Bill Text: TX HB1399 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to procedures and requirements for the issuance of certificates of obligation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-18 - Left pending in subcommittee [HB1399 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1399-Introduced.html

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84R4735 TJB-D
By: Goldman H.B. No. 1399

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to procedures and requirements for the issuance of
certificates of obligation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 271.047, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) Except in a case of grave public necessity to meet an
unusual and unforeseen condition, the governing body of an issuer
may not authorize a certificate to pay a contractual obligation to
be incurred if a bond proposition to authorize the issuance of bonds
for the same purpose was submitted to the voters during the
preceding three years and failed to be approved.
SECTION 2. Section 271.049, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 271.049. NOTICE OF INTENTION TO ISSUE CERTIFICATES;
PETITION AND ELECTION. (a) Regardless of the sources of payment of
certificates, certificates may not be issued unless the issuer
publishes notice of its intention to issue the certificates. The
notice must be published:
(1) once a week for two consecutive weeks in a
newspaper, as defined by Subchapter C, Chapter 2051, Government
Code, that is of general circulation in the area of the issuer, with
the date of the first publication to be before the 45th [30th] day
before the date tentatively set for the passage of the order or
ordinance authorizing the issuance of the certificates; and
(2) continuously on the issuer's Internet website for
at least 45 days before the date tentatively set for the passage of
the order or ordinance authorizing the issuance of the
certificates.
(b) The notice must state:
(1) the time and place tentatively set for the passage
of the order or ordinance authorizing the issuance of the
certificates;
(2) the [maximum amount and] purpose of the
certificates to be authorized; [and]
(3) the manner in which the certificates will be paid
for, whether by taxes, revenues, or a combination of the two;
(4) the following, stated as a total amount and as a
per capita amount:
(A) the then-current principal of all
outstanding debt obligations of the issuer;
(B) the then-current combined principal and
interest required to pay all outstanding debt obligations of the
issuer on time and in full;
(C) the principal of the certificates to be
authorized; and
(D) the estimated combined principal and
interest required to pay the certificates to be authorized on time
and in full;
(5) the estimated rate of interest for the
certificates to be authorized;
(6) the maturity date of the certificates to be
authorized; and
(7) the process by which a petition may be submitted
requesting an election on the issuance of the certificates, in the
following form:
"Five percent of the total number of voters of (name of
issuer) that voted in the most recent gubernatorial general
election may petition to require an election to be held authorizing
the issuance of certificates of obligation by delivering a signed
petition to the (insert "secretary or clerk" if the issuer is a
municipality, or "county clerk" if the issuer is a county) of (name
of issuer) before the date the governing body has set for the
authorization of the certificates of obligation. Information about
the requirements of the petition may be obtained from the (insert
"secretary or clerk" if the issuer is a municipality, or "county
clerk" if the issuer is a county) of (name of issuer)."[.]
(c) If before the date tentatively set for the authorization
of the issuance of the certificates or if before the authorization,
the municipal secretary or clerk if the issuer is a municipality, or
the county clerk if the issuer is a county, receives a petition
signed by a number of qualified voters of the issuer equal to five
percent or more of the number of votes cast in the municipality or
county, as applicable, in the most recent gubernatorial general
election [at least five percent of the qualified voters of the
issuer] protesting the issuance of the certificates, the issuer may
not authorize the issuance of the certificates unless the issuance
is approved at an election ordered, held, and conducted in the
manner provided for bond elections under Chapter 1251, Government
Code.
(d) This section does not apply to certificates issued for
the purposes described by Sections 271.056(1)-(3)
[271.056(1)-(4)].
(e) An issuer shall maintain an Internet website to comply
with this section.
(f) In this section, "debt obligation" means an issued
public security, as defined by Section 1201.002, Government Code.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
271.049, Local Government Code, apply only to a certificate of
obligation for which the first notice of intention to issue the
certificate is made on or after the effective date of this Act. A
certificate of obligation for which the first notice of intention
to issue the certificate is made before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect when the notice of intention is
made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.