82R7281 NAJ-F
By: Zerwas H.B. No. 1107
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation, administration, powers, and duties of a
county assistance district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 387.003, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (b-1), (c), (e), (f), and
(h) and adding Subsections (a-1), (i), and (j) to read as follows:
(a) The commissioners court of the county may call an
election on the question of creating a county assistance district
under this chapter. More than one county assistance district may be
created in a county.
(a-1) A district may [to] perform the following functions in
the district:
(1) the construction, maintenance, or improvement of
roads or highways;
(2) the provision of law enforcement and detention
services;
(3) the maintenance or improvement of libraries,
museums, parks, or other recreational facilities;
(4) the provision of services that benefit the public
health or welfare, including the provision of firefighting and fire
prevention services; or
(5) the promotion of economic development and tourism.
(b) The order calling the election must:
(1) define the boundaries of the district to include
any portion of the county in which the combined tax rate of all
local sales and use taxes imposed, including the rate to be imposed
by the district if approved at the election, would not exceed the
maximum combined rate of sales and use taxes imposed by political
subdivisions of this state that is prescribed by Sections 321.101
and 323.101, Tax Code [two percent]; and
(2) call for the election to be held within those
boundaries.
(b-1) If the proposed district includes any territory of a
municipality, the commissioners court shall send notice by
certified mail to the governing body of the municipality of the
commissioners court's intent to create the district. If the
municipality has created a development corporation under Chapter
504 or 505, the commissioners court shall also send the notice to
the board of directors of the corporation. The commissioners court
must send the notice not later than the 60th day before the date the
commissioners court orders the election. The governing body of the
municipality may exclude the territory of the municipality from the
proposed district by sending notice by certified mail to the
commissioners court of the governing body's desire to exclude the
municipal territory from the district. The governing body must
send the notice not later than the 45th day after the date the
governing body receives notice from the commissioners court under
this subsection. The territory of a municipality that is excluded
under this subsection may subsequently be included in:
(1) the district in an election held under Subsection
(f) with the consent of the municipality; or
(2) another district after complying with the
requirements of this subsection and after an election held under
Subsection (f).
(c) The ballot at the election must be printed to permit
voting for or against the proposition: "Authorizing the creation
of the ____ County Assistance District No.___ (insert name of
district) and the imposition of a sales and use tax at the rate of
____ [of one] percent (insert [one-eighth, one-fourth,
three-eighths, or one-half, as] appropriate rate) for the purpose
of financing the operations of the district."
(e) If a majority of the votes received at the election are
against the creation of the district, the district is not created.
The failure to approve the creation of a district under this
subsection does not affect the authority of the county to call one
or more elections [another election] on the question of creating
one or more [a] county assistance districts [district may not be
held in the county before the first anniversary of the most recent
election concerning the creation of a district].
(f) The commissioners court may call an election to be held
in an area of the county that is not located in a district created
under this section to determine whether the area should be included
in the district and whether the district's sales and use tax should
be imposed in the area. An election may not be held in an area in
which the combined tax rate of all local sales and use taxes
imposed, including the rate to be imposed by the district if
approved at the election, would exceed the maximum combined rate of
sales and use taxes imposed by political subdivisions of this state
that is prescribed by Sections 321.101 and 323.101, Tax Code [two
percent].
(h) If more than one election to authorize a local sales and
use tax is held on the same day in the area of a proposed district or
an area proposed to be added to a district and if the resulting
approval by the voters would cause the imposition of a local sales
and use tax in any area to exceed the maximum combined rate of sales
and use taxes of political subdivisions of this state that is
prescribed by Sections 321.101 and 323.101, Tax Code [two percent],
only a tax authorized at an election under this section may be
imposed.
(i) In addition to the authority to include an area in a
district under Subsection (f), the governing body of a district by
order may include an area in the district on receipt of a petition
or petitions signed by the owner or owners of the majority of the
land in the area to be included in the district. If there are no
registered voters in the area to be included in the district, no
election is required.
(j) The commissioners court by order may exclude an area
from the district if the district has no outstanding bonds payable
wholly or partly from sales and use taxes and the exclusion does not
impair any outstanding district debt or contractual obligation.
