By: Flynn (Senate Sponsor - Estes) H.B. No. 2679
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 2015;
April 27, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on
Intergovernmental Relations; May 5, 2015, reported favorably by
the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 5, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers of a public facility corporation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 303.003(4), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(4) "Credit agreement" means a loan agreement,
revolving credit agreement, agreement establishing a line of
credit, letter of credit, reimbursement agreement, insurance
contract, commitment to purchase bonds or sponsor obligations,
purchase or sale agreement, interest rate or commodities price swap
agreement, cap or collar agreement, protection or management
agreement, or commitment or other contract or agreement authorized
and approved by the board of directors of a corporation in
anticipation of, related to, or in connection with the
authorization, issuance, incurrence, sale, security, exchange,
payment, purchase, remarketing, or redemption of bonds or interest
on bonds.
SECTION 2. Section 303.021(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A sponsor may create one or more nonmember, nonstock,
nonprofit public facility corporations to:
(1) issue bonds under this chapter, including bonds to
purchase sponsor obligations;
(2) finance public facilities on behalf of its
sponsor; or
(3) loan the proceeds of the obligations to other
entities to accomplish the purposes of the sponsor.
SECTION 3. Section 303.041, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to
read as follows:
(a) Subject to Section 303.045, a corporation has the rights
and powers necessary or convenient to accomplish the corporation's
purposes, including the power to:
(1) acquire title to a public facility in order to
lease, convey, or dispose of the public facility to the
corporation's sponsor or, on direction of the sponsor and in
furtherance of the sponsor's purposes, to another entity;
(2) accept or grant a mortgage or pledge of a public
facility financed, refinanced, or provided by the corporation or by
sponsor obligations purchased by the corporation and, as security
for the payment of any connected bonds or credit agreements that the
corporation issues or incurs:
(A) assign the mortgage or pledge and the revenue
and receipts from the mortgage or pledge or [and] from the
corporation or sponsor obligations; or
(B) grant other security;
(3) sell, convey, mortgage, pledge, lease, exchange,
transfer, and otherwise dispose of all or any part of the
corporation's property and other assets, including sponsor
obligations;
(4) make a contract, including a credit agreement,
incur a liability, and borrow money at interest;
(5) lend money for its corporate purposes, invest its
money, and take and hold security for the payment of money loaned or
invested;
(6) sue and be sued in its corporate name;
(7) appoint agents of the corporation and determine
their duties; [and]
(8) have a corporate seal and use the seal by having it
or a facsimile of it impressed on, affixed to, or reproduced on an
instrument required or authorized to be executed by the
corporation's proper officers; and
(9) exercise any powers that a nonprofit corporation
may exercise, to the extent necessary or convenient to accomplish
the purpose of the corporation.
(d) The authority granted under Subsection (a)(3) includes
the authority to grant a leasehold or other possessory interest in a
public facility owned by the corporation.
SECTION 4. 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.
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