By: Spiller H.B. No. 3594
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an adjustment to the voter-approval tax rate for
certain municipalities with low or decreasing debt.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 26, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Section 26.0445 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.0445. VOTER-APPROVAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FOR
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING IN A LOW-DEBT
MUNICIPALIITY. (a) In the section:
(1) "Low-debt municipality" means a municipality that:
(A) adopted a tax rate in the preceding tax year
for which the debt component comprised no more than 20 percent of
the adopted rate; or
(B) for each of the preceding three tax years,
adopted a tax rate for which the debt component comprised a lower
percentage of the adopted rate than the percentage of the adopted
rate the debt component comprised in the immediately preceding tax
year.
(2) "Transportation infrastructure" means the building
and maintenance of highways, roads, sidewalks, airports, rail
lines, bus stations, transit facilities, or other infrastructure
designed to facilitate transportation.
(b) A low-debt municipality may direct the designated
officer or employee to add to the voter-approval tax rate the rate
that, when applied to the municipality's current total taxable
value, would impose an amount of taxes equal to the greater of:
(1) one percent of the preceding year's maintenance and
operations tax levy; or
(2) $50,000.
(c) A municipality that makes the adjustment provided by
Subsection (b) shall place in a separate account in the municipal
treasury an amount of money equal to the amount described by
Subsection (b)(1) or (2), as applicable, that the municipality used
to calculate the adjustment. Money in the account may be used only
for transportation infrastructure costs.
SECTION 2. Section 26.0445, Tax Code, as added by this Act,
applies to the calculation of the voter-approval tax rate for a
municipality on for a tax year beginning on or after January 1,
2024.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2024.