Relating to the allocation of housing tax credits to developments within proximate geographical areas.

89(R) SB 1944 - Senate Committee Report version - Bill Text

By: Eckhardt, West

S.B. No. 1944

(In the Senate - Filed March 5, 2025; March 17, 2025, read

first time and referred to Committee on Local Government;

May 12, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 1; May 12, 2025,

sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1944

By: Cook

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the allocation of housing tax credits to developments

within proximate geographical areas.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 2306.6711, Government Code, is amended

by amending Subsection (f-1) and adding Subsection (f-2) to read as

follows:

(f-1) The board may allocate housing tax credits to more

than one development in a single community
:

(1)
[
only
] if:

(A)
[
(1)
] the community is located in:

(i)
[
(A)
] a municipality with a population

of two million or more; and

(ii)
[
(B)
] an area that is
in
a federally

declared disaster area; and

(B)
[
(2)
] the governing body of the municipality

containing the development:

(i)
[
(A)
] has by vote specifically

authorized the allocation of housing tax credits for the

development; and

(ii)
[
(B)
] is authorized to administer

disaster recovery funds as a subgrant recipient
; or

(2) if:

(A)

the development is a high opportunity

development;

(B)

the governing body of the municipality

containing the development has by a two-thirds vote specifically

authorized the allocation of housing tax credits for the

development;

(C) the development:

(i)

is in a zoning district or land use

classification whereby the municipality allows multifamily

residential, mixed-use, office, commercial, retail, or warehouse

development; and

(ii)

is not subject to a deed restriction or

regulation that prohibits multifamily residential, mixed-use,

office, commercial, retail, and warehouse development; and

(D)

the development is located on a major

arterial roadway
.

(f-2)

For purposes of Subsection (f-1), "high opportunity

development" means a development that is located entirely in:

(1)

an area that allows the development to receive the

maximum possible points for the opportunity index established by

the department pursuant to 26 U.S.C. Section 42(m)(1)(C)(i);

(2)

a census tract with a poverty rate that is less

than the greater of:

(A) 20 percent; or

(B)

the median poverty rate among census tracts

in the uniform state service region; and

(3) a census tract that has:

(A)

a median household income in the two highest

quartiles among census tracts within the uniform state service

region; or

(B)

a median household income in the third

quartile among census tracts within the region, if:

(i)

the census tract is contiguous to a

census tract that:

(a)

is in the first or second quartile

among tracts for median household income in the region; and

(b)

has a poverty rate that is less

than the greater of 20 percent or the median poverty rate among

tracts for the region; and

(ii)

the development is located not more

than two miles from the boundary between the census tract and the

contiguous census tract described by Subparagraph (i).

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an application for low income housing tax credits that is

submitted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs

during an application cycle that is based on the 2026 qualified

allocation plan or a subsequent plan adopted by the governing board

of the department. An application that is submitted during an

application cycle that is based on an earlier qualified allocation

plan is governed by the law in effect on the date the application

cycle began, and the former law is continued in effect for that

purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

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