85R7608 JTS-F
By: Miller H.B. No. 2557
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the development of certain local government
transportation infrastructure projects.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 172.001, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subdivision (4-a) and amending Subdivision (7) to read as
follows:
(4-a) "Intelligent transportation system" means:
(A) innovative or intelligent technological
transportation systems, infrastructure, or facilities, including
elevated freight transportation facilities:
(i) in proximity to, or within, an existing
right-of-way on the state highway system; or
(ii) that connect land ports of entry to the
state highway system;
(B) communications or information processing
systems that improve the efficiency, security, or safety of freight
movement on the state highway system, including improving the
conveyance of freight on dedicated intelligent freight lanes; or
(C) a transportation facility or system that
increases truck freight efficiencies in the boundaries of an
intermodal facility or hub.
(7) "Rail facilities" means:
(A) passenger or freight rail facilities,
including:
(i) tracks;
(ii) a rail line;
(iii) switching, signaling, or other
operating equipment;
(iv) a depot;
(v) a locomotive;
(vi) rolling stock;
(vii) a maintenance facility; and
(viii) other real and personal property
associated with a rail operation;
(B) an intermodal hub;
(C) an automated conveyor belt for the movement
of freight;
(D) an intelligent transportation system that
operates with or as part of facilities described by Paragraphs
(A)-(C); or
(E) a system of facilities described by
Paragraphs (A)-(D) [property, or an interest in that property, that
the board determines is necessary or convenient to provide a rural
rail transportation system; and
[(B) property or an interest necessary or
convenient to acquire, provide, construct, enlarge, remodel,
renovate, improve, furnish, use, or equip the system, including:
[(i) a right-of-way;
[(ii) an earthwork or structure, including
clearing and grubbing of right-of-way, demolition of a structure,
relocation of utilities, a pipeline, or any other obstacle in a
right-of-way, stripping and stockpiling, removal of subsoil for
embankment or spoil, a borrow pit, dressing and seeding of a slope,
construction of a culvert, a road crossing, a bridge, restoration
of a roadway, drainage within a right-of-way or along a road
network, and restoration of a hydrologic system;
[(iii) trackwork;
[(iv) a train control, including
signalling, interlocking equipment, speed monitoring equipment, an
emergency braking system, a central traffic control facility, and a
communication system;
[(v) a passenger or freight service
building, terminal, or station, a ticketing facility, a waiting
area, a platform, a concession, an elevator, an escalator, a
facility for handicapped access, an access road, a parking facility
for passengers, a baggage handling facility, a local maintenance
facility, and offices for district purposes and includes an
interest in real property necessary or convenient for an item
listed under this subparagraph;
[(vi) rolling stock; and
[(vii) a maintenance facility].
SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 172, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 172.211 to read as follows:
Sec. 172.211. REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY AND OTHER POWERS
OF COUNTY, DISTRICT, AND NAVIGATION DISTRICT. (a) In this section:
(1) "Authority" means a regional mobility authority
under Chapter 370.
(2) "Transportation project" has the meaning assigned
by Section 370.003.
(b) A county that is part of a district, acting through the
commissioners court or a local government corporation, may adopt an
order authorizing the exercise of the powers of an authority
without state approval, supervision, or regulation.
(c) On adoption of an order under Subsection (b), the county
and a navigation district located wholly in the county may:
(1) exercise the powers of an authority;
(2) develop a rail facility project as a qualifying
project under Chapter 2267, Government Code;
(3) on or before August 31, 2021, enter into
comprehensive development agreements for transportation projects,
using the process described by Sections 370.306 and 370.307; and
(4) issue bonds for transportation projects secured by
a pledge of the revenues of the project, including contract
revenue, grant revenue, or other revenue collected in connection
with the project.
(d) If each county that is part of a district adopts an order
described by Subsection (b), the district may exercise the powers
described by Subsection (c).
SECTION 3. Section 222.107(c), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) The commissioners court of the county, after
determining that an area is unproductive and underdeveloped and
that action under this section would further the purposes described
by Section 222.105, by order or resolution may designate a
contiguous geographic area in the jurisdiction of the county to be a
transportation reinvestment zone to promote one or more
transportation projects. A county may designate the transportation
reinvestment zone to be coterminous with or otherwise include a
county assistance district created by the county under Chapter 387,
Local Government Code.
SECTION 4. Sections 222.110(a) and (b), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Sales tax base" for a transportation reinvestment
zone means the amount of sales and use taxes imposed by a
municipality under Section 321.101(a), Tax Code, or by a county
under Chapter 323, Tax Code, including sales and use taxes imposed
by a county assistance district created by the county under Chapter
387, Local Government Code, as applicable, attributable to the zone
for the year in which the zone was designated under this chapter.
(2) "Transportation reinvestment zone" includes a
county energy transportation reinvestment zone.
(b) The governing body of a municipality or county may
determine, in an ordinance or order designating an area as a
transportation reinvestment zone or in an ordinance or order
adopted subsequent to the designation of a zone, the portion or
amount of tax increment generated from the sales and use taxes
imposed by a municipality under Section 321.101(a), Tax Code, or by
a county under Chapter 323, Tax Code, including sales and use taxes
imposed by a county assistance district created by the county under
Chapter 387, Local Government Code, attributable to the zone, above
the sales tax base, to be used as provided by Subsection
(e). Nothing in this section requires a municipality or county to
contribute sales tax increment under this subsection.
SECTION 5. 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, 2017.