Bill Text: TX HB1950 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to a municipality's or county's eligibility to receive money disbursed from a local events trust fund.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-23 - Left pending in committee [HB1950 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1950-Introduced.html

---

84R5518 DDT-D
By: Springer H.B. No. 1950

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a municipality's or county's eligibility to receive
money disbursed from a local events trust fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 5C, Chapter 1507 (S.B.
456), Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999 (Article
5190.14, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 5C. LOCAL EVENTS TRUST FUND FOR CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES
AND COUNTIES.
SECTION 2. Sections 5C(b-1), (d), (d-1), (e), (f), (g),
(h), (j), (k), (l), (m), and (t), Chapter 1507 (S.B. 456), Acts of
the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999 (Article 5190.14,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
(b-1) An endorsing county or endorsing municipality may not
receive money from a Local Events trust fund to fund an event under
this section if the county or municipality has received money from a
Local Events trust fund under this section to fund another event
held in the same calendar year. This subsection does not limit the
[The] number of requests for funding under this section that may be
submitted by an endorsing county or endorsing municipality during
that year if previous event requests submitted during that year are
determined to be ineligible for funding under this section [any
12-month period for an event for which the comptroller determines
that the total amount of the incremental increase in tax receipts
under Subsection (b) of this section is less than $200,000 is
limited to, during any 12-month period, not more than 10 events,
only three of which may be nonsporting events].
(d) Each endorsing municipality or endorsing county shall
remit to the comptroller and the comptroller shall deposit into a
trust fund created by the comptroller and designated as the Local
Events trust fund the amount of the municipality's or county's hotel
occupancy tax revenue determined under Subsection (b)(4) or (5) of
this section, less any amount of the revenue that the municipality
or county determines is necessary to meet the obligations of the
municipality or county. The comptroller shall retain the amount of
sales and use tax revenue and mixed beverage tax revenue determined
under Subsection (b)(2) or (3) of this section from the amounts
otherwise required to be sent to the municipality under Sections
321.502 and 183.051(b), Tax Code, or to the county under Sections
323.502 and 183.051(b), Tax Code, and deposit into the trust fund
the tax revenues, less any amount of the revenue that the
municipality or county determines is necessary to meet the
obligations of the municipality or county. The comptroller shall
begin retaining and depositing the local tax revenues with the
first distribution of that tax revenue that occurs after the first
day of the period described by Subsection (b) of this section or at
a time otherwise determined to be practicable by the comptroller
and shall discontinue retaining the local tax revenues under this
subsection when the amount of the applicable tax revenue determined
under Subsection (b)(2) or (3) of this section has been retained.
The Local Events trust fund is established outside the state
treasury and is held in trust by the comptroller for administration
of this section. Money in the trust fund may be disbursed by the
comptroller without appropriation only as provided by this section.
(d-1) Not later than the 90th day after the last day of an
event and in lieu of the local tax revenues remitted to or retained
by the comptroller under Subsection (d) of this section, a
municipality or county may remit to the comptroller for deposit in
the Local Events trust fund other local funds in an amount equal to
the total amount of local tax revenue determined under Subsections
(b)(2) through (5) of this section. The amount deposited by the
comptroller into the Local Events trust fund under this subsection
is subject to Subsection (f) of this section.
(e) In addition to the tax revenue deposited in the Local
Events trust fund under Subsection (d) of this section, an
endorsing municipality or endorsing county may guarantee its
obligations under an event support contract and this section by
pledging surcharges from user fees, including parking or ticket
fees, charged in connection with the event. An endorsing
municipality or endorsing county may collect and remit to the
comptroller surcharges and user fees attributable to the event for
deposit into the Local Events trust fund.
(f) The comptroller shall deposit into the Local Events
trust fund a portion of the state tax revenue not to exceed the
amount determined under Subsection (b)(1) of this section in an
amount equal to 6.25 times the amount of the local tax revenue
retained or remitted under this section, including:
(1) local sales and use tax revenue;
