Bill Text: TX HB3615 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the use of hotel occupancy tax revenues in certain municipalities.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2015-06-19 - Effective immediately [HB3615 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB3615-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 3615

AN ACT
relating to the use of hotel occupancy tax revenues in certain
municipalities and the authority of certain counties to impose a
county hotel occupancy tax; authorizing the imposition of a tax.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 351.101(a), Tax Code, as amended by
Chapters 541 (S.B. 551) and 546 (S.B. 585), Acts of the 83rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, 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, [and] 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; [or]
(viii) has a population of at least 7,500
and is located in a county that borders the Pecos River and that has
a population of not more than 15,000;
(ix) [(viii)] 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
(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 of a recreational venue in the
immediate vicinity of area hotels, if:
(A) the municipality:
(i) is a general-law municipality;
(ii) has a population of not more than 900;
and
(iii) does not impose an ad valorem tax;
(B) not more than $100,000 of municipal hotel
occupancy tax revenue is used for the construction of the
recreational venue;
(C) a majority of the hotels in the municipality
request the municipality to construct the recreational venue;
(D) the recreational venue will be used primarily
by hotel guests; and
(E) the municipality will pay for maintenance of
the recreational venue from the municipality's general fund;
(11) 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
(12) 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 2. Section 351.101, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (k) to read as follows:
(k) In addition to other authorized uses, a municipality
that is intersected by both State Highways 71 and 95 may use revenue
from the municipal hotel occupancy tax for the promotion of tourism
by the enhancement and upgrading of an existing sports facility or
field as specified by Subsection (a)(7), provided that the
requirements of Subsections (a)(7)(A) and (C) are met.
SECTION 3. Section 352.002, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (n) to read as follows:
(n) The commissioners court of a county with a population of
more than 300,000 and in which there is located all or part of the
most populous military installation in this state may impose a tax
as provided by Subsection (a).
SECTION 4. Section 352.003, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (p) to read as follows:
(p) In a county authorized to impose the tax under Section
352.002(n), the county tax rate in relation to a hotel located in a
municipality that imposes a tax under Chapter 351 may not exceed a
rate that, when added to the rate of the tax imposed by the
municipality under Chapter 351, exceeds the sum of the rate
prescribed by Section 351.003(a) plus two percent.
SECTION 5. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
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. 3615 was passed by the House on May
12, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 138, Nays 6, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 3615 on May 28, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 129, Nays 15,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3615 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 26, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor