Sec. 335.054. ELECTION. (a) If the comptroller determines under Section 335.052 or 335.053 that implementation of the resolution will not have a significant negative fiscal impact on state revenue, and, if applicable, the rapid transit authority determines under Section 335.0535 or 335.0536 that the implementation will not have a significant impact on the authority's ability to provide service and will not impair any existing contracts, the board may order an election or elections on the question of approving and implementing the resolution. In a district created by a county with a population of more than 3.3 million and a municipality with a population of more than 1.9 million, the board may order one district-wide election or may order a separate election in each political subdivision that created the district. The election or elections shall be held on the same day.
(b) The order calling the election or elections must:
(1) allow the voters to vote separately on each venue project;
(2) designate the venue project;
(3) designate each method of financing authorized by this chapter that the district wants to use to finance the project and the maximum rate of each method; and
(4) allow the voters to vote, in the same proposition or in separate propositions, on each method of financing authorized by this chapter that the district wants to use to finance the project and the maximum rate of each method.
(c) The ballot at the election or elections held under this section must be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition: "Authorizing ________ (insert name of district) to __________ (insert description of venue project) and to impose a __________ tax (insert type of tax) at the rate of ________ (insert maximum rate) for the purpose of financing the venue project."
(d) If more than one method of financing is to be voted on in one proposition, the ballot must be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition: "Authorizing _________ (insert name of district) to __________ (insert description of venue project) and to impose a __________ tax at the rate of ________ (insert each type of tax and the maximum rate of each tax) for the purpose of financing the venue project."
(d-1) If the proposition is authorizing the imposition of a hotel occupancy tax, the ballot must include the following language: "If approved, the maximum hotel occupancy tax rate imposed from all sources in _____ (insert name of district) would be ______ (insert the maximum combined hotel occupancy tax rate that would be imposed from all sources at any location in the district if the rate proposed in the ballot proposition is adopted) of the price paid for a room in a hotel."
(e) If a majority of the votes cast at the district-wide election or at the election in each creating political subdivision approves the proposition authorizing the project, the district may implement the resolution. If separate elections are held and a majority of the votes cast in one or more of the creating political subdivisions disapproves the proposition authorizing the project, the district may not implement the resolution. If the project is approved, but one or more financing methods contained in separate propositions are disapproved, the district may use only the approved financing methods.
(f) The Election Code governs an election held under this chapter.
(g) Notwithstanding Subsections (c) and (d) of this section, if a district is presently collecting taxes from one or more methods of financing and seeks to use a portion of the revenue from the tax or taxes to finance the venue project and does not seek to change the rate of tax or taxes, the ballot at the election or elections held under this section must be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition: "Authorizing __________ (insert name of district) to __________ (insert description of venue project) using a portion of existing __________ (insert type of tax or taxes) tax for the purpose of financing the project."
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 551, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1076, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 669, Sec. 99, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 966 (H.B. 1908), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2013.
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