88R4715 SRA-F
By: Harless H.B. No. 2648
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of certain municipalities and local
government corporations to use certain tax revenue for certain
qualified projects and project-associated infrastructure.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 351.1015(a), Tax Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (4-a) to read as follows:
(4-a) "Project-associated infrastructure" means:
(A) a hotel, store, restaurant, concession,
automobile parking facility, theater, opera house, auditorium,
music hall, rehearsal hall, venue and related infrastructure,
entertainment facility, park, museum, plaza, recreational
facility, transportation facility, road, street, water or sewer
facility, or tourist development area that is:
(i) located in a project financing zone;
(ii) located on land owned, acquired, or
leased by a municipality or by a local government corporation to
which Subsection (j) applies; and
(iii) related to the promotion of tourism
and the convention and hotel industry; or
(B) the acquisition of public or private land and
related infrastructure that:
(i) is located in a project financing zone;
and
(ii) will be used in connection with a
purpose described by this subdivision.
SECTION 2. Section 351.1015, Tax Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), (d), (g), and (i) and adding
Subsection (j) to read as follows:
(b) This section applies only to a qualified project and
project-associated infrastructure located in:
(1) a municipality with a population of at least
650,000 but less than 750,000 according to the most recent federal
decennial census; or
(2) a municipality with a population of at least two
million.
(c) In addition to the uses provided by Section 351.101,
revenue from the municipal hotel occupancy tax may be used to fund a
qualified project and project-associated infrastructure.
(d) A municipality may pledge the revenue derived from the
tax imposed under this chapter from a hotel located in the project
financing zone for the payment of bonds or other obligations issued
or incurred to acquire, lease, construct, improve, enlarge, and
equip the qualified project and project-associated infrastructure.
(g) The comptroller shall deposit incremental
hotel-associated revenue collected by or forwarded to the
comptroller in a separate suspense account to be held in trust for
the municipality that is entitled to receive the revenue. The
suspense account is outside the state treasury, and the comptroller
may make a payment authorized by this section from the account
without the necessity of an appropriation. The comptroller shall
begin making payments from the suspense account to the municipality
for which the money is held on the date the qualified project or
project-associated infrastructure in the project financing zone is
commenced. If the qualified project or project-associated
infrastructure is not commenced by the fifth anniversary of the
first deposit to the account, the comptroller shall transfer the
money in the account to the general revenue fund and cease making
deposits to the account.
(i) A municipality shall notify the comptroller if the
qualified project or project-associated infrastructure in the
project financing zone is abandoned. If the qualified project or
project-associated infrastructure is abandoned, the comptroller
shall transfer to the general revenue fund the amount of money in
the suspense account that exceeds the amount required for the
payment of bonds or other obligations described by Subsection (d).
(j) A local government corporation to which this subsection
applies may act as a municipality under this section and is
considered to be a municipality for purposes of this section. An
action a municipality is required to take by ordinance or order
under this section may be taken by order or resolution of the
corporation. This subsection applies only to a local government
corporation that:
(1) is authorized to collect a municipal hotel
occupancy tax;
(2) is located in a county with a population of 3.3
million or more; and
(3) operates a convention center facility located not
more than three miles from the city hall of the municipality in
which the convention center facility is located.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.