H.B. No. 1964

	AN ACT
	relating to certain convention center hotel projects.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Sections 351.001(2) and (7), Tax Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(2)  "Convention center facilities" or "convention
	center complex" means facilities that are primarily used to host
	conventions and meetings. The term means civic centers, civic
	center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and coliseums
	that are owned by the municipality or other governmental entity or
	that are managed in whole or part by the municipality. In a
	municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more, "convention
	center facilities" or "convention center complex" means civic
	centers, civic center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition halls,
	and coliseums that are owned by the municipality or other
	governmental entity or that are managed in part by the
	municipality, hotels owned by the municipality or a nonprofit
	municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
	Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within 1,000 feet of a convention
	center owned by the municipality, or a historic hotel owned by the
	municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored local government
	corporation created under Chapter 431, Transportation Code, within
	one mile of a convention center owned by the municipality. The term
	includes parking areas or facilities that are for the parking or
	storage of conveyances and that are located at or in the vicinity of
	other convention center facilities. The term also includes a hotel
	owned by or located on land that is owned by an eligible central
	municipality or by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an
	eligible central municipality and that is located within 1,000 feet
	of a convention center facility owned by the municipality. The term
	also includes a hotel that is owned in part by an eligible central
	municipality described by Subdivision (7)(D) and that is located
	within 1,000 feet of a convention center facility. [The term also
	includes a hotel proposed to be constructed, remodeled, or
	rehabilitated by a municipality or a nonprofit municipally
	sponsored local government corporation created under Chapter 431,
	Transportation Code, that is within 3,000 feet of the property line
	of a convention center owned by a municipality having a population
	of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican States.]
	(7)  "Eligible central municipality" means:
	(A)  a municipality with a population of more than
	140,000 but less than 1.5 million that is located in a county with a
	population of one million or more and that has adopted a capital
	improvement plan for the construction or expansion of a [an
	existing] convention center facility; [or]
	(B)  a municipality with a population of 250,000
	or more that:
	(i)  is located wholly or partly on a barrier
	island that borders the Gulf of Mexico;
	(ii)  is located in a county with a
	population of 300,000 or more; and
	(iii)  has adopted a capital improvement
	plan to expand an existing convention center facility;
	(C)  a municipality with a population of 116,000
	or more that:
	(i)  is located in two counties both of which
	have a population of 660,000 or more; and
	(ii)  has adopted a capital improvement plan
	for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility;
	(D)  a municipality with a population of less than
	50,000 that contains a general academic teaching institution that
	is not a component institution of a university system, as those
	terms are defined by Section 61.003, Education Code; or
	(E)  a municipality with a population of 640,000
	or more that:
	(i)  is located on an international border;
	and
	(ii)  has adopted a capital improvement plan
	for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility.
	SECTION 2.  Section 351.102, Tax Code, is amended by
	amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read
	as follows:
	(a)  Subject to the limitations provided by this subchapter,
	a municipality may pledge the revenue derived from the tax imposed
	under this chapter for the payment of bonds that are issued under
	Section 1504.002(a), Government Code, for one or more of the
	purposes provided by Section 351.101 or, in the case of a
	municipality of 1,500,000 or more [or a municipality having a
	population of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican
	States], for the payment of principal of or interest on bonds or
	other obligations of a municipally sponsored local government
	corporation created under Chapter 431, Transportation Code, that
	were issued to pay the cost of the acquisition and construction of a
	convention center hotel or the cost of acquisition, remodeling, or
	rehabilitation of a historic hotel structure; provided, however,
	such pledge may only be that portion of the tax collected at such
	hotel.
	(b)  An eligible central municipality, [or] a municipality
	with a population of 173,000 or more that is located within two or
	more counties, a municipality with a population of 96,000 or more
	that is located in a county that borders Lake Palestine or contains
	the headwaters of the San Gabriel River, or a municipality with a
	population of at least 99,900 but not more than 111,000 that is
	located in a county with a population of at least 135,000 may pledge
	the revenue derived from the tax imposed under this chapter from a
	hotel project that is owned by or located on land owned by the
	municipality or, in an eligible central municipality, by a
	nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
	municipality, and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention
	center facility owned by the municipality for the payment of bonds
	or other obligations issued or incurred to acquire, lease,
	construct, and equip the hotel and any facilities ancillary to the
	hotel, including convention center entertainment-related
	facilities, meeting spaces, restaurants, shops, street and water
	and sewer infrastructure necessary for the operation of the hotel
	or ancillary facilities, and parking facilities within 1,000 feet
	of the hotel or convention center facility. For bonds or other
	obligations issued under this subsection, an eligible central
	municipality or a municipality described by this subsection [with a
	population of 173,000 or more that is located within two counties]
	may only pledge revenue or other assets of the hotel project
	benefiting from those bonds or other obligations.
	(d)  Except as provided by this subsection, an eligible
	central municipality or another municipality described by
	Subsection (b) that uses revenue derived from the tax imposed under
	this chapter or funds received under Subsection (c) for a hotel
	project described by Subsection (b) may not reduce the percentage
	of revenue from the tax imposed under this chapter and allocated for
	a purpose described by Section 351.101(a)(3) to a percentage that
	is less than the average percentage of that revenue allocated by the
	municipality for that purpose during the 36-month period preceding
	the date the municipality begins using the revenue or funds for the
	hotel project. This subsection does not apply to an eligible
	central municipality described by Section 351.001(7)(D).
	SECTION 3.  Section 151.429(h), Tax Code, is amended to read
	as follows:
	(h)  [This subsection does not apply to a qualified hotel
	project described by Section 2303.003(8)(B), Government Code.]
	Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, the owner of
	a qualified hotel project shall receive a rebate, refund, or
	payment of 100 percent of the sales and use taxes paid or collected
	by the qualified hotel project or businesses located in the
	qualified hotel project pursuant to this chapter and 100 percent of
	the hotel occupancy taxes paid by persons for the use or possession
	of or for the right to the use or possession of a room or space at
	the qualified hotel project pursuant to the provisions of Chapter
	156 during the first 10 years after such qualified hotel project is
	open for initial occupancy.  The comptroller shall deposit the
	taxes in trust in a separate suspense account of the qualified hotel
	project.  A suspense account is outside the state treasury, and the
	comptroller may make a rebate, refund, or payment authorized by
	this section without the necessity of an appropriation.  The
	comptroller shall rebate, refund, or pay to each qualified hotel
	project eligible taxable proceeds to which the project is entitled
	under this section at least monthly.
	SECTION 4.  Section 2303.003(8), Government Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(8)  "Qualified hotel project" means[:
	[(A)]  a hotel proposed to be constructed by a
	municipality or a nonprofit municipally sponsored local government
	corporation created under the Texas Transportation Corporation
	Act, Chapter 431, Transportation Code, that is within 1,000 feet of
	a convention center owned by a municipality having a population of
	1,500,000 or more, including shops, parking facilities, and any
	other facilities ancillary to the hotel[; and
	[(B)     a hotel proposed to be constructed,
	remodeled, or rehabilitated by a municipality or a nonprofit
	municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
	the Texas Transportation Corporation Act, Chapter 431,
	Transportation Code, that is within 3,000 feet of the property line
	of a convention center owned by a municipality having a population
	of more than 500,000 and that borders the United Mexican States].
	SECTION 5.  Section 2303.5055(b), Government Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  A municipality with a population of 1,500,000 or more
	[or a municipality having a population of more than 500,000 and that
	borders the United Mexican States] may agree to guarantee from
	hotel occupancy taxes the bonds or other obligations of a
	municipally sponsored local government corporation created under
	the Texas Transportation Corporation Act, Chapter 431,
	Transportation Code, that were issued or incurred to pay the cost of
	construction, remodeling, or rehabilitation of a qualified hotel
	project.
	SECTION 6.  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, 2015.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1964 was passed by the House on April
	23, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 137, Nays 2, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 1964 on May 18, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 117, Nays 14,
	2 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1964 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 15, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays
	2.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor