HBA-JEK H.B. 3090 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3090
By: Carter
Urban Affairs
3/19/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Federal law limits the amount of tax-exempt financing that may be used to
benefit private entities or individuals each year and authorizes each state
to allocate these monies through a private activity bond allocation
program.  The United States Congress has set the 2001 state ceiling on
tax-exempt private activity bonds at $62.50 per capita and the 2002 state
ceiling at $75 per capita.  House Bill 3090 sets forth new state ceiling
provisions for the private activity bond allocation program. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3090 amends the Government Code to apportion for various
purposes the state ceiling allocated to issuers of tax-exempt private
activity bonds, when the state ceiling is computed on the basis of $75 per
capita or a greater amount before August 15 of each year (Sec. 1372.022,
Government Code).  The bill prescribes how the portion of the state ceiling
that is available exclusively for reservations by issuers of qualified
residential rental projects will be allocated until August 15 (Sec.
1372.0231).  The bill also sets forth new maximum amounts of the state
ceiling that a housing finance corporation may reserve before August 15 for
the issuance of qualified mortgage bonds (Sec. 1372.026). 

H.B. 3090 provides that the first loans or certificates financed by a
housing finance corporation that issues bonds using a new allocation of the
state ceiling in combination with recycled state ceiling, taxable bonds, or
both are considered in computing the utilization percentage of the new
allocation of the state ceiling.  The bill establishes the maximum amount
of the state ceiling that may be reserved for a housing finance corporation
with a utilization percentage of less than 95 percent when it next becomes
eligible for a reservation of the state ceiling, but prohibits such a
finance corporation from being penalized in specified instances.  These
provisions apply only to an allocation of state ceiling granted on or after
January 1, 2002 (Sec. 1372.0261 and SECTION 8). 

In the case of any conflict, the provisions of the bill prevail over any
other legislation passed by the 77th Legislature relating to nonsubstantive
additions and corrections in enacted codes (SECTION 7).    

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.