85R19578 JTS-F
By: Miller, Zerwas, Reynolds H.B. No. 2557
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2557:
By: Morrison C.S.H.B. No. 2557
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the development of certain local government
transportation infrastructure projects; authorizing the issuance
of bonds.
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. OTHER POWERS OF COUNTY, DISTRICT, AND
NAVIGATION DISTRICT. (a) This section applies only to a county
that:
(1) is adjacent to a county with a population of four
million or more;
(2) has a population of 300,000 or more; and
(3) has created a district by concurrent order with an
adjacent county pursuant to Section 172.052.
(b) A county acting through the commissioners court or a
local government corporation may adopt an order that authorizes the
county and a navigation district located wholly or partly in the
county to:
(1) develop rail facilities as a qualifying project
under Chapter 2267, Government Code; and
(2) issue bonds for rail facilities secured by a
pledge of the revenues of the facilities, including contract
revenue, grant revenue, or other revenue collected in connection
with the facilities.
(c) If each county that created a district adopts an order
described by Subsection (b), the district may exercise the powers
described by that subsection.
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, 2017.