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.