81R5742 KLA-D
By: McClendon H.B. No. 2420
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to ad valorem and sales and use tax exemptions for
high-speed passenger rail facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
ARTICLE 1. AD VALOREM TAX EXEMPTION
SECTION 1.01. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Tax Code, is
amended by adding Section 11.34 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.34. HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAIL FACILITY. (a) In
this section:
(1) "Ancillary facility" means property, equipment,
or a building that is acquired, installed, or constructed for the
construction, management, and operation of a high-speed passenger
rail facility.
(2) "Earthworks and structures" means an excavation or
embankment of earth made for a high-speed passenger rail facility,
including the clearing and grubbing of right-of-way; demolition of
structures; relocation of utilities, pipelines, and any other
obstacles in right-of-way; stripping and stockpiling; removal of
subsoils for embankment or spoil; borrow pits; dressing and seeding
of slopes; construction of culverts; road crossings; bridges;
restoration of roadway; drainage in right-of-way or along road
networks; or restoration of a hydrologic system.
(3) "Environmental facility" means a facility, an
improvement, or equipment related to a high-speed passenger rail
facility that is required for the enhancement or protection of the
environment or the high-speed passenger rail facility or for the
mitigation of any adverse environmental effect of the construction,
operation, or maintenance of the high-speed passenger rail
facility.
(4) "High-speed passenger rail" means a rail or
electromagnetically guided technology that permits the operation
of rolling stock between scheduled stops at speeds of at least 200
miles per hour.
(5) "High-speed passenger rail facility" means any
real, personal, or mixed property or any interest, right, or power
in that property that is determined by the owner of the facility to
be necessary or convenient for the provision of an intercity
high-speed passenger rail transportation system in this state and
all property or interests necessary for the financing, refinancing,
acquiring, purchasing, condemning, constructing, planning,
designing, engineering, enlarging, reconstructing, remodeling,
repairing, renovating, extending, improving, bettering,
furnishing, maintaining, using, or equipping of the system,
including right-of-way, earthworks and structures, trackwork,
electrification facilities, train controls, traction power
systems, rail stations, rolling stock, ancillary facilities,
environmental facilities, and maintenance facilities.
(6) "Maintenance facility" includes a workshop,
service facility, garage, equipment or other storage facility,
security facility, or personnel facility.
(7) "Personnel facility" includes temporary or
transient employee lodging.
(8) "Right-of-way" means an easement or any other
interest in real property determined by the owner of a high-speed
passenger rail facility to be necessary or convenient for the
trackwork of the facility.
(9) "Rolling stock" means high-speed electrically
propelled trains that run on rails or electromagnetic guideways.
(10) "Station" means a passenger service building,
terminal, or station, including ticketing facilities, waiting
areas, platforms, concessions, retail establishments, restaurants,
elevators, escalators, facilities for handicapped access, access
roads, parking facilities, baggage handling facilities, local
maintenance facilities, offices for purposes of the owner of a
high-speed passenger rail facility, ancillary facilities, and any
interest in real property necessary or convenient for the listed
items.
(11) "Trackwork" means track, track beds, track bed
preparation, ties, rail fasteners, slabs, rails, emergency
crossovers, setout tracks, storage tracks, and switches.
(12) "Traction power systems" means transformers,
switches, controls, conductors, and any supports necessary to
provide power to rolling stock.
(13) "Train controls" includes signaling,
interlocking equipment, speed monitoring equipment, emergency
braking systems, central traffic control facilities, and
communication systems.
(b) A person is entitled to an exemption from taxation of a
high-speed passenger rail facility owned by the person.
(c) A high-speed passenger rail facility may not be exempted
under this section for more than 50 years.
SECTION 1.02. Section 11.43(c), Tax Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) An exemption provided by Section 11.13, 11.17, 11.18,
11.182, 11.183, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21, 11.22, 11.23(h), (j), or
(j-1), 11.29, 11.30, [or] 11.31, or 11.34, once allowed, need not be
claimed in subsequent years, and except as otherwise provided by
Subsection (e), the exemption applies to the property until it
changes ownership or the person's qualification for the exemption
changes. However, the chief appraiser may require a person allowed
one of the exemptions in a prior year to file a new application to
confirm the person's current qualification for the exemption by
delivering a written notice that a new application is required,
accompanied by an appropriate application form, to the person
previously allowed the exemption.
SECTION 1.03. This article applies only to ad valorem taxes
imposed for a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2010.
SECTION 1.04. This article takes effect January 1, 2010,
but only if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 81st
Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, authorizing the legislature to
exempt from ad valorem taxation a high-speed passenger rail
facility is approved by the voters. If that amendment is not
approved by the voters, this article has no effect.
ARTICLE 2. SALES AND USE TAX EXEMPTION
SECTION 2.01. Subchapter H, Chapter 151, Tax Code, is
amended by adding Section 151.3312 to read as follows:
Sec. 151.3312. HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAIL FACILITY. (a) In
this section, "high-speed passenger rail facility," "rolling
stock," "trackwork," and "train controls" have the meanings
assigned by Section 11.34.
(b) The sale or storage, use, or other consumption of the
following items is exempted from the taxes imposed by this chapter:
(1) tangible personal property for the construction or
operation of, or that will become an ingredient or component part
of, a high-speed passenger rail facility, including rolling stock,
trackwork, and train controls; and
(2) services to construct a high-speed passenger rail
facility.
SECTION 2.02. The change in law made by this article does
not affect tax liability accruing before the effective date of this
Act. That liability continues in effect as if this Act had not been
enacted, and the former law is continued in effect for the
collection of taxes due and for civil and criminal enforcement of
the liability for those taxes.
ARTICLE 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
SECTION 3.01. Except as otherwise provided by this Act,
this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.