By: Nichols  S.B. No. 1305
         (In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2017; March 14, 2017, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Transportation;
  March 23, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; March 23, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the abolishment of the transportation infrastructure
  fund and the grant program using money from the fund.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 222.110(a), (e), and (h),
  Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  In this section, "sales[:
               [(1)  "Sales] tax base" for a transportation
  reinvestment zone means the amount of sales and use taxes imposed by
  a municipality under Section 321.101(a), Tax Code, or by a county
  under Chapter 323, Tax Code, as applicable, attributable to the
  zone for the year in which the zone was designated under this
  chapter.
               [(2)     "Transportation reinvestment zone" includes a
  county energy transportation reinvestment zone.]
         (e)  The sales and use taxes to be deposited into the tax
  increment account under this section may be disbursed from the
  account only to:
               (1)  pay for projects authorized under Section 222.104
  or 222.108; and
               (2)  notwithstanding Sections 321.506 and 323.505, Tax
  Code, satisfy claims of holders of tax increment bonds, notes, or
  other obligations issued or incurred for projects authorized under
  Section 222.104[, 222.1071,] or 222.108.
         (h)  The hearing required under Subsection (g) may be held in
  conjunction with a hearing held under Section 222.106(e) or[,]
  222.107(e)[, or 222.1071(d)] if the ordinance or order designating
  an area as a transportation reinvestment zone under Section 222.106
  or[,] 222.107[, or 222.1071] also designates a sales tax increment
  under Subsection (b).
         SECTION 2.  Section 256.009(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Not later than January 30 of each year, the county
  auditor or, if the county does not have a county auditor, the
  official having the duties of the county auditor shall file a report
  with the comptroller that includes:
               (1)  an account of how[:
                     [(A)]  the money allocated to a county under
  Section 256.002 during the preceding year was spent; [and
                     [(B)     if the county designated a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone, money paid into a tax increment
  account for the zone or from an award under Subchapter C was spent;]
               (2)  a description, including location, of any new
  roads constructed in whole or in part with the money[:
                     [(A)]  allocated to a county under Section 256.002
  during the preceding year; [and
                     [(B)     paid into a tax increment account for the
  zone or from an award under Subchapter C if the county designated a
  county energy transportation reinvestment zone;]
               (3)  any other information related to the
  administration of Sections 256.002 and 256.003 that the comptroller
  requires; and
               (4)  the total amount of expenditures for county road
  and bridge construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, right-of-way
  acquisition, and utility construction and other appropriate road
  expenditures of county funds in the preceding county fiscal year
  that are required by the constitution or other law to be spent on
  public roads or highways.
         SECTION 3.  The following provisions of the Transportation
  Code are repealed:
               (1)  Subchapter C, Chapter 256; and
               (2)  Sections 222.1071, 222.1072, and 222.110(i).
         SECTION 4.  (a)  On December 31, 2017, the transportation
  infrastructure fund is abolished and the comptroller of public
  accounts shall transfer the unencumbered balance of the fund to the
  state highway fund for use in accordance with legislative
  appropriation.
         (b)  The abolishment of the transportation infrastructure
  fund and the repeal of Subchapter C, Chapter 256, Transportation
  Code, do not affect the validity of any contract or agreement
  between the Texas Department of Transportation and a county that is
  entered into under that subchapter before December 31, 2017.
         SECTION 5.  The repeal by this Act of Section 222.1071,
  Transportation Code, does not affect the validity of bonds issued
  under that section before the effective date of this Act. Bonds
  issued before the effective date of this Act are governed by the law
  in effect when the bonds were issued, and that law is continued in
  effect for purposes of the validity of those bonds.
         SECTION 6.  The repeal by this Act of Section 222.1071,
  Transportation Code, does not affect the amount of any tax rate
  calculation under Chapter 26, Tax Code, for the 2018 tax year or a
  subsequent tax year pertaining to a county that imposes taxes on
  property that for the 2017 tax year was located in a county energy
  transportation reinvestment zone. Under Section 26.03, Tax Code,
  for the duration of the zone, in any tax rate calculation under
  Chapter 26 of that code, the portion of the captured appraised value
  of property located in the zone that corresponded to the tax
  increment of the county from that property that the county agreed to
  pay into the tax increment account for the zone was excluded from
  the value of property taxable by the county, and the portion of the
  tax increment of the county that the county agreed to pay into the
  account for the zone was excluded from the amount of taxes imposed
  or collected by the county. Because beginning with the 2018 tax
  year both that property value and the taxes corresponding to that
  property value will be included in the calculation of ad valorem tax
  rates of the county under Chapter 26, Tax Code, the amounts of those
  tax rates will be unaffected.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect December 31, 2017.
 
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