Texas Administrative Code › Title 34 - PUBLIC FINANCE › Part 1 - COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS › Chapter 3 - TAX ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter A - GENERAL RULES › Section 3.12 - Hotel Projects, Project Financing Zones, and Qualified Hotel Projects

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Hotel Projects.
(1) Definitions. The following words and
				  terms, when used in this subsection, shall have the following meanings, unless
				  the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(A)
				  Convention center entertainment-related facilities--Facilities owned by or
				  located on land owned by the municipality or the nonprofit corporation acting
				  on behalf of an eligible central municipality, and designed and primarily used
				  for convention center events, activities, and performances. Examples of this
				  term are a performance hall, permanent or temporary stage, amphitheater, and
				  pavilion. The term does not include facilities designed for a specific use.
				  Examples of facilities that do not meet this definition include an amusement
				  park, fitness or sports center, museum, sports venue, waterpark, or
				  zoo.
(B) Convention center
				  facilities--Facilities primarily used to host conventions and meetings. The
				  term means civic centers, civic center buildings, auditoriums, exhibition
				  halls, and coliseums that are owned by the municipality or other governmental
				  entity or that are managed in whole or part by the municipality.
(i) The term includes parking areas or
				  facilities that are for the parking or storage of conveyances and that are
				  located at or in the vicinity of other convention center facilities.
(ii) The term also means:
(I) a hotel owned by or located on land that
				  is owned by an eligible central municipality or by a nonprofit corporation
				  acting on behalf of an eligible central municipality and that is located within
				  1,000 feet of a convention center facility owned by the municipality;
				  or
(II) a hotel that is owned in
				  part by an eligible central municipality described by subparagraph (C)(iv) of
				  this paragraph and that is located within 1,000 feet of a convention center
				  facility.
(iii) For the
				  purpose of this subparagraph, "meetings" means gatherings of people that
				  enhance and promote tourism and the convention and hotel industry.
(C) Eligible central
				  municipality--
(i) A municipality with a
				  population of more than 140,000 but less than 1.5 million that is located in a
				  county with a population of one million or more and that has adopted a capital
				  improvement plan for the construction or expansion of a convention center
				  facility;
(ii) a municipality with
				  a population of 250,000 or more that:
(I) is
				  located wholly or partly on a barrier island that borders the Gulf of
				  Mexico;
(II) is located in a county
				  with a population of 300,000 or more; and
(III) has adopted a capital improvement plan
				  to expand an existing convention center facility;
(iii) a municipality with a population of
				  116,000 or more that:
(I) is located in two
				  counties both of which have a population of 660,000 or more; and
(II) has adopted a capital improvement plan
				  for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility;
(iv) a municipality with a
				  population of less than 50,000 that contains a general academic teaching
				  institution that is not a component institution of a university system, as
				  those terms are defined by Education Code, §
													61.003(Definitions);
				  or
(v) a municipality with a
				  population of 640,000 or more that:
(I) is
				  located on an international border; and
(II) has adopted a capital improvement plan
				  for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility.
(D) Eligible tax
				  proceeds--Local ad valorem taxes, local sales and use taxes, local hotel
				  occupancy taxes, local mixed beverage gross receipts taxes, and local mixed
				  beverage sales taxes that are generated, paid, or collected by a qualified
				  hotel project or facilities ancillary to the hotel, and that may be rebated,
				  refunded, or paid to the owner of a qualified hotel project under an agreement
				  with a municipality, county, or other governmental body.
