Lege Trend via TX Gov. 2019 Special District Bill Draft Emerges.

Texas Governor Abbott spelled out a 2019 bill draft during a Hurricane Harvey press conference. 

Background: Harvey Clean Up is costly. Texas Governor Abbott proposed accessing the millions in revenue held by TIRZ districts.

The Abbott legislative proposal, step by step: 

• modify the TIRZ statutes
• ensure tax increment revenue reserves held by TIRZ districts
• require reserve revenues in TIRZ districts to be accessible to cities to respond to disasters

The full Abbott quote: “Those hundreds of millions of dollars are siloed in TIRZ programs. Either the mayor could use those hundreds of millions of dollars to pay those expenses that cost a fraction of that, or the state legislature, during the next session, can and will modify the TIRZ statutes to ensure that the reserves, by TIRZ, can be used, by cities, to respond to disasters. So he has all the money that he needs, including the money that I provided to him, including the money that taxpayers have provided to him. He just needs to tap into it.”

The full City of Houston response:

“We cannot raid funds that the state has indicated cannot be raided – and which are largely for drainage projects to prevent future flooding anyway. Mayor Turner is asking the governor to do what other governors, such as Florida’s, are doing. It’s the Texas governor’s right to say no.”

KPRC | Gov. Abbott says Mayor Turner is using cleanup situation to hold state ‘hostage’