By: Keffer, King of Zavala H.B. No. 2300
(Senate Sponsor - Uresti)
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013;
May 2, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
Transportation; May 15, 2013, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 15, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to funding and donations for county transportation
projects, including projects 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 Sections 222.1071 and 222.1072 to read as
follows:
Sec. 222.1071. COUNTY ENERGY TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT
ZONES. (a) A county shall determine the amount of the tax
increment for a county energy transportation reinvestment zone in
the same manner the county would determine the tax increment as
provided in Section 222.107(a) for a county transportation
reinvestment zone.
(b) A county, after determining that an area is affected by
oil and gas exploration and production activities, by order or
resolution of the commissioners court:
(1) may designate a contiguous geographic area in the
jurisdiction of the county to be a county energy transportation
reinvestment zone to promote one or more specified transportation
projects located in the zone; and
(2) may jointly administer a county energy
transportation reinvestment zone in conjunction with another
county or counties, as provided by Subsection (o).
(c) A commissioners court must comply with all applicable
laws in the application of this chapter.
(d) Not later than the 30th day before the date a
commissioners court proposes to designate an area as a county
energy transportation reinvestment zone under this section, the
commissioners court must hold a public hearing on the creation of
the zone and 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, the joint
administration of a zone in another county, or the use of tax
increment paid into the tax increment account.
(e) 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 county
energy 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 "County Energy
Transportation Reinvestment Zone Number One, (name of county)," and
subsequently designated zones assigned names in the same form
numbered consecutively in the order of their designation;
(4) establish an ad valorem tax increment account for
the zone or provide for the establishment of a joint ad valorem tax
increment account, if applicable; and
(5) name the advisory board for the zone or the
county's members on a joint advisory board, as applicable, as
provided by Section 222.1072.
(g) Compliance with the requirements of this section
constitutes designation of an area as a county energy
transportation reinvestment zone without further hearings or other
procedural requirements.
(h) The county may, from taxes collected on property in a
zone, pay into a tax increment account for the zone or zones 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) Tax increment paid into a tax increment account may not
be pledged as security for bonded indebtedness.
(j) The commissioners court may pledge money in the tax
increment account:
(1) to provide funding for one or more specified
transportation projects located in the zone; and
(2) to a road utility district formed as provided by
Subsection (k).
(k) 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 county energy
transportation reinvestment zone created under this section. The
road utility district may 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 if the county:
(1) collects a tax increment; and
(2) pledges all or a specified amount of the tax
increment to the road utility district.
(l) A road utility district formed as provided by Subsection
(k) 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.
(m) To accommodate changes in the limits of the project for
which a zone was designated, the boundaries of a zone may be amended
at any time, except that property may not be added to a zone unless
the commissioners court of the county complies with Subsections
(d), (e), and (f).
(n) A county energy 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.
(o) The commissioners courts of two or more counties that
have designated a county energy transportation reinvestment zone
under this section for the same transportation project or projects
may enter into an agreement to provide for the joint administration
of the zones.
(p) The commissioners court of a county may enter into an
agreement with the department to designate a county energy
transportation reinvestment zone under this section for a specified
transportation project involving a state highway located in the
proposed zone.
Sec. 222.1072. ADVISORY BOARD OF COUNTY ENERGY
TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT ZONE. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), the advisory board of a county energy
transportation reinvestment zone consists of the following members
appointed by the county judge and approved by the county
commissioners court:
(1) three oil and gas company representatives who
perform company activities in the county and are local taxpayers;
and
(2) two public members who are active in civic
affairs.
(b) County energy transportation reinvestment zones that
are jointly administered are advised by a single joint advisory
board for the zones. A joint advisory board under this subsection
consists of members appointed under Subsection (a) for each zone to
be jointly administered.
(c) An advisory board member may not receive compensation
for service on the board or reimbursement for expenses incurred in
performing services as a member.
SECTION 2. Section 222.110(e), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(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 or 222.1071.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 251.018 to read as follows:
Sec. 251.018. DONATIONS. (a) A commissioners court may
accept donations of labor, money, or other property to aid in the
building or maintaining of roads, culverts, or bridges in the
county if the commissioners court enters into an agreement of
release of liability regarding the donations.
(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.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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