(E) Facility ancillary to the hotel--A
				  facility owned by or located on land owned by a municipality or, for an
				  eligible central municipality, a nonprofit corporation acting on its behalf
				  that provides necessary support for the operation and function of the hotel,
				  and that is:
(i) located within 1,000 feet of
				  a convention center facility owned by the municipality or hotel, as measured
				  from the closest exterior wall of the ancillary facility in a single-tenant
				  building or closest demising wall of the ancillary facility in a multi-tenant
				  building to the closest exterior wall of the convention center facility or
				  hotel; and
(ii) located in a hotel
				  project owned by or located on land owned by:
(I) an eligible central municipality or a
				  nonprofit organization acting on behalf of an eligible central
				  municipality;
(II) a municipality
				  with a population of 173,000 or more that is located within two or more
				  counties, including a hotel project not owned by or located on land owned by
				  the municipality if the project is located on land that is owned by the federal
				  government;
(III) a municipality
				  with a population of 96,000 or more that is located in a county that borders
				  Lake Palestine;
(IV) a municipality
				  with a population of 96,000 or more that contains the headwaters of the San
				  Gabriel River;
(V) a municipality
				  with a population of at least 99,900 but not more than 111,000 that is located
				  in a county with a population of at least 135,000;
(VI) a municipality with a population of at
				  least 110,000 but not more than 135,000 at least part of which is located in a
				  county with a population of not more than 135,000;
(VII) a municipality with a population of at
				  least 9,000 but not more than 10,000 that is located in two counties, each of
				  which has a population of at least 662,000 and a southern border with a county
				  with a population of 2.3 million or more;
(VIII) a municipality with a population of at
				  least 200,000 but not more than 300,000 that contains a component institution
				  of the Texas Tech University System;
(IX) a municipality with a population of at
				  least 95,000 that borders Lake Lewisville;
(X) a municipality that:
(-a-) contains a portion of Cedar Hill State
				  Park;
(-b-) has a population of
				  more than 45,000;
(-c-) is located
				  in two counties, one of which has a population of more than two million and one
				  of which has a population of more than 149,000; and
(-d-) has adopted a capital improvement plan
				  for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility;
(XI) a municipality with a
				  population of less than 6,000 that:
(-a-) is
				  located in two counties each with a population of 600,000 or more that are both
				  adjacent to a county with a population of two million or more;
(-b-) has full-time police and fire
				  departments; and
(-c-) has adopted a
				  capital improvement plan for the construction or expansion of a convention
				  center facility;
(XII) a
				  municipality with a population of at least 56,000 that:
(-a-) borders Lake Ray Hubbard; and
(-b-) is located in two counties, one of
				  which has a population of less than 80,000;
(XIII) a municipality with a population of
				  more than 83,000, that borders Clear Lake, and that is primarily located in a
				  county with a population of less than 300,000;
(XIV) a municipality with a population of
				  less than 2,000 that:
(-a-) is located
				  adjacent to a bay connected to the Gulf of Mexico;
(-b-) is located in a county with a
				  population of 290,000 or more that is adjacent to a county with a population of
				  four million or more; and
(-c-) has
				  a boardwalk on the bay;
(XV) a municipality with a population of
				  75,000 or more that:
(-a-) is located wholly
				  in one county with a population of 575,000 or more that is adjacent to a county
				  with a population of four million or more; and
(-b-) has adopted a capital improvement plan
				  for the construction or expansion of a convention center facility;
(XVI) a municipality with a
				  population of less than 75,000 that is located in three counties, at least one
				  of which has a population of at least four million; or
(XVII) a home-rule municipality that borders
				  the Gulf of Mexico with a population of more than 3,000 but less than
				  5,000.
(iii) The term
				  includes convention center entertainment-related facilities, meeting spaces,
				  restaurants, shops, street and water and sewer infrastructure necessary for the
				  operation of the hotel or ancillary facilities, and parking facilities.
(I) Surface parking lot facilities must be
				  located within 1,000 feet of the convention center facility or hotel, as
				  measured from the closest marked parking space of a surface parking lot
				  facility to the closest exterior wall of the convention center facility or
				  hotel. Surface parking lot facilities intersected by a public road or
				  thoroughfare are considered separate parking facilities. Only a parking lot
				  facility that contains a marked parking space within 1,000 feet of the
				  convention center facility or hotel will be eligible for rebates.
(II) The term includes facilities ancillary
				  to a hotel that are part of the hotel project but that may be completed in
				  different phases of the hotel project as evidenced by documentation listed in
				  paragraph (2) of this subsection. The term does not include existing facilities
				  located within 1,000 feet of the hotel or convention center facility that were
				  not constructed, developed, or remodeled as part of the hotel
				  project.
(F)
				  Governmental body--A local governmental body with the authority to impose
				  taxes.
(G) Hotel and Convention
				  Center Project--A project that is an existing hotel owned by the municipality
				  or another person and a convention center facility to be acquired, constructed,
				  equipped, or leased, that will be located within 1,000 feet of the hotel, and
				  that will be owned by or located on land owned by the municipality. This
				  subparagraph applies only to a municipality that:
(i) is the county seat of a county that:
(I) borders the United Mexican
				  States;
(II) has a population of
				  less than 300,000; and
(III)
				  contains one or more municipalities with a population of 200,000 or more;
				  and
(ii) holds an annual
				  jalapeño festival.
(H) Hotel Project--A hotel that is owned by
				  or located on land owned by a municipality or, for an eligible central
				  municipality, a nonprofit corporation acting on its behalf, and located within
				  1,000 feet of a convention center facility owned by the municipality, as
				  measured by the closest exterior wall of the hotel and the closest exterior
				  wall of the convention center facility. The parking lot is not part of a
				  convention center facility for the purpose of measuring the 1,000-foot distance
				  requirement. The term includes a facility ancillary to the hotel as defined in
				  subparagraph (E) of this paragraph.
(I) Open for initial occupancy--The earliest
				  date on which a member of the public obtains sleeping accommodations for
				  consideration and the convention center is operational, as supported by records
				  of the hotel and convention center.
(J) Shop--A retail store that exclusively
				  sells tangible personal property.
(K) Tangible personal property--Personal
				  property that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, or touched or that is
				  perceptible to the senses in any other manner, and includes a computer program
				  and a telephone prepaid calling card.