Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas House Bill HB2300 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Keffer, King of Zavala H.B. No. 2300
2	2	(Senate Sponsor - Uresti)
3	3	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013;
4	4	May 2, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
5	5	Transportation; May 15, 2013, reported favorably by the following
6	6	vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 15, 2013, sent to printer.)
7	7
8	8
9	9	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
10	10	AN ACT
11	11	relating to funding and donations for county transportation
12	12	projects, including projects of county energy transportation
13	13	reinvestment zones.
14	14	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
15	15	SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 222, Transportation Code,
16	16	is amended by adding Sections 222.1071 and 222.1072 to read as
17	17	follows:
18	18	Sec. 222.1071. COUNTY ENERGY TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT
19	19	ZONES. (a) A county shall determine the amount of the tax
20	20	increment for a county energy transportation reinvestment zone in
21	21	the same manner the county would determine the tax increment as
22	22	provided in Section 222.107(a) for a county transportation
23	23	reinvestment zone.
24	24	(b) A county, after determining that an area is affected by
25	25	oil and gas exploration and production activities, by order or
26	26	resolution of the commissioners court:
27	27	(1) may designate a contiguous geographic area in the
28	28	jurisdiction of the county to be a county energy transportation
29	29	reinvestment zone to promote one or more specified transportation
30	30	projects located in the zone; and
31	31	(2) may jointly administer a county energy
32	32	transportation reinvestment zone in conjunction with another
33	33	county or counties, as provided by Subsection (o).
34	34	(c) A commissioners court must comply with all applicable
35	35	laws in the application of this chapter.
36	36	(d) Not later than the 30th day before the date a
37	37	commissioners court proposes to designate an area as a county
38	38	energy transportation reinvestment zone under this section, the
39	39	commissioners court must hold a public hearing on the creation of
40	40	the zone and its benefits to the county and to property in the
41	41	proposed zone. At the hearing an interested person may speak for or
42	42	against the designation of the zone, its boundaries, the joint
43	43	administration of a zone in another county, or the use of tax
44	44	increment paid into the tax increment account.
45	45	(e) Not later than the seventh day before the date of the
46	46	hearing, notice of the hearing and the intent to create a zone must
47	47	be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the
48	48	county.
49	49	(f) The order or resolution designating an area as a county
50	50	energy transportation reinvestment zone must:
51	51	(1) describe the boundaries of the zone with
52	52	sufficient definiteness to identify with ordinary and reasonable
53	53	certainty the territory included in the zone;
54	54	(2) provide that the zone takes effect immediately on
55	55	adoption of the order or resolution and that the base year shall be
56	56	the year of passage of the order or resolution or some year in the
57	57	future;
58	58	(3) assign a name to the zone for identification, with
59	59	the first zone designated by a county designated as "County Energy
60	60	Transportation Reinvestment Zone Number One, (name of county)," and
61	61	subsequently designated zones assigned names in the same form
62	62	numbered consecutively in the order of their designation;
63	63	(4) establish an ad valorem tax increment account for
64	64	the zone or provide for the establishment of a joint ad valorem tax
65	65	increment account, if applicable; and
66	66	(5) name the advisory board for the zone or the
67	67	county's members on a joint advisory board, as applicable, as
68	68	provided by Section 222.1072.
69	69	(g) Compliance with the requirements of this section
70	70	constitutes designation of an area as a county energy
71	71	transportation reinvestment zone without further hearings or other
72	72	procedural requirements.
73	73	(h) The county may, from taxes collected on property in a
74	74	zone, pay into a tax increment account for the zone or zones an
75	75	amount equal to the tax increment produced by the county less any
76	76	amounts allocated under previous agreements, including agreements
77	77	under Section 381.004, Local Government Code, or Chapter 312, Tax
78	78	Code.
79	79	(i) Tax increment paid into a tax increment account may not
80	80	be pledged as security for bonded indebtedness.
81	81	(j) The commissioners court may pledge money in the tax
82	82	increment account:
83	83	(1) to provide funding for one or more specified
84	84	transportation projects located in the zone; and
85	85	(2) to a road utility district formed as provided by
86	86	Subsection (k).
