82R8342 JAM-F
	By: Menendez	H.B. No. 3491

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to establishment and functions of certain urban land bank
	programs.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 374.022, Local Government Code, is
	amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  An urban renewal agency created under this subchapter
	may serve as a land bank under Chapter 379E.
	SECTION 2.  Section 379E.003, Local Government Code, is
	amended by amending Subdivision (3) and adding Subdivision (4-a) to
	read as follows:
	(3)  "Land bank" means an entity established or
	approved by the governing body of a municipality for the purpose of
	acquiring, holding, and transferring [unimproved real] property
	under this chapter.
	(4-a) "Property" means real property and includes
	tax-foreclosed properties and any other type of property conveyed
	to a land bank under this chapter.
	SECTION 3.  Section 379E.004, Local Government Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 379E.004.  URBAN LAND BANK PROGRAM. (a) The governing
	body of a municipality may:
	(1)  adopt an urban land bank program in which the
	officer charged with selling [real] property ordered sold pursuant
	to foreclosure of a tax lien may sell certain eligible [real]
	property by private sale for purposes of affordable housing
	development as provided by this chapter;
	(2)  enter into an interlocal agreement with any taxing
	authority or other governmental entity to allow a type of property
	other than a tax-foreclosed property to be conveyed to the land
	bank;
	(3)  approve an urban renewal agency created under
	Chapter 374 to serve as a land bank; and
	(4)  enter into an interlocal agreement with another
	municipality to administer a joint urban land bank program under
	this chapter.
	(b)  The governing body of a municipality that adopts an
	urban land bank program shall establish or approve a land bank for
	the purpose of acquiring, holding, and transferring [unimproved
	real] property under this chapter.
	(c)  A land bank established as part of a joint urban land
	bank program under this chapter may be dissolved by resolution of
	the governing body of any municipality that is a party to the
	agreement establishing the land bank.  At any time, a participating
	municipality may withdraw from the agreement establishing the
	program without requiring a dissolution of the land bank.
	SECTION 4.  Section 379E.007(b), Local Government Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  The city manager or the city manager's designee shall
	provide notice of the hearing to:
	(1)  all community housing development organizations
	and to any other known qualified participating developers; and
	(2)  all [to] neighborhood associations identified by
	the municipality as serving the neighborhoods in which properties
	anticipated to be available for sale to the land bank under this
	chapter are located.
	SECTION 5.  Section 379E.008, Local Government Code, is
	amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (j) and
	(k) to read as follows:
	(a)  Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
	Subsection (f), property that is ordered sold pursuant to
	foreclosure of a tax lien may be sold in a private sale to a land
	bank by the officer charged with the sale of the property without
	first offering the property for sale as otherwise provided by
	Section 34.01, Tax Code, if:
	(1)  the market value of the property as specified in
	the judgment of foreclosure is less than the total amount due under
	the judgment, including all taxes, penalties, and interest, plus
	the value of nontax liens held by a taxing unit and awarded by the
	judgment, court costs, and the cost of the sale;
	(2)  the property is not improved with a habitable
	building or buildings, as described by the municipality's health
	and safety code;
	(3)  there are delinquent taxes on the property for a
	total of at least two [five] years; and
	(4)  the municipality has executed with the other
	taxing units that are parties to the tax suit an interlocal
	agreement that enables those units to agree to participate in the
	program while retaining the right to withhold consent to the sale of
	specific properties to the land bank.
	(j)  Notwithstanding any other law, public property may be
	conveyed to a land bank without providing prior public notification
	with the consent of each governmental entity holding an interest in
	the property.
	(k)  Notwithstanding any other provisions in this section or
	any other law, a land bank may acquire property through voluntary
	donations or transfers from private owners.
	SECTION 6.  Chapter 379E, Local Government Code, is amended
	by adding Section 379E.0081 to read as follows:
	Sec. 379E.0081.  ACQUISITION AND DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY BY
	LAND BANK. (a) A land bank shall hold in its own name all property
	conveyed to the land bank.  The property must be held for the
	benefit of any governmental entity establishing or approving the
	land bank for the purposes of this chapter.
	(b)  A land bank may, at the time the land bank sells or
	otherwise disposes of property, extinguish all delinquent property
	taxes owed on the property and all other nontax liens on the
	property if all affected taxing units enter into an interlocal
	agreement for that purpose.
	(c)  A land bank:
	(1)  shall inventory and appraise all property held by
	the land bank, with the appraisal value to be determined by the
	local county tax appraisal district and the inventory to be
	maintained as a public record;
	(2)  on the basis of suitability for use, shall
	organize and classify all property held by the land bank; and
	(3)  may manage, maintain, protect, rent, lease,
	repair, insure, alter, sell, trade, exchange, or otherwise dispose
	of any property held by the land bank if the disposition complies
	with any applicable law or agreement.
	(d)  A land bank may determine the sale price of a property to
	be sold by the land bank. The proceeds, if any, from the sale of
	property by a land bank must be:
	(1)  used in furtherance of land bank operations;
	(2)  used for the recovery of land bank expenses; and
	(3)  distributed pursuant to a resolution of the
	governing body of the municipality.
	(e)  A land bank may receive, from the date of the actual sale
	and for a period to be determined by agreement, a percentage of the
	property tax revenues of a property sold by the land bank if the
	affected taxing units agree to assign a portion of that revenue to
	the land bank.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.