SECTION 2. Section 387.005, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 387.005. GOVERNING BODY. (a) The commissioners court
of the county in which the district is created by order shall
provide that:
(1) the commissioners court is the governing body of
the district; or
(2) the commissioners court shall appoint a governing
body of the district.
(b) A member of the governing body of the district
[commissioners court] is not entitled to compensation for service
[on the governing body of the district] but is entitled to
reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses.
(c) A board of directors appointed by the commissioners
court under this section shall consist of five directors who serve
staggered terms of two years. To be eligible to serve as a
director, a person must be a resident of the county in which the
district is located. The initial directors shall draw lots to
achieve staggered terms, with three of the directors serving
one-year terms and two of the directors serving two-year terms.
SECTION 3. Section 387.006(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A district may:
(1) perform any act necessary to the full exercise of
the district's functions;
(2) accept a grant or loan from:
(A) the United States;
(B) an agency or political subdivision of this
state; or
(C) a public or private person;
(3) acquire, sell, lease, convey, or otherwise dispose
of property or an interest in property under terms determined by the
district;
(4) employ necessary personnel; [and]
(5) adopt rules to govern the operation of the
district and its employees and property; and
(6) enter into agreements with municipalities
necessary or convenient to achieve the district's purposes,
including agreements regarding the duration, rate, and allocation
between the district and the municipality of sales and use taxes.
SECTION 4. Section 387.007, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to
read as follows:
(b) A district may not adopt a sales and use tax under this
chapter if the adoption of the tax would result in a combined tax
rate of all local sales and use taxes that would exceed the maximum
combined rate prescribed by Sections 321.101 and 323.101, Tax Code,
[of more than two percent] in any location in the district.
(c) A district may define areas in the district to pay for
improvements, facilities, or services that primarily benefit that
area and do not generally and directly benefit the district as a
whole. The district may impose different rates of sales and use tax
in each defined area. The sales and use tax rate in each area may
not exceed the rate approved at an election held under Section
387.003.
SECTION 5. Section 387.009, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 387.009. TAX RATE. The rate of a tax adopted under
this chapter must be in increments of one-eighth[, one-fourth,
three-eighths, or one-half] of one percent.
SECTION 6. Sections 387.010(a), (b), and (c), Local
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A district that has adopted a sales and use tax under
this chapter may, by order and subject to Section 387.007(b):
(1) reduce [, change] the rate of the tax or repeal the
tax without an election, except that the district may not repeal the
sales and use tax or reduce the rate of the sales and use tax below
the amount pledged to secure payment of an outstanding district
debt or contractual obligation;
(2) increase the rate of the sales and use tax, if the
increased rate of the sales and use tax will not exceed the rate
approved at an election held under Section 387.003; or
(3) increase the rate of the sales and use tax to a
rate that exceeds the rate approved at an election held under
Section 387.003 after [if] the increase [change or repeal] is
approved by a majority of the votes received in the district at an
election held for that purpose.
(b) The tax may be changed under Subsection (a) in one or
more increments of one-eighth of one percent [to a maximum of
one-half of one percent].
(c) The ballot for an election to increase [change] the tax
shall be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition:
"The increase [change] of a sales and use tax for the ____ County
Assistance District No. ___ (insert name of district) from the rate
of ____ [of one] percent (insert [one-fourth, three-eighths, or
one-half, as] appropriate rate) to the rate of ____ [of one] percent
(insert [one-fourth, three-eighths, or one-half, as] appropriate
rate)."
SECTION 7. Section 387.012, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 387.012. EFFECTIVE DATE OF TAX. The adoption of the
tax, the increase or reduction [change] of the tax rate, or the
repeal of the tax takes effect on the first day of the first
calendar quarter occurring after the expiration of the first
complete quarter occurring after the date the comptroller receives
a copy of the order of the district's governing body [notice of the
results of the election] adopting, increasing, reducing
[changing], or repealing the tax.
SECTION 8. Section 387.010(d), Local Government Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 9. 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, 2011.