HBA-LJP H.B. 2413 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2413
By: Ritter
Ways & Means
3/16/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a person who pays a tax for cigarettes or tobacco
products is required to securely affix a stamp to each individual package
of cigarettes to show payment of the tax and the Comptroller of Public
Accounts is required to inspect and audit vendors to ensure that the taxes
are being collected.  If cigarette or tobacco products cannot be located
for taxation, then the comptroller is not able to tax the product and the
state may lose revenue.  House Bill 2413 limits the areas that tobacco
products are stored for the purpose of inspection and audits. 

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 2413 amends the Tax Code to provide that the definition of a
"commercial business location" is the entire premise that is occupied by a
permit applicant or a person required to hold a permit but does not include
where cigarettes or tobacco products are stored or kept in a residence or a
unit in a public storage facility.  The bill also amends the definition of
"common carrier" to mean a motor carrier operating under certificate issued
by the United States Department of Transportation that transports
cigarettes in which the carrier has no ownership or other pecuniary
interest (Secs. 154.001 and 155.001). 

The bill requires a permit holder to designate in the permit application
the permanent place of business the records of the cigarette and tobacco
products are kept, if the permit holder's place of business is a vending
machine (Secs. 154.209 and 155.110). 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.