By: Paul (Senate Sponsor - Taylor) H.B. No. 303
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 3, 2019;
April 4, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
Resources & Economic Development; May 6, 2019, reported adversely,
with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas
11, Nays 0; May 6, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 303 By: Miles
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to entities eligible to authorize the creation of
spaceport development corporations and to the powers of those
corporations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 507.003, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 507.003. AUTHORITY TO CREATE CORPORATION BY ELIGIBLE
ENTITIES. The following entities are eligible to authorize the
creation under this subtitle of a spaceport development
corporation:
(1) a county; [or]
(2) a municipality with a population of two million or
more; or
(3) a combination of one or more municipalities and
one or more counties.
SECTION 2. Section 507.051, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(b) If a single county authorizes the creation of a
spaceport development corporation, the commissioners court of the
county shall appoint the directors of the corporation. If a single
municipality authorizes the creation of a spaceport development
corporation under Section 507.003(2), the governing body of the
municipality shall appoint the directors of the corporation.
(b-1) If more than one political subdivision authorizes the
creation of a spaceport development corporation, the governing
bodies of the political subdivisions shall appoint the directors
through written agreement between the governing bodies.
SECTION 3. Section 507.103, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to
read as follows:
(a) This section does not apply to a spaceport development
corporation whose authorizing entity is a single municipality with
a population of two million or more.
(a-1) A spaceport development corporation may exercise the
power of eminent domain to acquire property for a spaceport,
including the power to:
(1) acquire fee title in land condemned;
(2) relocate or modify a railroad, utility line,
pipeline, or other facility that may interfere with a spaceport; or
(3) impose a reasonable restriction on using the
surface of the property for mineral development if the corporation
does not own the mineral rights.
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, 2019.
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