BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

C.S.H.B. 1634

By: Kuempel

Ways & Means

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

It has been noted that many county commissioners courts across Texas have been authorized to collect a county hotel occupancy tax. However, there have been calls to authorize additional county commissioners courts to collect such a tax, such as the commissioners court of Guadalupe County. C.S.H.B. 1634 seeks to extend the authorization to collect a county hotel occupancy tax to that commissioners court.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

 

ANALYSIS

 

C.S.H.B. 1634 amends the Tax Code to authorize the commissioners court of a county with a population of 110,000 or more through which the Guadalupe River flows to impose a county hotel occupancy tax. The bill caps the rate of the tax at seven percent of the price paid for a room in a hotel but caps the tax rate at two percent of that price if the hotel is located in a municipality that imposes a municipal hotel occupancy tax applicable to the hotel or if the hotel is located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality with a population of less than 35,000 that imposes such a tax in that jurisdiction.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.

 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

 

While C.S.H.B. 1634 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

 

The substitute includes a cap on the rate of the tax authorized by the bill's provisions.