HB 157

89S20087 JAM-D
		By: Shaheen
  H.B. No. 157
  A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
  AN ACT
  relating to powers of regional transportation authorities.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 452, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 452.204 to read as follows:
         Sec. 452.204.  GENERAL MOBILITY PROGRAM.  (a)  A unit of
  election in an authority consisting of one subregion governed by a
  subregional board created under Subchapter O may, in its discretion
  and not later than October 1 of each year, enter into a written
  agreement with the subregional board under which up to 25 percent of
  the sales and use tax received by the authority in that unit of
  election may be used by that unit of election for a general mobility
  program in that unit of election.  The program may include:
               (1)  constructing and maintaining sidewalks, hiking
  trails, and biking trails, highways and local and arterial streets,
  thoroughfares, and other roads, including bridges, retaining
  walls, drainage culverts, grade separations, and other structural
  roadway elements;
               (2)  installing, operating, and maintaining
  streetlights and traffic control improvements, including traffic
  signals; or
               (3)  making drainage improvements and taking
  drainage-related measures as reasonable and necessary for the
  effective use of the transportation facility being installed,
  constructed, operated, or maintained under Subdivision (1) or (2).
         (b)  Under an agreement entered into under Subsection (a), a
  unit of election shall annually provide to the subregional board a
  list of projects the unit of election intends to fund through the
  program.
         (c)  Of the sales and use tax available to a unit of election
  through the general mobility program each year:
               (1)  50 percent shall be made available to the unit of
  election on the first day of the authority's fiscal year; and
               (2)  50 percent shall be made available to the unit of
  election on a reimbursement basis before the end of the authority's
  fiscal year.
         (d)  Any money made available to a unit of election under
  Subsection (c) that is unused by the unit of election in the period
  described by that subsection must be used by the authority to pay
  down any outstanding debt that is secured by a sales and use tax
  rate imposed at a rate of one percent.  A payment made under this
  subsection is in addition to any annual debt payment required of the
  authority.
         SECTION 2.  Section 452.357(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  To secure the payment of an authority's bonds, the
  authority may:
               (1)  pledge not more than 75 percent [all or part] of
  revenue realized from any tax that the authority may impose;
               (2)  pledge any part of the revenue of the public
  transportation system;
               (3)  mortgage any part of the public transportation
  system, including any part of the system subsequently acquired;
               (4)  pledge all or part of funds the federal government
  has committed to the authority as grants in aid; and
               (5)  provide that a pledge of revenue described by
  Subdivision (1) or (2) is a first lien or charge against that
  revenue.
         SECTION 3.  Section 452.358, Transportation Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         Sec. 452.358.  USE OF REVENUE.  Revenue in excess of amounts
  pledged under Section 452.357(a)(1) or (2) shall be used to:
               (1)  pay the expenses of operation and maintenance of a
  public transportation system, including salaries, labor,
  materials, and repairs necessary to provide efficient service and
  every other proper item of expense; [and]
               (2)  fund operating reserves; and
               (3)  fund a general mobility program established under
  Section 452.204.
         SECTION 4.  Section 452.651(c), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (c)  An election to withdraw may not be ordered, and a
  petition for an election to withdraw may not be accepted for filing,
  more frequently than once during each period of 12 months preceding
  the anniversary of the date of the election confirming the
  authority.  If the unit of election is located in an authority
  consisting of one subregion governed by a subregional board created
  under Subchapter O, an election for withdrawal of the unit of
  election under this section may not be ordered, and a petition for
  withdrawal may not be accepted, more frequently than once during
  1996 and during each third [sixth] calendar year after that year.
         SECTION 5.  Subchapter Q, Chapter 452, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 452.6545 to read as follows:
         Sec. 452.6545.  EFFECT OF NOTICE OF ELECTION ON CERTAIN
  AUTHORITY TO ISSUE OBLIGATIONS.  Notwithstanding Subchapter H, on
  receipt by the executive committee of the authority of a notice
  provided under Section 452.655(c), the authority may not issue
  notes, bonds, or other obligations if the issuance would cause the
  financial obligation of the unit of election under Section
  452.659(a) to accrue because the amount in Section 452.659(b)(3)
  would increase.  This limitation on issuance continues until:
               (1)  the effective date of the withdrawal of the unit of
  election from the authority, if after an election held under
  Section 452.655 less than a majority of the votes received on the
  measure in the election favor the proposition; or
               (2)  the day after the date of the canvass of an
  election held under Section 452.655, if a majority of the votes
  received on the measure in the election favor the proposition.
         SECTION 6.  Section 452.357(a), Transportation Code, as
  amended by this Act, does not apply to the imposition of a sales and
  use tax in a regional transportation authority that, before the
  effective date of this Act, has pledged the revenue from the tax
  imposed as security for bonds issued by the authority.  The
  imposition of a sales and use tax in a regional transportation
  authority that has pledged the revenue from the tax imposed as
  security for bonds issued by the authority before the effective
  date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the revenue
  was pledged, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
  last day of the legislative session.