H.B. No. 2660

	AN ACT
	relating to the use of money from the Texas economic development
	bank fund for rural rail development.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 489.102(b), Government Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(b)  The bank may:
	(1)  provide, as provided under the programs the bank
	administers under Section 489.108 or otherwise as provided by law:
	(A)  qualifying communities with tax incentives
	for expanding businesses or businesses relocating to this state;
	(B)  incentives to lenders to:
	(i)  make loans to near-bankable businesses
	in the lender's community; and
	(ii)  make low-interest loans to qualifying
	businesses; and
	(C)  bond-based long-term debt financing for
	capital investment in public entities, in large commercial and
	industrial projects, and for other economic development purposes;
	(2)  act as a link between businesses searching for
	investment capital and potential investors;
	(3)  inform institutional lenders of economic
	development plans and strategies for each region of this state and
	encourage institutional lenders to support those plans in their
	marketing and investment strategies;
	(4)  offer communities a one-stop source of financing
	for their economic development efforts;
	(5)  provide communities with technical assistance in
	the development of their incentive programs to attract and retain
	businesses and in the design of incentive packages for specific
	proposals; [and]
	(6)  provide expanding businesses or businesses
	relocating to this state with a single source of information
	concerning financial incentives offered by this state to those
	businesses; and
	(7)  provide grants or financing to the Texas
	Department of Transportation to implement the department's powers
	and duties relating to rural rail development under Chapter 91,
	Transportation Code.
	SECTION 2.  Section 489.104, Government Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 489.104.  ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES.  The bank may
	allocate its resources as necessary to efficiently meet the level
	of demand experienced by:
	(1)  each program or service described by Section
	489.108; and
	(2)  the Texas Department of Transportation under
	Section 489.102(b)(7).
	SECTION 3.  Section 91.071(b), Transportation Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  Except for money received from the Texas economic
	development bank fund under Section 489.102, Government Code, the
	[The] department may not spend money from the general revenue fund
	to implement this chapter except pursuant to a line-item
	appropriation.
	SECTION 4.  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, 2007.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2660 was passed by the House on May
	11, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 143, Nays 0, 2 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2660 was passed by the Senate on May
	23, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor