AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
The Ector County Coliseum is a 42-acre complex in Odessa, Texas. The 145,000‑square-foot grounds are a significant economic driver for Ector County, the city of Odessa, and the West Texas region. The coliseum is home to the Odessa Roughnecks indoor football team, the Odessa Jackalopes minor league hockey team, the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo, and more.
This bill implements a two percent flat tax on all hotel and motel rooms in the county to fund maintenance, operation, and promotional costs for the coliseum. The tax will also provide revenue to advertise, solicit, and promote programs to attract visitors to the coliseum.
S.B. 412 amends current law relating to the authority of certain counties to impose a hotel occupancy tax for the maintenance, operation, and promotion of a coliseum in the county, and authorizes a tax.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 352.002, Tax Code, by adding Subsection (q), to authorize the commissioners court of a county with a population of less than 200,000 in which a minor league hockey team is or has been located and in which a component institution of The University of Texas System is located to impose a tax as provided by Subsection (a) (relating to authorizing the imposition of a tax on a person who pays for the use of or possession of a hotel room in certain counties).
SECTION 2. Amends Section 352.003, Tax Code, by adding Subsection (r), to prohibit the tax rate in a county authorized to impose the tax under Section 352.002(q) from exceeding two percent of the price paid for a room in a hotel.
SECTION 3. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 352, Tax Code, by adding Section 352.1038, as follows:
Sec. 352.1038. USE OF REVENUE: CERTAIN COUNTIES CONTAINING UNIVERSITIES. Authorizes the revenue from a tax imposed under this chapter by a county authorized to impose the tax under Section 352.002(q) to be used only to operate, maintain, and improve a coliseum in the county and advertise and conduct solicitations and promotional programs to attract visitors to the coliseum.
SECTION 4. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2013.