81R1947 JD-F
By: Smith of Tarrant H.B. No. 146
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the implementation of a project plan or financing plan
for a reinvestment zone under the Tax Increment Financing Act and
the granting of exemptions from ad valorem taxes imposed on real
property in a reinvestment zone under that Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 311.010(b), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(b) The board of directors of a reinvestment zone and the
governing body of the municipality or county that creates a
reinvestment zone may each enter into agreements as the board or the
governing body considers necessary or convenient to implement the
project plan and reinvestment zone financing plan and achieve their
purposes. An agreement may provide for the regulation or
restriction of the use of land by imposing conditions,
restrictions, or covenants that run with the land. An agreement may
during the term of the agreement dedicate, pledge, or otherwise
provide for the use of revenue in the tax increment fund to pay any
project costs that benefit the reinvestment zone, including project
costs relating to the cost of buildings, schools, or other
educational facilities owned by or on behalf of a school district,
community college district, or other political subdivision of this
state, railroad or transit facilities, affordable housing, the
remediation of conditions that contaminate public or private land
or buildings, the preservation of the facade of a private or public
building, [or] the demolition of public or private buildings, or
the construction of a road, sidewalk, or other public
infrastructure in or out of the zone, including the cost of
acquiring the real property necessary for the construction of the
road, sidewalk, or other public infrastructure. An agreement may
dedicate revenue from the tax increment fund to pay the costs of
providing affordable housing or areas of public assembly in or out
of the zone. [An agreement may dedicate revenue from the tax
increment fund to pay a neighborhood enterprise association for
providing services or carrying out projects authorized under
Subchapters E and G, Chapter 2303, Government Code, in the zone.
The term of an agreement with a neighborhood enterprise association
may not exceed 10 years.]
SECTION 2. Section 311.013(g), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(g) Subject to the provisions of Section 311.0125, in lieu
of permitting a portion of its tax increment to be paid into the tax
increment fund, and notwithstanding the provisions of Section
312.203, a taxing unit, including [other than] a municipality
[city], may elect to offer the owners of taxable real property in a
reinvestment zone created under this chapter an exemption from
taxation of all or part of the value of the property. To be
effective, an [Any] agreement to exempt real property [concerning
an exemption] from ad valorem taxes under this subsection must be
approved by:
(1) the board of directors of the reinvestment zone;
and
(2) the governing body of each taxing unit that
imposes taxes on real property in the reinvestment zone and
deposits or agrees to deposit any of its tax increment into the tax
increment fund for the zone [shall be executed in the manner and
subject to the limitations of Chapter 312; provided, however, the
property covered by the agreement need not be in a zone created
pursuant to Chapter 312. A taxing unit may not offer a tax
abatement agreement to property owners in the zone after it has
entered into an agreement that its tax increments would be paid into
the tax increment fund pursuant to Subsection (f)].
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.