SB3047

The districts are local governmental bodies, not replacements for their cities. The act describes their original land by survey: Pura Vida covers a 211.348-acre area in Travis County; Wolf Creek has eight described tracts in Hunt County; Rivers Market Place has two described tracts, 45.555 and 14.432 acres, in Bastrop County. Legal boundary descriptions, rather than a citywide label, determine the original territory. Each district receives powers for authorized infrastructure, services and economic development, including water, drainage, roads, recreation and parking. Final law, sections 1–4.

Each district has five elected directors serving staggered four-year terms. Initially, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality appoints five temporary directors named in a petition from owners of a majority of the district’s assessed real-property value. Temporary terms end when permanent directors are elected or on the fourth anniversary of the act’s effective date; the act also provides for successor temporary appointments. Board compensation is limited to $150 per meeting and $7,200 per year, apart from necessary and reasonable expense reimbursement. Final law, each chapter’s Subchapter B.

Property taxes and property-tax-backed bonds require voter approval. An approved operations-and-maintenance tax stays within the voter-approved rate. Bond repayment taxes are different: once authorized bonds are issued, the board must levy a continuing tax without a statutory rate or amount limit to meet their debt service. Bonds backed by other revenue or qualifying contract payments can be issued without a bond election, subject to the cited Water Code requirements. Pura Vida and Rivers Market Place require municipal consent for their first property-tax-backed bond issuance, not every later issuance. Final law, each chapter’s Subchapter E.

Assessments—charges against benefited property—require a petition signed by owners of a majority of the assessed value of district real property subject to assessment. That is a property-value test, not a majority of residents. Assessment liens and personal obligations can follow; the act gives the liens priority except for county, school-district and municipal property-tax liens. Applicable general-law assessment procedures and exemptions still matter. Residential property is not automatically shielded from every district tax or assessment merely because someone lives there. Final law, each chapter’s Subchapter D; General-law residential-property provision, section 8.

Pura Vida alone receives this act’s express sales-and-use-tax chapter. Adoption, reduction or repeal requires majority approval at a district election. Its standard rate is 2%, or the available amount below the combined 2% local sales-tax ceiling. The act also permits an alternative method under Local Government Code chapter 383, Subchapter F. These provisions authorize a future tax process; they do not establish that a sales tax has actually been approved or collected. The proposed separate hotel-occupancy tax and special hotel/convention-center project provisions were removed before enactment. Final law, chapter 4013, Subchapter F; House amendment removing hotel provisions.

The financing provisions are not identical. Pura Vida and Rivers Market Place are exempt from Water Code section 49.4645’s limit on outstanding principal for covered recreational-facility debt; that is not a waiver of all bond-election or other restrictions. Wolf Creek retains a separate route for assessment-backed obligations under Local Government Code chapter 372 when the financed improvements will be conveyed to, or operated and maintained by, a municipality, county or retail utility under a prior agreement. Similar proposed special routes were removed for the other two districts, but their general authority to issue obligations backed by assessments remains. Final law, sections 4013.0503, 4015.0503 and 4022.0503.

All three districts lack eminent-domain power—the power to compel a property sale for public use. Their grants of that power were conditional on two-thirds approval of all elected members in both legislative chambers. The House voted 80–57, below the required 100 votes, so the act’s express no-eminent-domain alternatives apply to all three, including Pura Vida. Final law, sections 3(c)–(d), 4(c)–(d), 6 and the certified votes.

The districts can add or exclude land through the referenced procedures. Division into new districts is permitted only when a district has no outstanding bonded debt and is not imposing property taxes, with additional requirements. Dissolution can follow a board majority or a petition from owners representing two-thirds of assessed property value or qualifying land area, but outstanding debts, payment contracts and continuing public facilities must first be addressed as the act requires. Final law, district-division and dissolution sections.

Amendments substantially expanded and narrowed the bill. The introduced, Senate-report and engrossed versions covered Pura Vida alone. The House committee version narrowed permissible uses of the proposed hotel tax. House amendment H21 then removed the hotel-tax and hotel/convention-center provisions entirely, removed Pura Vida’s special assessment-bond route, and qualified its proposed eminent-domain grant. H22 added Rivers Market Place; H23 added Wolf Creek. H31 removed Rivers Market Place’s express nonprofit-corporation provision and its special assessment-bond route. These removals do not establish a blanket prohibition on every nonprofit arrangement or assessment-backed debt. The final vote independently activated the no-eminent-domain clauses. Version history; House committee version; H21; H22; H23; H31; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

The districts offer a way to fund and coordinate infrastructure and development within their boundaries. Landowners, residents and businesses may benefit from improvements but can also face future taxes, assessments, fees and debt-service obligations if the applicable steps are taken. A landowner petition and a resident election are different safeguards; one does not substitute for the other. This briefing describes authority created by the act, not evidence that directors have been appointed, elections held, debt issued or projects built. Final law.

The final fiscal note anticipates no significant state cost, with state duties absorbed using existing resources. It cannot determine the fiscal effects on the districts because future financing, taxes and assessments depend on local decisions, and it expects no fiscal effect on other local governments. It does not price individual property owners’ future bills or show that these projects will pay for themselves. Final fiscal note.