By: Villarreal H.B. No. 3508
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the definition of a convention center facility and to
the pledge for bonds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 351.001, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 351.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Municipality" includes any incorporated city,
town, or village.
(2) "Convention center facilities" or "convention
center complex" means facilities that are primarily used to host
conventions and meetings. The term means civic centers, civic
center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and coliseums
that are owned by the municipality or other governmental entity or
that are managed in whole or part by the municipality. In a
municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more, "convention
center facilities" or "convention center complex" means civic
centers, civic center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls,
and coliseums that are owned by the municipality or other
governmental entity or that are managed in part by the
municipality, hotels owned by the municipality or a nonprofit
municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within 1,000 feet of a convention
center owned by the municipality, or a historic hotel owned by the
municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored local government
corporation created under Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within
one mile of a convention center owned by the municipality. The term
includes parking areas or facilities that are for the parking or
storage of conveyances and that are located at or in the vicinity of
other convention center facilities. The term also includes a hotel
owned by or located on land that is owned by an eligible central
municipality or by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an
eligible central municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet
of a convention center facility owned by the municipality.
(a) For the purposes of this chapter a hotel within 1000
feet of a Convention Center Facility must have:
(i) one room for each two thousand five hundred square
feet of usable convention center facility space, less parking areas
or facilities that are for the parking and storage of conveyances;
and
(ii) generate 40% or more of its revenues from nightly
lodging accommodations.
(3) "Eligible coastal municipality" means a home-rule
municipality that borders on the Gulf of Mexico and has a population
of less than 80,000.
(4) "Hotel" has the meaning assigned by Section
156.001.
(5) "Tourism" means the guidance or management of
tourists.
(6) "Tourist" means an individual who travels from the
individual's residence to a different municipality, county, state,
or country for pleasure, recreation, education, or culture.
(7) "Eligible central municipality" means a
municipality with a population of more than 140,000 but less than
1.5 million that is located in a county with a population of one
million or more and that has adopted a capital improvement plan for
the expansion of an existing convention center facility.
(8) "Visitor information center" or "tourism
information center" means a building or a portion of a building used
to distribute or disseminate information to tourists.
(9) "Revenue" includes any interest derived from the
revenue.
(10) "Revenue" includes any interest derived from the
revenue.
(11) "Eligible barrier island coastal municipality"
means a municipality:
(A) that borders on the Gulf of Mexico;
(B) that is located wholly on a barrier island;
and
(C) the boundaries of which are within 30 miles
of the United Mexican States.
SECTION 2. Chapter 351.102(b) Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(b) An eligible central municipality or a municipality with
a population of 173,000 or more that is located within two counties
may pledge the revenue derived from the tax imposed under this
chapter from a hotel project that is owned by or located on land
owned by the municipality or, in an eligible central municipality,
by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
municipality, the principal component of which is a hotel providing
one room for each two thousand five hundred square feet of usable
convention center facility space, less parking areas or facilities
that are for the parking or storage of conveyances, that generates
40% or more of its revenues from nightly sleeping accommodations;
and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention center
facility owned by the municipality for the payment of bonds or other
obligations issued or incurred to acquire, lease, construct, and
equip the hotel and any facilities ancillary to the hotel,
including convention center entertainment-related facilities,
restaurants, shops, and parking facilities within 1,000 feet of the
hotel or convention center facility. For bonds or other
obligations issued under this subsection, an eligible central
municipality or a municipality with a population of 173,000 or more
that is located within two counties may only pledge revenue or other
assets of the hotel project benefiting from those bonds or other
obligations.
(b-1) A municipality with a population of 173,000 or more
that is located within two counties and is not an eligible central
municipality may not pledge revenue under Subsection (b) in
relation to a particular hotel project after the earlier of:
(1) the 20th anniversary of the date the municipality
first pledged the revenue to the hotel project; or
(2) the date the revenue pledged to the hotel project
equals 40 percent of the hotel project's total construction cost.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to bonds issued on or after the effective date of this Act. Bonds
issued before the effective date of this Act are governed by the law
in effect at the time the bonds were issued, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.