House Committee on Ways and Means - 86th R.S. (2019)

Committee:	House Ways and Means
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Hotel occupancy taxes | Local taxes | Natural gas industry | Oil industry | Property taxes | Sales taxes | School finance | Tax assessor-collectors | Water recycling |
Library Call Number:	L1836.86 W368
Session:	86th R.S. (2019)
Online version:	View report [120 pages  File size: 2,061 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 86th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following: SB 2,which is the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019. Monitor the implementation of the legislation, including a review of the tax rates adopted by taxing units in 2019 and 2020, the appraisal review board survey system, and progress in onboarding the tax rate notices and websites. Make recommendations for modifications as necessary and appropriate. HB 1525 and HB 2153, which relate to the collection of sales and use taxes by marketplaces and out-of-state businesses. Monitor the Comptroller of Public Accounts' rules regulating the collection of sales, use, and franchise tax to ensure compliance by marketplace providers and out-of-state businesses and monitor any revenue increases as a result of implementation of these bills. HB 4347, which relates to the use of hotel occupancy, sales, and mixed beverage tax revenue for qualified projects. Examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the hotel projects, qualified hotel projects, and uses of local hotel occupancy tax revenue. Examine the negative fiscal impact to the state resulting from the dedication of the state portion of those taxes.
2.	Study and consider possible methods of providing property tax relief, including potential sources of revenue that may be used to reduce or eliminate school district maintenance and operations property tax rates.
3.	Study the role of the local option sales and use tax, including: an analysis of the available uses for those taxes, specifically economic development agreements; the statewide distribution of local tax rates; the proportion of the local government budget supported by sales and use taxes; the application of consistent sales sourcing rules; and the impact of shifting from origin to destination sourcing.
4.	Evaluate the status of water recycling and reuse efforts in the oil and gas industry in Texas and elsewhere. Evaluate options for tax credits, deductions, or discounts to encourage recycling, treatment, or reuse of produced water from oil and gas production activities. Make recommendations on statutory or regulatory changes needed to promote recycling and reuse strategies for produced water. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Energy Resources)
5.	Review the use of third-party tax collection firms, including law firms and tax specialty firms, by governmental units. Evaluate what methods other states use to collect taxes. Determine whether the use of those firms is cost-effective for the taxing jurisdiction or if the tax collection efforts should be performed by the taxing units directly.
6.	Monitor the State Auditor's review of agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The Chair shall seek input and periodic briefings on completed audits for the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years and bring forth pertinent issues for full committee consideration
Supporting documents
Committee:	House Ways and Means
Title:	Committee meeting handouts and testimony, February 13, 2019
Library Call Number:
Session:	86th R.S. (2019)
Online version:	View document [38 pages  File size: 563 kb]
Committee:	House Ways and Means
Title:	Committee meeting handouts and testimony, February 20, 2019
Library Call Number:
Session:	86th R.S. (2019)
Online version:	View document [58 pages  File size: 3,165 kb]

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