Thanks to Dianne Koehler, Wells Branch Library District founder and board chair, for watching out for our library district libraries.
Thanks also to Gloria Meraz of TLA for watching over all our libraries, and to all of you who sent letters, made phone calls, and visited our legislators in person to initiate and follow and get this legislation passed. Laurie Laurie Mahaffey, Deputy Director Central Texas Library System, Inc. 1005 West 41st Street Austin, Texas 78756 www.ctls.net [email protected] 512-583-0704 x18 800-262-4431 x18 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Diannek Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 11:21 AM Subject: [Txlibdistricts] FW: Texline No. 250 -- 81st Legislative Summary The bill related to Library Districts: Bill: SB 636 06/03/2009 Enrolled Sent to the Governor Caption Text: Relating to the imposition of the franchise tax and local sales and use taxes, including the authority of a county or other local governmental entity to receive local sales tax information. Sponsor: Rose Companion: HB 1817 by Rose, Similar Bill Analysis: Currently, only municipalities can request certain sales tax revenue information from the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller). C.S.S.B. 636 amends Chapters 151 (Limited Sales, Excise, and Use Tax) and 323 (County Sales and Use Tax Act), Tax Code, to require the comptroller, upon request, to provide county sales tax information to an eligible county that has adopted a sales tax or a library district. This bill requires the comptroller to provide, on request, information relating to the amount of tax paid to the county during the preceding or current calendar year by each person doing business in the county who annually reports state and local sales tax payments of more than $25,000. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 151.027(c), Tax Code, to provide that this section does not prohibit the delivery of information to an eligible municipality in accordance with Section 321.3022 (Tax Information) or an eligible county or library district under Section 323.3022. SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter D, Chapter 323, Tax Code, by adding Section 323.3022, as follows: Sec. 323.3022. TAX INFORMATION. (a) Requires the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller) on request, except as otherwise provided by this section, to provide to a county that has adopted a tax under this chapter information relating to the amount of tax paid to the county under this chapter during the preceding or current calendar year by each person doing business in the county who annually remits to the comptroller state and local sales tax payments of more than $25,000 and any other information as provided by this section. (b) Requires the comptroller on request to provide to a county that has adopted a tax under this chapter information relating to the amount of tax paid to the county under this chapter during the preceding or current calendar year by each person doing business in an area, as defined by the county, that is part of a certain agreement, district, area, or zone. (c) Requires the comptroller to provide the information under Subsection (b) as an aggregate total for all persons doing business in the defined area without disclosing individual tax payments. (d) Requires the comptroller to refuse to provide the information to the county unless the comptroller receives permission from each of the persons allowing the comptroller to provide the information to the county as requested if the request for information under Subsection (b) involves not more than three persons doing business in the defined area who remit taxes under this chapter. (e) Requires that a separate request for information under this section be made in writing by the county judge each year. (f) Provides that information received by a county under this section is confidential, is not open to public inspection, and is authorized to be used only for the purpose of economic forecasting, for internal auditing of a tax paid to the county under this chapter, or for the purpose described by Subsection (g). (g) Authorizes information received by a county under Subsection (b) to be used by the county to assist in determining revenue sharing under a revenue sharing agreement or other similar agreement. (h) Authorizes the comptroller to set and collect from a county reasonable fees to cover the expense of compiling and providing information under this section. (i) Provides that the commissioners court of a county, notwithstanding Chapter 551 (Open Meetings), Government Code, is not required to confer with one of more employees or a third party in an open meeting to receive information or question the employees or third party regarding the information received by the county under this section. (j) Provides that a library district, in accordance with Sections 326.092 (Imposition, Computation, Administration, and Governance of Tax) and 336.252 (Imposition, Computation, Administration, and Governance of Sales Tax), Local Government Code, is entitled to obtain in relation to the district the same information a county is entitled to obtain under this section in relation to the county. Provides that in applying the procedures under this section to the district, the district's name is substituted for "the county," and "board of trustees" is substituted for "county judge" and "commissioners court." SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2009. Dianne Koehler Wells Branch Community Library tel: 989-3188 cell: 507-0116 I GoodSearch for Wells Branch Community Library FOL Raise money for our charity just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch using www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! -----Original Message----- From: Gloria Meraz [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 6/4/2009 9:01 AM To: Gloria Meraz Subject: Texline No. 250 -- 81st Legislative Summary TLA TEXLINE NO. 250 - TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION LEGISLATIVE ISSUES NETWORK In this issue: 81st Legislative Summary Posted: June 4, 2009 In this issue I. 81st Legislative Summary I. 81st Legislative Summary It's been a long, hard session. The library community made some valuable gains this year, although not all our funding initiatives were adopted (specifically increased funding for library resource sharing). The library community was "in the fight" to the very last for funding and, as always, we will continue our work session after session to improve the quality of life, education, and opportunity for Texans through library services and programs. Budget Status Despite a $9.1 billion shortfall, the Legislature approved the following recommendations: Loan Star Libraries - an increase of $3.5 million over the biennium; Systems - an increase of $1.5 million over the biennium; and Digital Talking Books - an increase of $275,000 over the biennium. The request for increased funds for Library Resource Sharing (which encompassed requested funding increases for TexShare and the K-12 databases) was not funded. Please note, however, that the current (09) funding for both these programs remains in place. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has just released a statement noting that the agency is investigating the possibility of using additional federal funds (as the agency is receiving more than expected funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services) for offsetting some of the escalating costs for the database programs. See TSLAC's statement at: http://www.texshare.edu/generalinfo/about/faq2009-06-02.html. Final Status of Key Bills HB 962 (Guillen/Sp. Zaffirini): Clarifies existing statute regarding the purchase and acquisition of library materials at community colleges. Sent to the Governor for signing. HB 3756 (Howard/ Sp. Ellis): Updates, clarifies, and amends statutes related to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The bill, filed at the request of TLA and TSLAC, updates language related to the library systems, the TexShare program, Talking Book Program, records management provisions, archival records and the state's right of recovery, and the Texas Reads license plate program. Sent to the Governor for signing. HB 3 (Eissler/Sp. Shapiro): Deals with school accountability and promotion. The final version of the bill stripped away a House floor amendment that would have authorized TEA to study the prospect of adding school library programs as a criterion for campus distinction designations. Signed by the Governor. With Thanks TLA is very grateful to all of the library supporters, legislators, legislative staff, and individuals who worked to support and promote library issues this session. While the list is too large to include in its entirety, we express our deep thanks to the following: Representatives Jim Pitts, Dan Branch, Ryan Guillen, Donna Howard, Dennis Bonnen, Patrick Rose, John Otto, Fred Brown, Mark Strama, Harold Dutton, Brandon Creighton, and Scott Hochberg. On the Senate side, we offer our sincere thanks to Senators Kip Averitt, Chuy Hinojosa, Judith Zaffirini, Rodney Ellis, and Chris Harris. We very much appreciate all the work of all the members of the House and Senate funding committees. Of course, we offer are sincere appreciation to all TLA members who took the time to write, email, and work for library programs. We extend a special thanks to everyone who traveled to Austin for Legislative Day, led delegations, worked on legislative initiatives, and provided testimony throughout the session, including Susan Mann, Julie Todaro, Joe Dahlstrom, Tracey Mendoza, Martha Tandy, Rhoda Goldberg, and Legislative Committee Chair Carol Brey-Casiano. ******************************************************* TLA-Texline is an irregular publication of the Texas Library Association mailed directly to members interested in legislative and governmental issues affecting libraries. To subscribe, contact Gloria Meraz, Director of Communications, Texas Library Association, [email protected].
