H.B. No. 1896
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the application of and use of revenue from hotel
  occupancy taxes imposed by municipalities and counties.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 334.001(4), Local Government Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
               (4)  "Venue" means:
                     (A)  an arena, coliseum, stadium, or other type of
  area or facility:
                           (i)  that is used or is planned for use for
  one or more professional or amateur sports events, community
  events, or other sports events, including rodeos, livestock shows,
  agricultural expositions, promotional events, and other civic or
  charitable events, provided that a facility financed wholly or
  partly with revenue from a tax imposed under Subchapter H is not, or
  will not be, primarily used for community, civic, and charitable
  events that are attended only by residents of the community; and
                           (ii)  for which a fee for admission to the
  events is charged or is planned to be charged;
                     (B)  a convention center, a convention center
  facility as defined by Section 351.001(2) or 352.001(2), Tax Code,
  or a related improvement such as a civic center hotel, theater,
  opera house, music hall, rehearsal hall, park, zoological park,
  museum, aquarium, or plaza located in the vicinity of a convention
  center or facility owned by a municipality or a county, provided
  that a related improvement for a facility financed wholly or partly
  with revenue from a tax imposed under Subchapter H must be in the
  vicinity of the convention center;
                     (C)  a tourist development area along an inland
  waterway;
                     (D)  a municipal parks and recreation system, or
  improvements or additions to a parks and recreation system, or an
  area or facility that is part of a municipal parks and recreation
  system;
                     (E)  a project authorized by Section 4A or 4B,
  Development Corporation Act of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas
  Civil Statutes), as that Act existed on September 1, 1997; and
                     (F)  a watershed protection and preservation
  project; a recharge, recharge area, or recharge feature protection
  project; a conservation easement; or an open-space preservation
  program intended to protect water.
         SECTION 2.  Section 351.001(2), Tax Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
               (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. The term
  also includes a hotel that is owned in part by an eligible central
  municipality described by Subdivision (7)(D) and that is located
  within 1,000 feet of a convention center facility. For purposes of
  this subdivision, "meetings" means gatherings of people that
  enhance and promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry.
         SECTION 3.  Section 351.007, Tax Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 351.007.  PREEXISTING CONTRACTS. (a) If a municipality
  increases the rate of the tax authorized by this chapter, the
  increased tax rate does not apply to the tax imposed on the use or
  possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room under a
  contract that was executed before the date the increased rate takes
  effect and [October 1, 1989,] that provides for the payment of the
  tax at the rate in effect when the contract was executed, unless the
  contract is subject to change or modification by reason of the tax
  rate increase.
         (b)  This subsection applies only to a contract that provides
  for the payment of one or more taxes imposed on the use or
  possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room that is
  in a hotel, including a tax authorized by Chapter 156 or 352 of this
  code or by Subchapter H, Chapter 334, Local Government Code. If a
  municipality adopts an ordinance imposing a tax under this chapter
  that is not imposed at any rate before the effective date of the tax
  prescribed by the ordinance, the imposition of the tax does not
  apply to the use or possession, or the right to the use or
  possession, of a room under a contract executed before the date the
  imposition of the tax takes effect, unless the contract is subject
  to change or modification by reason of the imposition of the new
  tax.
         (c)  The tax rate applicable to the use or possession, or the
  right to the use or possession, of a room under a [the] contract
  described by Subsection (a) is the rate in effect when the contract
  was executed. Notwithstanding Section 351.002(a), no tax is imposed
  under this chapter on the use or possession, or the right to the use
  or possession, of a room under a contract described by Subsection
  (b).
  SECTION 4.  Section 351.101(a), Tax Code, as amended by
  Chapters 666 (H.B. 3772) and 979 (H.B. 3615), Acts of the 84th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, 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, 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;
                           (viii) [(ix)]  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
                           (ix) [(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, 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
               (11)  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 5.  Section 352.0031, Tax Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 352.0031.  PREEXISTING CONTRACTS. (a) If a county
  increases the rate of the tax authorized by this chapter, the
  increased tax rate does not apply to the tax imposed on the use or
  possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room under a
  contract that was executed before the date the increased rate takes
  effect and [October 1, 1989,] that provides for the payment of the
  tax at the rate in effect when the contract was executed, unless the
  contract is subject to change or modification by reason of the tax
  rate increase.
         (b)  This subsection applies only to a contract that provides
  for the payment of one or more taxes imposed on the use or
  possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room that is
  in a hotel, including a tax authorized by Chapter 156 or 351 of this
  code or by Subchapter H, Chapter 334, Local Government Code. If the
  commissioners court of a county adopts an order or resolution
  imposing a tax under this chapter as authorized by Section 352.002
  and the tax was not imposed at any rate before the effective date of
  the tax prescribed by the order or resolution, the imposition of the
  tax does not apply to the use or possession, or the right to the use
  or possession, of a room under a contract executed before the date
  the imposition of the tax takes effect, unless the contract is
  subject to change or modification by reason of the imposition of the
  new tax.
         (c)  The tax rate applicable to the use or possession, or the
  right to the use or possession, of a room under a [the] contract
  described by Subsection (a) is the rate in effect when the contract
  was executed. Notwithstanding Section 352.002, no tax is imposed
  under this chapter on the use or possession, or the right to the use
  or possession, of a room under a contract described by Subsection
  (b).
         SECTION 6.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
  over another Act of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017,
  relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
  codes.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1896 was passed by the House on April
  20, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 2, 2 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1896 was passed by the Senate on May
  19, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor