H.B. No. 1964
AN ACT
relating to certain convention center hotel projects.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 351.001(2) and (7), Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(2) "Convention center facilities" or "convention
center complex" means facilities that are primarily used to host
conventions and meetings. The term means civic centers, civic
center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and coliseums
that are owned by the municipality or other governmental entity or
that are managed in whole or part by the municipality. In a
municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more, "convention
center facilities" or "convention center complex" means civic
centers, civic center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls,
and coliseums that are owned by the municipality or other
governmental entity or that are managed in part by the
municipality, hotels owned by the municipality or a nonprofit
municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within 1,000 feet of a convention
center owned by the municipality, or a historic hotel owned by the
municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored local government
corporation created under Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within
one mile of a convention center owned by the municipality. The term
includes parking areas or facilities that are for the parking or
storage of conveyances and that are located at or in the vicinity of
other convention center facilities. The term also includes a hotel
owned by or located on land that is owned by an eligible central
municipality or by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an
eligible central municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet
of a convention center facility owned by the municipality. The term
also includes a hotel that is owned in part by an eligible central
municipality described by Subdivision (7)(D) and that is located
within 1,000 feet of a convention center facility. [The term also
includes a hotel proposed to be constructed, remodeled, or
rehabilitated by a municipality or a nonprofit municipally
sponsored local government corporation created under Chapter 431,
Transportation Code, that is within 3,000 feet of the property line
of a convention center owned by a municipality having a population
of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican States.]
(7) "Eligible central municipality" means:
(A) a municipality with a population of more than
140,000 but less than 1.5 million that is located in a county with a
population of one million or more and that has adopted a capital
improvement plan for the construction or expansion of a [an
existing] convention center facility; [or]
(B) a municipality with a population of 250,000
or more that:
(i) is located wholly or partly on a barrier
island that borders the Gulf of Mexico;
(ii) is located in a county with a
population of 300,000 or more; and
(iii) has adopted a capital improvement
plan to expand an existing convention center facility;
(C) a municipality with a population of 116,000
or more that:
(i) is located in two counties both of which
have a population of 660,000 or more; and
(ii) has adopted a capital improvement plan
for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility;
(D) a municipality with a population of less than
50,000 that contains a general academic teaching institution that
is not a component institution of a university system, as those
terms are defined by Section 61.003, Education Code; or
(E) a municipality with a population of 640,000
or more that:
(i) is located on an international border;
and
(ii) has adopted a capital improvement plan
for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility.
SECTION 2. Section 351.102, Tax Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read
as follows:
(a) Subject to the limitations provided by this subchapter,
a municipality may pledge the revenue derived from the tax imposed
under this chapter for the payment of bonds that are issued under
Section 1504.002(a), Government Code, for one or more of the
purposes provided by Section 351.101 or, in the case of a
municipality of 1,500,000 or more [or a municipality having a
population of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican
States], for the payment of principal of or interest on bonds or
other obligations of a municipally sponsored local government
corporation created under Chapter 431, Transportation Code, that
were issued to pay the cost of the acquisition and construction of a
convention center hotel or the cost of acquisition, remodeling, or
rehabilitation of a historic hotel structure; provided, however,
such pledge may only be that portion of the tax collected at such
hotel.
(b) An eligible central municipality, [or] a municipality
with a population of 173,000 or more that is located within two or
more counties, a municipality with a population of 96,000 or more
that is located in a county that borders Lake Palestine or contains
the headwaters of the San Gabriel River, or a municipality with a
population of at least 99,900 but not more than 111,000 that is
located in a county with a population of at least 135,000 may pledge
the revenue derived from the tax imposed under this chapter from a
hotel project that is owned by or located on land owned by the
municipality or, in an eligible central municipality, by a
nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
municipality, and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention
center facility owned by the municipality for the payment of bonds
or other obligations issued or incurred to acquire, lease,
construct, and equip the hotel and any facilities ancillary to the
hotel, including convention center entertainment-related
facilities, meeting spaces, restaurants, shops, street and water
and sewer infrastructure necessary for the operation of the hotel
or ancillary facilities, and parking facilities within 1,000 feet
of the hotel or convention center facility. For bonds or other
obligations issued under this subsection, an eligible central
municipality or a municipality described by this subsection [with a
population of 173,000 or more that is located within two counties]
may only pledge revenue or other assets of the hotel project
benefiting from those bonds or other obligations.
(d) Except as provided by this subsection, an eligible
central municipality or another municipality described by
Subsection (b) that uses revenue derived from the tax imposed under
this chapter or funds received under Subsection (c) for a hotel
project described by Subsection (b) may not reduce the percentage
of revenue from the tax imposed under this chapter and allocated for
a purpose described by Section 351.101(a)(3) to a percentage that
is less than the average percentage of that revenue allocated by the
municipality for that purpose during the 36-month period preceding
the date the municipality begins using the revenue or funds for the
hotel project. This subsection does not apply to an eligible
central municipality described by Section 351.001(7)(D).
SECTION 3. Section 151.429(h), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(h) [This subsection does not apply to a qualified hotel
project described by Section 2303.003(8)(B), Government Code.]
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, the owner of
a qualified hotel project shall receive a rebate, refund, or
payment of 100 percent of the sales and use taxes paid or collected
by the qualified hotel project or businesses located in the
qualified hotel project pursuant to this chapter and 100 percent of
the hotel occupancy taxes paid by persons for the use or possession
of or for the right to the use or possession of a room or space at
the qualified hotel project pursuant to the provisions of Chapter
156 during the first 10 years after such qualified hotel project is
open for initial occupancy. The comptroller shall deposit the
taxes in trust in a separate suspense account of the qualified hotel
project. A suspense account is outside the state treasury, and the
comptroller may make a rebate, refund, or payment authorized by
this section without the necessity of an appropriation. The
comptroller shall rebate, refund, or pay to each qualified hotel
project eligible taxable proceeds to which the project is entitled
under this section at least monthly.
SECTION 4. Section 2303.003(8), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(8) "Qualified hotel project" means[:
[(A)] a hotel proposed to be constructed by a
municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored local government
corporation created under the Texas Transportation Corporation
Act, Chapter 431, Transportation Code, that is within 1,000 feet of
a convention center owned by a municipality having a population of
1,500,000 or more, including shops, parking facilities, and any
other facilities ancillary to the hotel[; and
[(B) a hotel proposed to be constructed,
remodeled, or rehabilitated by a municipality or a nonprofit
municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
the Texas Transportation Corporation Act, Chapter 431,
Transportation Code, that is within 3,000 feet of the property line
of a convention center owned by a municipality having a population
of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican States].
SECTION 5. Section 2303.5055(b), Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A municipality with a population of 1,500,000 or more
[or a municipality having a population of more than 500,000 and that
borders the United Mexican States] may agree to guarantee from
hotel occupancy taxes the bonds or other obligations of a
municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
the Texas Transportation Corporation Act, Chapter 431,
Transportation Code, that were issued or incurred to pay the cost of
construction, remodeling, or rehabilitation of a qualified hotel
project.
SECTION 6. 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, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1964 was passed by the House on April
23, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 137, Nays 2, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1964 on May 18, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 117, Nays 14,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1964 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 15, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays
2.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor