By: Villarreal	H.B. No. 3508

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the definition of a convention center facility and to
	the pledge for bonds.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 351.001, Tax Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 351.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
	(1)  "Municipality" includes any incorporated city,
	town, or village.
	(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.
	(a)  For the purposes of this chapter a hotel within 1000
	feet of a Convention Center Facility must have:
	(i)  one room for each two thousand five hundred square
	feet of usable convention center facility space, less parking areas
	or facilities that are for the parking and storage of conveyances;
	and
	(ii)  generate 40% or more of its revenues from nightly
	lodging accommodations.
	(3)  "Eligible coastal municipality" means a home-rule
	municipality that borders on the Gulf of Mexico and has a population
	of less than 80,000.
	(4)  "Hotel" has the meaning assigned by Section
	156.001.
	(5)  "Tourism" means the guidance or management of
	tourists.
	(6)  "Tourist" means an individual who travels from the
	individual's residence to a different municipality, county, state,
	or country for pleasure, recreation, education, or culture.
	(7)  "Eligible central municipality" means a
	municipality with a population of more than 140,000 but less than
	1.5 million that is located in a county with a population of one
	million or more and that has adopted a capital improvement plan for
	the expansion of an existing convention center facility.
	(8)  "Visitor information center" or "tourism
	information center" means a building or a portion of a building used
	to distribute or disseminate information to tourists.
	(9)  "Revenue" includes any interest derived from the
	revenue.
	(10)  "Revenue" includes any interest derived from the
	revenue.
	(11)  "Eligible barrier island coastal municipality"
	means a municipality:
	(A)  that borders on the Gulf of Mexico;
	(B)  that is located wholly on a barrier island;
	and
	(C)  the boundaries of which are within 30 miles
	of the United Mexican States.
	SECTION 2.  Chapter 351.102(b) Tax Code, is amended to read
	as follows:
	(b)  An eligible central municipality or a municipality with
	a population of 173,000 or more that is located within two counties
	may pledge the revenue derived from the tax imposed under this
	chapter from a hotel project that is owned by or located on land
	owned by the municipality or, in an eligible central municipality,
	by a nonprofit corporation acting on behalf of an eligible central
	municipality, the principal component of which is a hotel providing
	one room for each two thousand five hundred square feet of usable
	convention center facility space, less parking areas or facilities
	that are for the parking or storage of conveyances, that generates
	40% or more of its revenues from nightly sleeping accommodations;
	and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention center
	facility owned by the municipality for the payment of bonds or other
	obligations issued or incurred to acquire, lease, construct, and
	equip the hotel and any facilities ancillary to the hotel,
	including convention center entertainment-related facilities,
	restaurants, shops, and parking facilities within 1,000 feet of the
	hotel or convention center facility.  For bonds or other
	obligations issued under this subsection, an eligible central
	municipality or a municipality with a population of 173,000 or more
	that is located within two counties may only pledge revenue or other
	assets of the hotel project benefiting from those bonds or other
	obligations.
	(b-1)  A municipality with a population of 173,000 or more
	that is located within two counties and is not an eligible central
	municipality may not pledge revenue under Subsection (b) in
	relation to a particular hotel project after the earlier of:
	(1)  the 20th anniversary of the date the municipality
	first pledged the revenue to the hotel project; or
	(2)  the date the revenue pledged to the hotel project
	equals 40 percent of the hotel project's total construction cost.
	SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to bonds issued on or after the effective date of this Act. Bonds
	issued before the effective date of this Act are governed by the law
	in effect at the time the bonds were issued, and that law is
	continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.