Bill Text: TX HB2494 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to provisions applicable to affordable housing located in a reinvestment zone in certain areas of the state; authorizing a fee.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-11 - Referred to Urban Affairs [HB2494 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB2494-Introduced.html
  86R8060 CJC-D
 
  By: González of Dallas H.B. No. 2494
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to provisions applicable to affordable housing located in
  a reinvestment zone in certain areas of the state; authorizing a
  fee.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 311.003, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (e) to read as follows:
         (e)  Before adopting an ordinance designating a reinvestment
  zone described by Section 311.0112, a municipality must prepare or
  have prepared an affordable housing impact statement. The
  statement must be made available to the public and posted on the
  municipality's Internet website at least 60 days before the
  municipality holds the hearing required under Subsection (c). The
  statement must include estimates of the impact on the availability
  of affordable housing in the area of the proposed zone for the
  30-year period following designation of the proposed zone.
         SECTION 2.  Section 311.006(e), Tax Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         (e)  Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a reinvestment zone:
               (1)  designated under Section 311.005(a)(4); or
               (2)  described by Section 311.0112.
         SECTION 3.  Chapter 311, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Section 311.0112 to read as follows:
         Sec. 311.0112.  PROVISIONS APPLICABLE IN CERTAIN ZONES. (a)
  This section applies only to a reinvestment zone:
               (1)  designated by a municipality:
                     (A)  with a population of 1.18 million or more;
  and
                     (B)  that is located predominantly in a county
  that has a total area of less than 1,000 square miles; and
               (2)  any part of which is located in an area composed of
  census tracts forming a spatially compact area contiguous to a
  central business district with:
                     (A)  fewer than 75,000 residents;
                     (B)  a median family income that is less than
  $30,000 according to the last decennial census; and
                     (C)  an overall poverty rate that is at least two
  times the poverty rate for the entire municipality that designated
  the zone.
         (b)  For purposes of this section, an area adjacent to a
  reinvestment zone means any area within two miles of the zone's
  boundaries in any direction that is not located within the
  boundaries of another reinvestment zone.
         (c)  Subject to Subsection (d), at least 20 percent of the
  revenue from the tax increment fund of the reinvestment zone spent
  annually must be for the development, construction, and
  preservation of affordable housing in the zone and in the area
  adjacent to the zone. Of that amount:
               (1)  at least 75 percent must be spent to benefit
  families that have a yearly income at or below 60 percent of the
  area median family income, adjusted for family size; and
               (2)  not more than 10 percent may be used to pay
  administrative costs.
         (d)  Subsection (c) does not apply if the use of the revenue
  in the tax increment fund in the manner required by that subsection
  would materially impair the security for bonds or notes issued
  under Section 311.015 before September 1, 2019.
         (e)  A project or reinvestment zone financing plan for a
  reinvestment zone that is approved or amended on or after September
  1, 2019, must require the developer of a residential housing
  development located in the zone and funded wholly or partly with
  money from the tax increment fund for the zone to:
               (1)  subject to Subsection (f), set aside at least 20
  percent of the planned dwelling units in each residential housing
  development as affordable housing with an affordability period of
  at least 40 years; and
               (2)  enter into a contract with the municipality that
  designated the zone to pay the costs of relocating residents of the
  zone and the area adjacent to the zone who are displaced as a direct
  result of the residential housing development.
         (f)  As an alternative to the set-aside requirement under
  Subsection (e)(1), the municipality that designated the
  reinvestment zone may allow a developer to pay a fee to the
  municipality. The amount of the fee is determined by the
  municipality. The municipality shall deposit the fee in an
  affordable housing fund administered by the governing body of the
  municipality. Money in the fund may be used only to:
               (1)  subsidize the cost to the municipality of tax
  abatement agreements entered into under Section 311.0125 with the
  owners of real property located in the zone if:
                     (A)  the real property subject to the tax
  abatement agreement is the owner's residence homestead; and
                     (B)  the owner, at the time the tax abatement
  agreement is entered into, has:
                           (i)  resided in the zone for 10 or more
  years; and
                           (ii)  a yearly income at or below 60 percent
  of the median family income in the zone, adjusted for family size;
  and
               (2)  pay to a qualified for-profit entity or a
  nonprofit entity for the purpose of developing, constructing, or
  preserving affordable housing in the zone and in the area adjacent
  to the zone for families that have a yearly income at or below 60
  percent of the area median family income, adjusted for family size.
         (g)  Section 311.0125(b) does not apply to a tax abatement
  agreement described by Subsection (f)(1).
         (h)  Notwithstanding any other law, a project or
  reinvestment zone financing plan for a reinvestment zone that is
  approved or amended on or after September 1, 2019, shall provide
  that when money is spent from the tax increment fund for the zone
  for the purpose of making infrastructure improvements in the zone,
  a proportionate amount of money in the fund equal to not more than
  20 percent of that amount must be spent from the fund to provide
  necessary infrastructure improvements in the area adjacent to the
  zone. The plan shall provide that the governing body of the
  municipality that designated the zone determines:
               (1)  the proportionate amount to be spent in the area
  adjacent to the zone, subject to the limitation provided by this
  subsection; and
               (2)  the infrastructure improvements that are
  necessary in the area adjacent to the zone.
         (i)  Notwithstanding Section 1.04(7), in determining the
  market value of a residence homestead that is more than 30 years old
  and located in a reinvestment zone or in the area adjacent to the
  zone, the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
  property is located may exclude from consideration the value of new
  or substantially remodeled residential properties that are located
  in the same neighborhood as the residence homestead being appraised
  and that would otherwise be considered in appraising the residence
  homestead.
         (j)  If the municipality that designated the reinvestment
  zone has adopted minimum habitability standards for residential
  housing units in the municipality, the municipality shall develop
  and adopt a plan to provide for the relocation of tenants displaced
  as a result of the enforcement of those standards. The plan must
  provide that the municipality may use any penalties received from
  the owner of the housing unit from which tenants were displaced to
  pay the tenant's relocation costs.
         SECTION 4.  Section 311.016, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (c) to read as follows:
         (c)  In addition to the information required under
  Subsection (a), the annual report for a reinvestment zone described
  by Section 311.0112 must include the following information,
  specific to each neighborhood located in the zone:
               (1)  a detailed explanation of each expenditure from
  the tax increment fund established by the zone for affordable
  housing in the neighborhood; and
               (2)  an analysis of:
                     (A)  the effect of each expenditure from the fund
  on the availability of affordable housing in the neighborhood; and
                     (B)  whether any expenditure from the fund had a
  disparate impact on minority or low-income neighborhood residents.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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