H.B. No. 1896

	AN ACT
	relating to the application of and use of revenue from hotel
	occupancy taxes imposed by municipalities and counties.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 334.001(4), Local Government Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(4)  "Venue" means:
	(A)  an arena, coliseum, stadium, or other type of
	area or facility:
	(i)  that is used or is planned for use for
	one or more professional or amateur sports events, community
	events, or other sports events, including rodeos, livestock shows,
	agricultural expositions, promotional events, and other civic or
	charitable events, provided that a facility financed wholly or
	partly with revenue from a tax imposed under Subchapter H is not, or
	will not be, primarily used for community, civic, and charitable
	events that are attended only by residents of the community; and
	(ii)  for which a fee for admission to the
	events is charged or is planned to be charged;
	(B)  a convention center, a convention center
	facility as defined by Section 351.001(2) or 352.001(2), Tax Code,
	or a related improvement such as a civic center hotel, theater,
	opera house, music hall, rehearsal hall, park, zoological park,
	museum, aquarium, or plaza located in the vicinity of a convention
	center or facility owned by a municipality or a county, provided
	that a related improvement for a facility financed wholly or partly
	with revenue from a tax imposed under Subchapter H must be in the
	vicinity of the convention center;
	(C)  a tourist development area along an inland
	waterway;
	(D)  a municipal parks and recreation system, or
	improvements or additions to a parks and recreation system, or an
	area or facility that is part of a municipal parks and recreation
	system;
	(E)  a project authorized by Section 4A or 4B,
	Development Corporation Act of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas
	Civil Statutes), as that Act existed on September 1, 1997; and
	(F)  a watershed protection and preservation
	project; a recharge, recharge area, or recharge feature protection
	project; a conservation easement; or an open-space preservation
	program intended to protect water.
	SECTION 2.  Section 351.001(2), Tax Code, is 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. For purposes of
	this subdivision, "meetings" means gatherings of people that
	enhance and promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry.
	SECTION 3.  Section 351.007, Tax Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 351.007.  PREEXISTING CONTRACTS. (a) If a municipality
	increases the rate of the tax authorized by this chapter, the
	increased tax rate does not apply to the tax imposed on the use or
	possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room under a
	contract that was executed before the date the increased rate takes
	effect and [October 1, 1989,] that provides for the payment of the
	tax at the rate in effect when the contract was executed, unless the
	contract is subject to change or modification by reason of the tax
	rate increase.
	(b)  This subsection applies only to a contract that provides
	for the payment of one or more taxes imposed on the use or
	possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room that is
	in a hotel, including a tax authorized by Chapter 156 or 352 of this
	code or by Subchapter H, Chapter 334, Local Government Code. If a
	municipality adopts an ordinance imposing a tax under this chapter
	that is not imposed at any rate before the effective date of the tax
	prescribed by the ordinance, the imposition of the tax does not
	apply to the use or possession, or the right to the use or
	possession, of a room under a contract executed before the date the
	imposition of the tax takes effect, unless the contract is subject
	to change or modification by reason of the imposition of the new
	tax.
	(c)  The tax rate applicable to the use or possession, or the
	right to the use or possession, of a room under a [the] contract
	described by Subsection (a) is the rate in effect when the contract
	was executed. Notwithstanding Section 351.002(a), no tax is imposed
	under this chapter on the use or possession, or the right to the use
	or possession, of a room under a contract described by Subsection
	(b).
