Sec. 313.027. LIMITATION ON APPRAISED VALUE; AGREEMENT.
(a) If the person’s application is approved by the governing body of the school district, the appraised value for school district maintenance and operations ad valorem tax purposes of the person’s qualified property as described in the agreement between the person and the district entered into under this section in the school district may not exceed the lesser of:
(1) the market value of the property; or
(2) subject to Subsection (b), the amount agreed to by the governing body of the school district.
(a-1) The agreement must:
(1) provide that the limitation under Subsection (a) applies for a period of 10 years; and
(2) specify the beginning date of the limitation, which must be January 1 of the first tax year that begins after:
(A) the application date;
(B) the qualifying time period; or
(C) the date commercial operations begin at the site of the project.
(b) The amount agreed to by the governing body of a school district under Subsection (a)(2) must be an amount in accordance with the following, according to the category established by Section 313.022 to which the school district belongs:
| CATEGORY | MINIMUM AMOUNT OF LIMITATION |
| I | $100 million |
| II | $80 million |
| III | $60 million |
| IV | $40 million |
| V | $20 million |
(c) The limitation amounts listed in Subsection (b) are minimum amounts. A school district, regardless of category, may agree to a greater amount than those amounts.
(d) The governing body of the school district and the property owner shall enter into a written agreement for the implementation of the limitation on appraised value under this subchapter on the owner’s qualified property.
(e) The agreement must describe with specificity the qualified investment that the person will make on or in connection with the person’s qualified property that is subject to the limitation on appraised value under this subchapter. Other property of the person that is not specifically described in the agreement is not subject to the limitation unless the governing body of the school district, by official action, provides that the other property is subject to the limitation.
(f) In addition, the agreement:
(1) must incorporate each relevant provision of this subchapter and, to the extent necessary, include provisions for the protection of future school district revenues through the adjustment of the minimum valuations, the payment of revenue offsets, and other mechanisms agreed to by the property owner and the school district;
(2) may provide that the property owner will protect the school district in the event the district incurs extraordinary education-related expenses related to the project that are not directly funded in state aid formulas, including expenses for the purchase of portable classrooms and the hiring of additional personnel to accommodate a temporary increase in student enrollment attributable to the project;
(3) must require the property owner to maintain a viable presence in the school district for at least five years after the date the limitation on appraised value of the owner’s property expires;
(4) must provide for the termination of the agreement, the recapture of ad valorem tax revenue lost as a result of the agreement if the owner of the property fails to comply with the terms of the agreement, and payment of a penalty or interest, or both, on that recaptured ad valorem tax revenue;
(5) may specify any conditions the occurrence of which will require the district and the property owner to renegotiate all or any part of the agreement;
(6) must specify the ad valorem tax years covered by the agreement; and
(7) must be in a form approved by the comptroller.
(g) When appraising a person’s qualified property subject to a limitation on appraised value under this section, the chief appraiser shall determine the market value of the property and include both the market value and the appropriate value under Subsection (a) in the appraisal records.
(h) The agreement between the governing body of the school district and the applicant may provide for a deferral of the date on which the qualifying time period for the project is to commence or, subsequent to the date the agreement is entered into, be amended to provide for such a deferral. The agreement may not provide for the deferral of the date on which the qualifying time period is to commence to a date later than January 1 of the fourth tax year that begins after the date the application is approved except that if the agreement is one of a series of agreements related to the same project, the agreement may provide for the deferral of the date on which the qualifying time period is to commence to a date not later than January 1 of the sixth tax year that begins after the date the application is approved. This subsection may not be construed to permit a qualifying time period that has commenced to continue for more than the number of years applicable to the project under Section 313.021(4).
(i) A person and the school district may not enter into an agreement under which the person agrees to provide supplemental payments to a school district or any other entity on behalf of a school district in an amount that exceeds an amount equal to the greater of $100 per student per year in average daily attendance, as defined by Section 48.005, Education Code, or $50,000 per year, or for a period that exceeds the period beginning with the period described by Section 313.021(4) and ending December 31 of the third tax year after the date the person’s eligibility for a limitation under this chapter expires. This limit does not apply to amounts described by Subsection (f)(1) or (2).
(j) An agreement under this chapter must disclose any consideration promised in conjunction with the application and the limitation.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1505, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1186 (H.B. 3676), Sec. 8, eff. June 19, 2009.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1304 (H.B. 3390), Sec. 9, eff. January 1, 2014.
Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 943 (H.B. 3), Sec. 3.095, eff. September 1, 2019.
Sec. 313.0275. RECAPTURE OF AD VALOREM TAX REVENUE LOST. [Expires December 31, 2022]
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, a person with whom a school district enters into an agreement under this subchapter must make the minimum amount of qualified investment during the qualifying time period.
(b) If in any tax year a property owner fails to comply with Subsection (a), the property owner is liable to this state for a penalty equal to the amount computed by subtracting from the market value of the property for that tax year the value of the property as limited by the agreement and multiplying the difference by the maintenance and operations tax rate of the school district for that tax year.
(c) A penalty imposed under Subsection (b) becomes delinquent if not paid on or before February 1 of the following tax year. Section 33.01 applies to the delinquent penalty in the manner that section applies to delinquent taxes.
(d) In the event of a casualty loss that prevents a person from complying with Subsection (a), the person may request and the comptroller may grant a waiver of the penalty imposed under Subsection (b).
Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1186 (H.B. 3676), Sec. 9, eff. June 19, 2009.
Amended by:
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1304 (H.B. 3390), Sec. 10, eff. January 1, 2014.
Sec. 313.0276. PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH JOB-CREATION REQUIREMENTS.
(a) The comptroller shall conduct an annual review and issue a determination as to whether a person with whom a school district has entered into an agreement under this chapter satisfied in the preceding year the requirements of this chapter regarding the creation of the required number of qualifying jobs. If the comptroller makes an adverse determination in the review, the comptroller shall notify the person of the cause of the adverse determination and the corrective measures necessary to remedy the determination.
(b) If a person who receives an adverse determination fails to remedy the determination following notification of the determination and the comptroller makes an adverse determination with respect to the person’s compliance in the following year, the person must submit to the comptroller a plan for remedying the determination and certify the person’s intent to fully implement the plan not later than December 31 of the year in which the determination is made.
(c) If a person who receives an adverse determination under Subsection (b) fails to comply with that subsection following notification of the determination and receives an adverse determination in the following year, the comptroller shall impose a penalty on the person. The penalty is in an amount equal to the amount computed by:
(1) subtracting from the number of qualifying jobs required to be created the number of qualifying jobs actually created; and
(2) multiplying the amount computed under Subdivision (1) by the average annual wage for all jobs in the county during the most recent four quarters for which data is available.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (c), if a person receives an adverse determination and the comptroller has previously imposed a penalty on the person under this section one or more times, the comptroller shall impose a penalty on the person in an amount equal to the amount computed by multiplying the amount computed under Subsection (c)(1) by an amount equal to twice the amount computed under Subsection (c)(2).
(e) Notwithstanding Subsections (c) and (d), a penalty imposed under this section may not exceed an amount equal to the difference between the amount of the ad valorem tax benefit received by the person under the agreement in the preceding year and the amount of any supplemental payments made to the school district in that year.
(f) A job created by a person that is not a qualifying job because the job does not meet a numerical requirement of Section 313.021(3)(A), (D), or (E) is considered for purposes of this section to be a nonqualifying job only if the job fails to meet the numerical requirement by at least 10 percent.
(g) An adverse determination under this section is a deficiency determination under Section 111.008. A penalty imposed under this section is an amount the comptroller is required to collect, receive, administer, or enforce, and the determination is subject to the payment and redetermination requirements of Sections 111.0081 and 111.009.
(h) A redetermination under Section 111.009 of an adverse determination under this section is a contested case as defined by Section 2001.003, Government Code.
(i) If a person on whom a penalty is imposed under this section contends that the amount of the penalty is unlawful or that the comptroller may not legally demand or collect the penalty, the person may challenge the determination of the comptroller under Subchapters A and B, Chapter 112.
(j) If the comptroller imposes a penalty on a person under this section three times, the comptroller may rescind the agreement between the person and the school district under this chapter.
(k) A person may contest a determination by the comptroller to rescind an agreement between the person and a school district under this chapter pursuant to Subsection (j) by filing suit against the comptroller and the attorney general. The district courts of Travis County have exclusive, original jurisdiction of a suit brought under this subsection. This subsection prevails over a provision of Chapter 25, Government Code, to the extent of any conflict.
(l) If a person files suit under Subsection (k) and the comptroller’s determination to rescind the agreement is upheld on appeal, the person shall pay to the comptroller any tax that would have been due and payable to the school district during the pendency of the appeal, including statutory interest and penalties imposed on delinquent taxes under Sections 111.060 and 111.061.
(m) The comptroller shall deposit a penalty collected under this section, including any interest and penalty applicable to the penalty, to the credit of the foundation school fund.
Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1304 (H.B. 3390), Sec. 11, eff. January 1, 2014.