HBA-KDB H.B. 2050 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2050 By: Truitt Land & Resource Management 4/2/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the 1968 Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport Agreement exempts land within airport boundaries from ad valorem taxation and states that the airport has no desire to create a private industrial park. A commercial development project has been planned which would offer commercial enterprises exemption from property taxes, which may violate the terms of the agreement. House Bill 2050 requires the development of a land use plan for all property within airport boundaries and the divestiture of property not planned for essential airport services. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Transportation in SECTION 1 (Section 22.080, Transportation Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 2050 amends the Transportation Code to provide that it is the policy of the state that real property owned by airports jointly owned by two municipalities shall be used only for essential airport services. The bill provides that the state has adopted a system of school finance that requires all real and personal property that is not used for governmental purposes to be subject to ad valorem taxation for the betterment of all school children in the state. The bill requires an airport to determine its long-term plans for all of the real property situated within its boundaries and designate the uses for the land in a report to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) no later than December 31, 2001. The bill requires an airport's land use report to specify the current and planned uses of such land over the next succeeding five years, including any planned expansion that will require annexation. The bill requires an airport to divest itself of ownership of any real property that is not designated for essential airport services in the land use report. The bill authorizes improvements such as commercial buildings to be considered to be used for essential airport services only if the buildings are used by companies whose products or services are directly related to air navigation and transportation. The bill requires TxDOT to be authorized to approve all designations of essential airport services. The bill requires an airport to sell real property not planned to be utilized for essential airport services before the fifth anniversary of the submission to TxDOT of the required land use report. If the real property cannot be sold for fair market value as determined by an independent appraisal, then the airport is authorized to retain ownership of the property, upon the approval of TxDOT, providing that the municipality in which the land is located is required to be authorized to regulate the land's uses through its zoning authority. TxDOT is required to perform an audit of each airport that is jointly owned by two municipalities each fifth year after the effective date of the Act, and if it determines that land that remains owned by the airport is not used for essential airport services, then TxDOT is required to issue a warning to the airport that such a finding has been made. The bill requires TxDOT, if the next audit performed by TxDOT finds the real property identified in the prior audit is still not used for essential airport services, to commence an action to enforce the intent of the Act and to secure the divestiture of the real property immediately. The bill requires an airport to reimburse TxDOT for the costs incurred in performing the audits. The bill provides that TxDOT is authorized to adopt rules to implement the intent of the Act. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.