By: Gutierrez H.B. No. 3589
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the restriction on powers of certain municipalities,
relating to the terms that may not be contained in a development
agreement, and other restrictions for a reinvestment zone under the
Tax Increment Financing Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 311.087(a)(1)(B), Tax Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 311.087. RESTRICTION ON POWERS OF CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES.
(a) This section applies only to a proposed reinvestment
zone:
(1) the designation of which is requested in a
petition submitted under Section 311.005(a)(4) before July 31,
2004, to the governing body of a home-rule municipality that:
(A) has a population of more than 1.1 million;
(B) is located in a county with a population of
2.2 million or less; and
SECTION 2. Section 311.0087, Tax Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) thereto; adding Subsections (b)(4),
(b)(5), (c) and (d) thereto; and to read as follows:
(b) If the municipality currently imposes a fee of more than
$25,000 for processing the petition, the municipality may not
require a property owner who submitted the a petition, as a
condition of designating the reinvestment zone or approving a
development agreement, interlocal agreement, or project plan for
the proposed reinvestment zone:
(1) to waive any rights of the owner under Chapter 245,
Local Government Code, or under any agreed order or settlement
agreement to which the municipality is a party;
(2) to dedicate more than 20 percent of the owner's
land in the area described in the petition as open-space land; or
(3) to use a nonconventional use pattern for a
development to be located within the proposed reinvestment zone; or
(4) agree to waive the right to file adversarial
proceedings for declaratory, injunctive or other relief related to
the provisions of an agreement which is approved by the governing
body which created the zone; or
(5) allow for termination of the zone in the event an
adversarial action is brought to enforce an agreement for
reimbursement to a developer or other party which has been approved
by the board of a reinvestment zone and the governing body which
created the zone.
(c) If a provision or condition identified in Section
311.087(b)(1-5) is contained in a development agreement, said
provision is void as a matter of public policy.
(d) Each tax increment fund established for the zone by the
municipality pursuant to Section 311.004(a)(6), may only be
deposited and maintained in a physically separate depository
account, and may not be commingled with any other funds of the board
or governing body. Failure to comply with this section is an act of
official misconduct by the governing body's chief executive
officer.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.