87	87	(k) In the alternative, to assist the county in developing a
88	88	transportation project, if authorized by the commission under
89	89	Chapter 441, a road utility district may be formed under that
90	90	chapter that has the same boundaries as a county energy
91	91	transportation reinvestment zone created under this section. The
92	92	road utility district may issue bonds to pay all or part of the cost
93	93	of a transportation project and may pledge and assign all or a
94	94	specified amount of money in the tax increment account to secure
95	95	those bonds if the county:
96	96	(1) collects a tax increment; and
97	97	(2) pledges all or a specified amount of the tax
98	98	increment to the road utility district.
99	99	(l) A road utility district formed as provided by Subsection
100	100	(k) may enter into an agreement to fund development of a project or
101	101	to repay funds owed to the department. Any amount paid for this
102	102	purpose is considered to be an operating expense of the
103	103	district. Any taxes collected by the district that are not paid
104	104	for this purpose may be used for any district purpose.
105	105	(m) To accommodate changes in the limits of the project for
106	106	which a zone was designated, the boundaries of a zone may be amended
107	107	at any time, except that property may not be added to a zone unless
108	108	the commissioners court of the county complies with Subsections
109	109	(d), (e), and (f).
110	110	(n) A county energy transportation reinvestment zone
111	111	terminates on December 31 of the 10th year after the year the zone
112	112	was designated, if before that date the county has not used the zone
113	113	for the purpose for which it was designated.
114	114	(o) The commissioners courts of two or more counties that
115	115	have designated a county energy transportation reinvestment zone
116	116	under this section for the same transportation project or projects
117	117	may enter into an agreement to provide for the joint administration
118	118	of the zones.
119	119	(p) The commissioners court of a county may enter into an
120	120	agreement with the department to designate a county energy
121	121	transportation reinvestment zone under this section for a specified
122	122	transportation project involving a state highway located in the
123	123	proposed zone.
124	124	Sec. 222.1072. ADVISORY BOARD OF COUNTY ENERGY
125	125	TRANSPORTATION REINVESTMENT ZONE. (a) Except as provided by
126	126	Subsection (b), the advisory board of a county energy
127	127	transportation reinvestment zone consists of the following members
128	128	appointed by the county judge and approved by the county
129	129	commissioners court:
130	130	(1) three oil and gas company representatives who
131	131	perform company activities in the county and are local taxpayers;
132	132	and
133	133	(2) two public members who are active in civic
134	134	affairs.
135	135	(b) County energy transportation reinvestment zones that
136	136	are jointly administered are advised by a single joint advisory
137	137	board for the zones. A joint advisory board under this subsection
138	138	consists of members appointed under Subsection (a) for each zone to
139	139	be jointly administered.
140	140	(c) An advisory board member may not receive compensation
141	141	for service on the board or reimbursement for expenses incurred in
142	142	performing services as a member.
143	143	SECTION 2. Section 222.110(e), Transportation Code, is
144	144	amended to read as follows:
145	145	(e) The sales and use taxes to be deposited into the tax
146	146	increment account under this section may be disbursed from the
147	147	account only to:
148	148	(1) pay for projects authorized under Section 222.104,
149	149	including the repayment of amounts owed under an agreement entered
150	150	into under that section; and
151	151	(2) notwithstanding Sections 321.506 and 323.505, Tax
152	152	Code, satisfy claims of holders of tax increment bonds, notes, or
153	153	other obligations issued or incurred for projects authorized under
154	154	Section 222.104 or 222.1071.
155	155	SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,
156	156	is amended by adding Section 251.018 to read as follows:
157	157	Sec. 251.018. DONATIONS. (a) A commissioners court may
158	158	accept donations of labor, money, or other property to aid in the
159	159	building or maintaining of roads, culverts, or bridges in the
160	160	county if the commissioners court enters into an agreement of
161	161	release of liability regarding the donations.
162	162	(b) A county operating under the county road department
163	163	system on September 1, 2013, may use the authority granted under
164	164	this section without holding a new election under Section 252.301.
165	165	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
166	166	* * * * *