(2) mixed beverage tax revenue;
(3) hotel occupancy tax revenue; and
(4) surcharge and user fee revenue.
(g) To meet its obligations under an event support contract
to improve, construct, renovate, or acquire facilities or to
acquire equipment, an endorsing municipality by ordinance or an
endorsing county by order may authorize the issuance of notes. An
endorsing municipality or endorsing county may provide that the
notes be paid from and secured by amounts on deposit or amounts to
be deposited into the Local Events trust fund or surcharges from
user fees, including parking or ticket fees, charged in connection
with the event. Any note issued must mature not later than seven
years from its date of issuance.
(h) The money in the Local Events trust fund may be used to
pay the principal of and interest on notes issued by an endorsing
municipality or endorsing county under Subsection (g) of this
section and to fulfill obligations of this state or an endorsing
municipality or endorsing county to a site selection organization
under an event support contract. Subject to Subsection (k) of this
section, the obligations may include the payment of costs relating
to the preparations necessary for the conduct of the event and the
payment of costs of conducting the event, including improvements or
renovations to existing facilities or other facilities and costs of
acquisition or construction of new facilities or other facilities.
(j) The comptroller shall provide an estimate not later than
three months before the date of an event of the total amount of tax
revenue that would be deposited in the Local Events trust fund under
this section in connection with that event, if the event were to be
held in this state at a site selected pursuant to an application by
a local organizing committee, endorsing municipality, or endorsing
county. The comptroller shall provide the estimate on request to a
local organizing committee, endorsing municipality, or endorsing
county. A local organizing committee, endorsing municipality, or
endorsing county may submit the comptroller's estimate to a site
selection organization.
(k) The comptroller may make a disbursement from the Local
Events trust fund on the prior approval of each contributing
endorsing municipality or endorsing county for a purpose for which
a local organizing committee, an endorsing municipality, or an
endorsing county or this state is obligated under an event support
contract, including an obligation to pay costs incurred in the
conduct of the event and costs incurred in making preparations
necessary for the event. If an obligation is incurred under an
event support contract to make a structural improvement to the site
or to add a fixture to the site for purposes of an event and that
improvement or fixture is expected to derive most of its value in
subsequent uses of the site for future events, a disbursement from
the trust fund made for purposes of that obligation is limited to
five percent of the cost of the improvement or fixture and the
remainder of the obligation is not eligible for a disbursement from
the trust fund, unless the improvement or fixture is for a publicly
owned facility. In considering whether to make a disbursement from
the trust fund, the comptroller may not consider a contingency
clause in an event support contract as relieving a local organizing
committee's, endorsing municipality's, or endorsing county's
obligation to pay a cost under the contract.
(l) If a disbursement is made from the Local Events trust
fund under Subsection (k) of this section, the obligation shall be
satisfied proportionately from the state and local revenue in the
trust fund.
(m) On payment of all state, municipal, or county
obligations under an event support contract related to the location
of any particular event in this state, the comptroller shall remit
to each endorsing entity, in proportion to the amount contributed
by the entity, any money remaining in the Local Events trust fund.
(t) After the conclusion of an event, the comptroller shall
compare information on the actual attendance figures provided to
the comptroller under Subsection (i) of this section with the
estimated attendance numbers used to determine the incremental
increase in tax receipts under Subsection (b) of this section. If
the actual attendance figures are significantly lower than the
estimated attendance numbers, the comptroller may reduce the amount
of a disbursement for an endorsing entity under the Local Events
trust fund in proportion to the discrepancy between the actual and
estimated attendance and in proportion to the amount contributed to
the fund by the entity. The comptroller by rule shall define
"significantly lower" for purposes of this subsection and provide
the manner in which a disbursement may be proportionately reduced.
This subsection does not affect the remittance of any money
remaining in the fund in accordance with Subsection (m) of this
section.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a request for funding from a local events trust fund submitted on or
after the effective date of this Act. A request submitted before
that date is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.