By: Keffer H.B. No. 2300
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of County Energy Transportation
Reinvestment Zones.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 222, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 222.01071 to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) the amount of a county's tax increment for a year
is the amount of ad valorem taxes levied and collected by the county
for that year on the captured appraised value of real property
taxable by the county and located in a transportation reinvestment
zone under this section;
(2) the captured appraised value of real property
taxable by a county for a year is the total appraised value of all
real property taxable by the county and located in a transportation
reinvestment zone for that year less the tax increment base of the
county; and
(3) the tax increment base of a county is the total
appraised value of all real property taxable by the county and
located in a transportation reinvestment zone for the year in which
the zone was designated under this section.
(b)(b) The county may pledge its tax increment to a specific
transportation project pursuant to a contract and that pledge shall
constitute a debt as defined in Sec. 26.03 (7), Tax Code. A county
may not pledge property tax increments authorized in this section
as security for bonded indebtedness.
(c)(i) The commissioners court of the county, after
determining that an area is affected by oil and gas exploration and
production activities and would benefit from funding provided under
Chapter 256, Subchapter C, Transportation Code, by order or
resolution may designate a contiguous geographic area in the
jurisdiction of the county to be a transportation reinvestment zone
to promote a transportation project.
(ii) A county may form a transportation reinvestment zone
under this Section in conjunction with another county or counties
provided each county meets all procedural requirements for
establishment of such a zone.
(d) The commissioners court must comply with all applicable
laws in the application of this chapter.
(e) Not later than the 30th day before the date the
commissioners court proposes to designate an area as a
transportation reinvestment zone under this section, the
commissioners court must hold a public hearing on the creation of
the zone, its benefits to the county and to property in the proposed
zone. At the hearing an interested person may speak for or against
the designation of the zone, its boundaries, or the from benefit
that will arise from dedicating the increment county taxes on real
property in the zone to certain transportation projects. Not later
than the seventh day before the date of the hearing, notice of the
hearing and the intent to create a zone must be published in a
newspaper having general circulation in the county.
(f) The order or resolution designating an area as a
transportation reinvestment zone must:
(1) describe the boundaries of the zone with
sufficient definiteness to identify with ordinary and reasonable
certainty the territory included in the zone;
(2) provide that the zone takes effect immediately on
adoption of the order or resolution and that the base year shall be
the year of passage of the order or resolution or some year in the
future;
(3) assign a name to the zone for identification, with
the first zone designated by a county designated as "Transportation
Reinvestment Zone Number One, County of (name of county)," and
subsequently designated zones assigned names in the same form
numbered consecutively in the order of their designation;
(4) designate the base year for purposes of
establishing the tax increment base of the county; and
(5) establish an ad valorem tax increment account for
the zone.
(6) name a board of directors for the zone who shall
receive no fees for service nor per diems, and who shall be named by
the county judge and approval by the commissioners as follows:
(i) if a single county zone, the board shall
be comprised of the county judge, a county commissioner, two
representatives of oil and gas companies that are performing
company activities in the county and representing a local tax
payer, and a member of the public active in civic affairs who is a
beneficiary of the energy development activity;
(ii) if a multi county zone, the board shall
be comprised of the representatives listed in Section
222.1071(f)(i) representing each county participating in the multi
county zone;
(iii) members of the board of directors for
a multi county zone are not subject to approval by any county other
than itself.
(g) Compliance with the requirements of this section
constitutes designation of an area as a transportation reinvestment
zone without further hearings or other procedural requirements.
(h) The commissioners court may from taxes collected on
property in a zone, pay into a tax increment account for the zone an
amount equal to the tax increment produced by the county less any
amounts allocated under previous agreements, including agreements
under Section 381.004, Local Government Code, or Chapter 312, Tax
Code;
(i) In the alternative, to assist the county in developing a
transportation project, if authorized by the commission under
Chapter 441, a road utility district may be formed under that
chapter that has the same boundaries as a transportation
reinvestment zone created under this section.
(i-1) In the event a county collects a tax increment, it may
pledge its tax increments to the road utility district which then is
authorized to issue bonds to pay all or part of the cost of a
transportation project and may pledge and assign all or a specified
amount of money in the tax increment account to secure those bonds.
(j) A road utility district formed as provided by Subsection
(i) may enter into an agreement to fund development of a project or
to repay funds owed to the department. Any amount paid for this
purpose is considered to be an operating expense of the district.
Any taxes collected by the district that are not paid for this
purpose may be used for any district purpose.
(j-1) To accommodate changes in the limits of the project
for which a reinvestment zone was designated, the boundaries of a
zone may be amended at any time, except that property may not be
removed or excluded from a designated zone if any part of the
assessment has been assigned or pledged directly by the county or
through another entity to secure bonds or other obligations issued
to obtain funding of the project, and property may not be added to a
designated zone unless the commissioners court of the county
complies with Subsections (e) and (f).
(k) A transportation reinvestment zone terminates on
December 31 of the 10th year after the year the zone was designated,
if before that date the county has not used the zone for the purpose
for which it was designated.
SECTION 2. Chapter 222, Transportation Code, is amended as
follows:
Sec. 222.110. SALES TAX INCREMENT. (a) In this section,
"sales tax base" for a transportation reinvestment zone means the
amount of sales and use taxes imposed by a municipality under
Section 321.101(a), Tax Code, or by a county under Chapter 323, Tax
Code, as applicable, attributable to the zone for the year in which
the zone was designated under this chapter.
(b) The governing body of a municipality or county may
determine, in an ordinance or order designating an area as a
transportation reinvestment zone or in an ordinance or order
adopted subsequent to the designation of a zone, the portion or
amount of tax increment generated from the sales and use taxes
imposed by a municipality under Section 321.101(a), Tax Code, or by
a county under Chapter 323, Tax Code, attributable to the zone,
above the sales tax base, to be used as provided by Subsection (e).
Nothing in this section requires a municipality or county to
contribute sales tax increment under this subsection.
(c) A county that designates a portion or amount of sales
tax increment under Subsection (b) must establish a tax increment
account. A municipality or county shall deposit the designated
portion or amount of tax increment under Subsection (b) to the
entity's respective tax increment account.
(d) Before pledging or otherwise committing money in the tax
increment account under Subsection (c), the governing body of a
municipality or county may enter into an agreement, under
Subchapter E, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, to authorize and
direct the comptroller to:
(1) withhold from any payment to which the
municipality or county may be entitled the amount of the payment
into the tax increment account under Subsection (b);
(2) deposit that amount into the tax increment
account; and
(3) continue withholding and making additional
payments into the tax increment account until an amount sufficient
to satisfy the amount due has been met.
(e) The sales and use taxes to be deposited into the tax
increment account under this section may be disbursed from the
account only to:
(1) pay for projects authorized under Section 222.104,
including the repayment of amounts owed under an agreement entered
into under that section; and
(2) notwithstanding Sections 321.506 and 323.505, Tax
Code, satisfy claims of holders of tax increment bonds, notes, or
other obligations issued or incurred for projects authorized under
Section 222.104 and Section 222.1071.
(f) The amount deposited by a county to a tax increment
account under this section is not considered to be sales and use tax
revenue for the purpose of property tax reduction and computation
of the county tax rate under Section 26.041, Tax Code.
(g) Not later than the 30th day before the date the
governing body of a municipality or county proposes to designate a
portion or amount of sales tax increment under Subsection (b), the
governing body shall hold a public hearing on the designation of the
sales tax increment. At the hearing an interested person may speak
for or against the designation of the sales tax increment. Not later
than the seventh day before the date of the hearing, notice of the
hearing must be published in a newspaper having general circulation
in the county or municipality, as appropriate.
(h) The hearing required under Subsection (g) may be held in
conjunction with a hearing held under Section 222.106(e) or
222.107(e) if the ordinance or order designating an area as a
transportation reinvestment zone under Section 222.106 or 222.107
also designates a sales tax increment under Subsection (b).
SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 252, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 252.314 to read as follows:
Sec. 252.314. DONATIONS. (a) A commissioners court or the
county road department may accept donations of labor, money, or
other property to aid in the building or maintaining of roads in the
county.
(b) A county operating under the county road department
system on September 1, 2013, may use the authority granted under
this section without holding a new election under Section 252.301.
(c) A county accepting donations under Sec. 252.314 must
execute a release of liability in favor of the entity donating the
labor, money or other property.