	SECTION 4.  Section 351.101(a), Tax Code, as amended by
	Chapters 666 (H.B. 3772) and 979 (H.B. 3615), Acts of the 84th
	Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is reenacted and amended to
	read as follows:
	(a)  Revenue from the municipal hotel occupancy tax may be
	used only to promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry,
	and that use is limited to the following:
	(1)  the acquisition of sites for and the construction,
	improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and
	maintenance of convention center facilities or visitor information
	centers, or both;
	(2)  the furnishing of facilities, personnel, and
	materials for the registration of convention delegates or
	registrants;
	(3)  advertising and conducting solicitations and
	promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates
	or registrants to the municipality or its vicinity;
	(4)  the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and
	application of the arts, including instrumental and vocal music,
	dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and
	allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft
	arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording,
	and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution,
	and exhibition of these major art forms;
	(5)  historical restoration and preservation projects
	or activities or advertising and conducting solicitations and
	promotional programs to encourage tourists and convention
	delegates to visit preserved historic sites or museums:
	(A)  at or in the immediate vicinity of convention
	center facilities or visitor information centers; or
	(B)  located elsewhere in the municipality or its
	vicinity that would be frequented by tourists and convention
	delegates;
	(6)  for a municipality located in a county with a
	population of one million or less, expenses, including promotion
	expenses, directly related to a sporting event in which the
	majority of participants are tourists who substantially increase
	economic activity at hotels and motels within the municipality or
	its vicinity;
	(7)  subject to Section 351.1076, the promotion of
	tourism by the enhancement and upgrading of existing sports
	facilities or fields[, including facilities or fields for baseball,
	softball, soccer, flag football, and rodeos,] if:
	(A)  the municipality owns the facilities or
	fields;
	(B)  the municipality:
	(i)  has a population of 80,000 or more and
	is located in a county that has a population of 350,000 or less;
	(ii)  has a population of at least 75,000 but
	not more than 95,000 and is located in a county that has a
	population of less than 200,000 but more than 160,000;
	(iii)  has a population of at least 36,000
	but not more than 39,000 and is located in a county that has a
	population of 100,000 or less that is not adjacent to a county with
	a population of more than two million;
	(iv)  has a population of at least 13,000 but
	less than 39,000 and is located in a county that has a population of
	at least 200,000;
	(v)  has a population of at least 70,000 but
	less than 90,000 and no part of which is located in a county with a
	population greater than 150,000;
	(vi)  is located in a county that:
	(a)  is adjacent to the Texas-Mexico
	border;
	(b)  has a population of at least
	500,000; and
	(c)  does not have a municipality with
	a population greater than 500,000;
	(vii)  has a population of at least 25,000
	but not more than 26,000 and is located in a county that has a
	population of 90,000 or less;
	(viii) [(ix)]  is located in a county that
	has a population of not more than 300,000 and in which a component
	university of the University of Houston System is located; or
	(ix) [(x)]  has a population of at least
	40,000 and the San Marcos River flows through the municipality; and
	(C)  the sports facilities and fields have been
	used, in the preceding calendar year, a combined total of more than
	10 times for district, state, regional, or national sports
	tournaments;
	(8)  for a municipality with a population of at least
	70,000 but less than 90,000, no part of which is located in a county
	with a population greater than 150,000, the construction,
	improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and
	maintenance of a coliseum or multiuse facility;
	(9)  signage directing the public to sights and
	attractions that are visited frequently by hotel guests in the
	municipality;
	(10)  the construction, improvement, enlarging,
	equipping, repairing, operation, and maintenance of a coliseum or
	multiuse facility, if the municipality:
	(A)  has a population of at least 90,000 but less
	than 120,000; and
	(B)  is located in two counties, at least one of
	which contains the headwaters of the San Gabriel River; and
	(11)  for a municipality with a population of more than
	175,000 but less than 225,000 that is located in two counties, each
	of which has a population of less than 200,000, the construction,
	improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing, operation, and
	maintenance of a coliseum or multiuse facility and related
	infrastructure or a venue, as defined by Section 334.001(4), Local
	Government Code, that is related to the promotion of tourism.
	SECTION 5.  Section 352.0031, Tax Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 352.0031.  PREEXISTING CONTRACTS. (a) If a county
	increases the rate of the tax authorized by this chapter, the
	increased tax rate does not apply to the tax imposed on the use or
	possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room under a
	contract that was executed before the date the increased rate takes
	effect and [October 1, 1989,] that provides for the payment of the
	tax at the rate in effect when the contract was executed, unless the
	contract is subject to change or modification by reason of the tax
	rate increase.
	(b)  This subsection applies only to a contract that provides
	for the payment of one or more taxes imposed on the use or
	possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room that is
	in a hotel, including a tax authorized by Chapter 156 or 351 of this
	code or by Subchapter H, Chapter 334, Local Government Code. If the
	commissioners court of a county adopts an order or resolution
	imposing a tax under this chapter as authorized by Section 352.002
	and the tax was not imposed at any rate before the effective date of
	the tax prescribed by the order or resolution, the imposition of the
	tax does not apply to the use or possession, or the right to the use
	or possession, of a room under a contract executed before the date
	the imposition of the tax takes effect, unless the contract is
	subject to change or modification by reason of the imposition of the
	new tax.
	(c)  The tax rate applicable to the use or possession, or the
	right to the use or possession, of a room under a [the] contract
	described by Subsection (a) is the rate in effect when the contract
	was executed. Notwithstanding Section 352.002, no tax is imposed
	under this chapter on the use or possession, or the right to the use
	or possession, of a room under a contract described by Subsection
	(b).
	SECTION 6.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
	over another Act of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017,
	relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
	codes.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1896 was passed by the House on April
	20, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 2, 2 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1896 was passed by the Senate on May
	19, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor