsection (d-1), the [The] amount may not exceed an amount that is
  equal to 30 percent of the increase in ad valorem tax collections
  for the specified period.
         (d-1)  A transportation infrastructure zone of a district
  established before January 1, 2005, may consist of a contiguous or
  noncontiguous geographic area in the territory of one or more local
  governments and must include a commuter rail facility or the site of
  a proposed commuter rail facility.  The amount paid by a local
  government under Subsection (d) to a district established before
  January 1, 2005, may not exceed an amount that is equal to the
  increase in ad valorem tax collections in the zone for the specified
  period.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter G, Chapter 173, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Sections 173.305 and 173.306 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 173.305.  TAX INCREMENT FUND FOR TRANSPORTATION
  INFRASTRUCTURE ZONE IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS. A district established
  before January 1, 2005, that creates a transportation
  infrastructure zone shall establish a tax increment fund.  In
  addition to the amount of tax increment deposited to the tax
  increment fund, all revenue from the sale of tax increment bonds or
  notes under Section 173.306, revenue from the sale of any property
  acquired as part of a plan adopted to use tax increment financing,
  and other revenue to be used in implementing the plan shall be
  deposited in the tax increment fund for the zone.
         Sec. 173.306.  TAX INCREMENT BONDS AND NOTES ISSUED BY LOCAL
  GOVERNMENT MEMBER IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS. (a)  This section applies
  only to a district created before January 1, 2005.
         (b)  A local government member of a district creating a
  transportation infrastructure zone may issue tax increment bonds or
  notes, including refunding bonds, secured by revenue in the local
  government's tax increment fund.  Proceeds of bonds issued under
  this section may be used to:
               (1)  pay project costs for the zone on behalf of which
  the bonds or notes were issued; or
               (2)  satisfy claims of holders of the bonds or notes.
         (c)  Tax increment bonds and notes are payable, as to both
  principal and interest, solely from the tax increment fund
  established for the transportation infrastructure zone. The local
  government may pledge irrevocably all or part of the fund for
  payment of tax increment bonds or notes. The part of the fund
  pledged in payment may be used only for the payment of the bonds or
  notes or interest on the bonds or notes until the bonds or notes
  have been fully paid. A holder of the bonds or notes or of coupons
  issued on the bonds has a lien against the fund for payment of the
  bonds or notes and interest on the bonds or notes and may protect or
  enforce the lien at law or in equity.
         (d)  A tax increment bond or note is not a general obligation
  of the local government issuing the bond or note. A tax increment
  bond or note does not give rise to a charge against the general
  credit or taxing powers of the local government and is not payable
  except as provided by this section.
         (e)  A local government's obligation to deposit sales and use
  taxes into the tax increment fund is not a general obligation of the
  local government.  An obligation to make payments from sales and
  use taxes does not give rise to a charge against the general credit
  or taxing powers of the local government and is not payable except
  as provided by this section.  A tax increment bond or note issued
  under this section that pledges payments must state the
  restrictions of this section on its face.
         (f)  A tax increment bond or note may not be included in any
  computation of the debt of the issuing local government.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.