By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1611
(McClendon)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the funding of projects in the boundaries of certain
intermunicipal commuter rail districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 173.002, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subdivision (2-a) to read as follows:
(2-a) "Commuter rail service" means the
transportation of passengers and baggage by rail between locations
in a district.
SECTION 2. Section 173.256, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsections (b) and (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to
read as follows:
(b) A district may enter into an interlocal contract with
one or more [a] local government members [member] for the financing
of transportation infrastructure that is constructed or that is to
be constructed in the territory of the local governments
[government] by the district.
(d) The agreement may establish one or more transportation
infrastructure zones. The district and the local government may
agree that, at one or more specified times, the local government
will pay to the district an amount that is calculated on the basis
of increased ad valorem tax collections in a zone that are
attributable to increased values of property located in the zone
resulting from an infrastructure project. Except as provided by
Subsection (d-1), the [The] amount may not exceed an amount that is
equal to 30 percent of the increase in ad valorem tax collections
for the specified period.
(d-1) A transportation infrastructure zone of a district
established before January 1, 2005, may consist of a contiguous or
noncontiguous geographic area in the territory of one or more local
governments and must include a commuter rail facility or the site of
a proposed commuter rail facility. The amount paid by a local
government under Subsection (d) to a district established before
January 1, 2005, may not exceed an amount that is equal to the
increase in ad valorem tax collections in the zone for the specified
period.
SECTION 3. Subchapter G, Chapter 173, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Sections 173.305 and 173.306 to read as
follows:
Sec. 173.305. TAX INCREMENT FUND FOR TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE ZONE IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS. A district established
before January 1, 2005, that creates a transportation
infrastructure zone shall establish a tax increment fund. In
addition to the amount of tax increment deposited to the tax
increment fund, all revenue from the sale of tax increment bonds or
notes under Section 173.306, revenue from the sale of any property
acquired as part of a plan adopted to use tax increment financing,
and other revenue to be used in implementing the plan shall be
deposited in the tax increment fund for the zone.
Sec. 173.306. TAX INCREMENT BONDS AND NOTES ISSUED BY LOCAL
GOVERNMENT MEMBER IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS. (a) This section applies
only to a district created before January 1, 2005.
(b) A local government member of a district creating a
transportation infrastructure zone may issue tax increment bonds or
notes, including refunding bonds, secured by revenue in the local
government's tax increment fund. Proceeds of bonds issued under
this section may be used to:
(1) pay project costs for the zone on behalf of which
the bonds or notes were issued; or
(2) satisfy claims of holders of the bonds or notes.
(c) Tax increment bonds and notes are payable, as to both
principal and interest, solely from the tax increment fund
established for the transportation infrastructure zone. The local
government may pledge irrevocably all or part of the fund for
payment of tax increment bonds or notes. The part of the fund
pledged in payment may be used only for the payment of the bonds or
notes or interest on the bonds or notes until the bonds or notes
have been fully paid. A holder of the bonds or notes or of coupons
issued on the bonds has a lien against the fund for payment of the
bonds or notes and interest on the bonds or notes and may protect or
enforce the lien at law or in equity.
(d) A tax increment bond or note is not a general obligation
of the local government issuing the bond or note. A tax increment
bond or note does not give rise to a charge against the general
credit or taxing powers of the local government and is not payable
except as provided by this section.
(e) A local government's obligation to deposit sales and use
taxes into the tax increment fund is not a general obligation of the
local government. An obligation to make payments from sales and
use taxes does not give rise to a charge against the general credit
or taxing powers of the local government and is not payable except
as provided by this section. A tax increment bond or note issued
under this section that pledges payments must state the
restrictions of this section on its face.
(f) A tax increment bond or note may not be included in any
computation of the debt of the issuing local government.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.