Committee advances substitute to tighten accountability for municipal hotel‑occupancy tax in coastal communities
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Summary
A committee substitute for House Bill 5,596—identical to a Senate bill that previously passed—was presented as a measure to ensure coastal municipalities use hotel‑occupancy tax revenues for authorized purposes and to modify the voter‑approval tax‑rate formula if funds are misspent.
The committee presented a committee substitute for House Bill 5,596 and the sponsor said the substitute mirrors Senate Bill 2532, which the sponsor noted passed the Senate previously. The sponsor described the measure as ensuring “accountability for the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenues by eligible coastal communities.”
Under the substitute, the formula used to compute a voter‑approval tax rate would be modified to take into account hotel‑occupancy tax revenues if those funds are misspent outside Chapter 351 of the Tax Code and used for unauthorized purposes, the sponsor said. The committee took no public testimony on the measure and left the bill pending.
The transcript records a committee roll-call and later states that the committee substitute for House Bill 5,596 will be reported to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation after a recorded tally of committee votes. The transcript records the committee's final tally as “3 ayes and 2 nays.” The record lists senators answering during the vote, but it does not unambiguously attribute each nay to a specific member in the roll lines captured in the hearing transcript.