Bill Text: TX SB1771 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the ad valorem taxation of a leasehold or other possessory interest in certain property owned by a municipality.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-15 - Not again placed on intent calendar [SB1771 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1771-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1771
(In the Senate - Filed March 6, 2019; March 14, 2019, read
first time and referred to Committee on Property Tax; May 6, 2019,
reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
following vote: Yeas 3, Nays 2; May 6, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1771 By: Bettencourt

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the ad valorem taxation of a leasehold or other
possessory interest in certain property owned by a municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 25.07, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Sections 11.11(b) and (c) and by
Subsection (d) of this section, a leasehold or other possessory
interest in exempt property may not be listed if:
(1) the property is permanent university fund land;
(2) the property is county public school fund
agricultural land;
(3) the property is a part of a public transportation
facility owned by a municipality or county and:
(A) is an airport passenger terminal building or
a building used primarily for maintenance of aircraft or other
aircraft services, for aircraft equipment storage, or for air
cargo;
(B) is an airport fueling system facility;
(C) is in a foreign-trade zone:
(i) that has been granted to a joint airport
board under Subchapter C, Chapter 681, Business & Commerce Code;
(ii) the area of which in the portion of the
zone located in the airport operated by the joint airport board does
not exceed 2,500 acres; and
(iii) that is established and operating
pursuant to federal law; or
(D)(i) is in a foreign trade zone established
pursuant to federal law after June 1, 1991, that operates pursuant
to federal law;
(ii) is contiguous to or has access via a
taxiway to an airport located in two counties, one of which has a
population of 500,000 or more according to the federal decennial
census most recently preceding the establishment of the foreign
trade zone; and
(iii) is owned, directly or through a
corporation organized under the Development Corporation Act
(Subtitle C1, Title 12, Local Government Code), by the same
municipality that owns the airport;
(4) the interest is in a part of:
(A) a park, market, fairground, or similar public
facility that is owned by a municipality; or
(B) a convention center, visitor center, sports
facility with permanent seating, concert hall, arena, or stadium
that is owned by a municipality as such leasehold or possessory
interest serves a governmental, municipal, or public purpose or
function when the facility is open to the public, regardless of
whether a fee is charged for admission;
(5) the interest involves only the right to use the
property for grazing or other agricultural purposes;
(6) the property is:
(A) owned by a municipality, a public port, or a
navigation district created or operating under Section 59, Article
XVI, Texas Constitution, or under a statute enacted under Section
59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution; and
(B) used as an aid or facility incidental to or
useful in the operation or development of a port or waterway or in
aid of navigation-related commerce; or
(7) the property is part of a rail facility owned by a
rural rail transportation district operating under Chapter 172,
Transportation Code.
(d) Subsection (b)(4)(B) does not prohibit the listing of a
leasehold or other possessory interest in real property for
purposes of taxation of the possessory interest by a taxing unit
other than the municipality that owns the property unless:
(1) the governing body of the taxing unit approves the
exemption of the possessory interest in the manner provided by law
for official action by the governing body; or
(2) the financing by the municipality of the
construction of the facility on the property was authorized by the
voters of the municipality at an election held by the municipality.
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to the taxation of property
for a tax year beginning on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to the taxation of a leasehold or other possessory interest in real
property that is granted on or after the effective date of this Act.
The taxation of a leasehold or other possessory interest in real
property that is granted before the effective date of this Act,
including a leasehold or other possessory interest that is granted
before that date and is renewed on or after that date, is governed
by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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