BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center

S.B. 2545

89R14050 JAM-D

By: Hancock

 

Veteran Affairs

 

4/11/2025

 

As Filed

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Texas leads the nation in providing housing assistance for our veterans through home loans to those eligible through a program under the Veterans Land Board (VLB). The Veteran Housing Assistance Program (VHAP) helps eligible Texas veteran and military families purchase a home with little to no down payment. With housing affordability continuing to be an obstacle for veterans and the public alike, the state can explore different avenues to increase opportunities for veteran homeownership.

 

Manufactured homes are factory-built homes that are transported to a site and installed on a foundation. Because of this easier construction process, the average sale price of a manufactured home is generally more affordable than traditional site-built homes, providing an affordable and flexible path to homeownership.

 

S.B. 2545 would create a Manufactured Home Down Payment Assistance Program for low-income veterans. The program would provide a one-time payment to those who meet the low-income threshold to help cover the down payment on a new manufactured home. This targeted initiative would expand on housing options to those who have served our nation.

 

As proposed, S.B. 2545 amends current law relating to the establishment of a down payment assistance grant program for veterans purchasing manufactured homes and the dedication of certain sales and use tax revenue to finance that program.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Veterans Land Board in SECTION 1 (Section 162.0105, Natural Resources Code) of this bill.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 162, Natural Resources Code, by adding Section 162.0105, as follows:

 

Sec. 162.0105. DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM. (a) Defines "manufactured home."

 

(b) Requires the Veterans Land Board (VLB), using money from the manufactured home grant fund established under Subsection (f), to award to eligible veterans grants to be used as down payment assistance for the purchase of new manufactured homes.

 

(c) Authorizes VLB to award a grant under this section only in accordance with a contract between the Texas Veterans Commission and a grant recipient. Requires that the contract include provisions under which VLB is granted sufficient control to ensure the public purpose of providing affordable housing to veterans is accomplished and the state receives the return benefit.

 

(d) Requires a person, to be eligible for a grant under this section, to be a veteran at the time the person applies for the grant. Authorizes a surviving spouse, if an eligible veteran dies after filing an application, to complete the transaction.

 

(e) Prohibits a manufactured home for which a grant is awarded under this section from being leased, transferred, sold, or conveyed in whole or in part until the original veteran purchaser has occupied the home as the veteran's principal residence for a period of three years following the date of the purchase of the home and complied with the terms and conditions of this section and the rules of VLB. Authorizes a home, after the three-year period, to be transferred, sold, or conveyed if the terms and conditions of this section and rules of VLB have been met and the approval of VLB has been obtained. Authorizes VLB to waive the time limitation of this subsection at any time VLB considers a waiver to be in the best interest of the grant program, including on the death, bankruptcy, financial incapacity, or divorce of the veteran and including when the veteran is forced to move due to a change in employment or because the veteran's home is condemned through no fault of the veteran. Authorizes VLB, if the time limitation requirement of this subsection is not met and VLB does not waive the time limitation as provided in this subsection, to provide in its rules for the repayment of the grant or any other remedy as VLB considers appropriate.

 

(f) Provides that the manufactured home grant fund is established as a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund. Requires VLB to administer the fund. Authorizes VLB to use money in the fund only for the purposes of awarding grants under this section and for paying the reasonable expenses of managing the fund and its assets. Provides that the fund consists of certain monies.

 

(g) Requires VLB by rule to establish the value of a grant awarded under this section, income limits for a veteran's eligibility for a grant awarded under this section, and any other provision necessary to implement this section.

 

SECTION 2. Amens the heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 158, Tax Code, to read as follows:

 

SUBCHAPTER B. IMPOSITION AND COLLECTION OF TAX; DISPOSITION OF TAX PROCEEDS

 

SECTION 3. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 158, Tax Code, by adding Section 158.059, as follows:

 

Sec. 158.059. ALLOCATION OF REVENUE. Requires the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas to deposit the revenue attributable to the taxes imposed by Chapter 158 (Manufactured Housing Sales and Use Tax) as follows: 10 percent to the credit of the manufactured home grant fund established under Section 162.0105, Natural Resources Code, and the remainder to the credit of the general revenue fund.

 

SECTION 4. Makes Section 158.059, Tax Code, as added by this Act, prospective.

 

SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 2025.