SB 270 -- Mandatory Sales Price Disclosure
Texas BOMA opposes sales price disclosure. At Robert Miller?s recommendation, Texas BOMA submitted written testimony against the Senate bill, but did not provide live testimony. As it currently stands, there are two votes for the bill and two votes against the bill. The swing vote is Senator Gallegos, who is recovering from a liver transplant. If he returns to the committee this session, the bill will be voted out favorably. The bill is still unlikely to pass both houses.

HB 3928 -- Change of Partnership Taxation from Net Rentals to Gross Rentals
CSHB 3928 was unanimously voted from House Ways & Means last week. The bill changes the taxation of partnerships rentals from a net basis to a gross basis. This raises an additional $200 million for the state. To keep the bill revenue neutral, it spends $130 million to solve an apportionment glitch for banks and securities traders, and $70 million to double the margin tax small business exemption from $300,000 to $600,000 (if your total revenues are $600,000 or less, you will not be subject to the margin tax). The House leadership is determined to keep this bill clean and not have any additional exemptions to the margin tax. It is likely that House members will be asked to vote early this week to impose a "Calendars rule" on the bill requiring that all amendments be "revenue neutral" and that they be filed in advance of the bill?s consideration. This rule will make the bill very difficult to amend.

HB 3928 -- Exclusion of Capital Gains from Passive Income
Another unpleasant change for the real estate community in HB 3928 is the revision of the definition of passive income to include only capital gains from non-income producing property.  Under the margin tax as enacted, a structure is available generally to avoid tax on dispositions of property.  This change to the passive entity definitions could substantially restrict that planning opportunity. The Texas Apartment Association is planning to run with an amendment on the House floor reversing this change, and we recommend that Texas BOMA support this amendment.

HB 2985 -- Exemption of Pass-through Funds from the Margin Tax
Texas BOMA supports exempting pass-through funds paid by tenants to landlords from being included in the landlord?s gross revenue. Two weeks ago, the Committee heard HB 2985, which would add such an exemption. Robert Miller testified on BOMA?s behalf in favor of this bill. As previously discussed, the legislative leadership is determined to avoid additional exemptions to the Margin Tax. In addition, the Comptroller recently reported the Margin Tax will raise as much as $900 million less than previously estimated. For these reasons, it is highly unlikely this exemption will pass.

HBs 3137 and 3357 -- Reimbursement of Margin Taxes
Most commercial real estate leases allow a landlord to pass through any tax enacted as an alternative to property taxes. In January of this year, Sprint began charging its cellular customers a fee for reimbursement of the Margin Tax, prompting an outcry from the legislators who claim the Tax should not be levied on consumers. HB 3357 would make charging such a tax a violation of the DTPA. Robert Miller lobbied against this bill on BOMA?s behalf, and does not expect it to pass. HB 3137 would require any funds collected as a reimbursement to be held in trust for the benefit of the state. Texas BOMA will seek an exemption for commercial real estate, and will ask to use this bill as a vehicle to indicate the legislative intent was to replace property taxes with the Margin Tax. Both of these bills are currently stuck in committee.

SB 1729 ? Elevator legislation
SB 1729 amends Section 754.011, Health and Safety Code, to provide that "?ASME Code A17.1? means the 2007 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators A17.1." The current state elevator law's reference to A17.1 was made non-specific with respect to year of issue, because the general need for compliance to A17.1 comes from either installing new equipment, modernizing existing installations or making major repairs. We understand, from Senator Carona's office, that a committee substitute will be offered tomorrow in the hearing to change the current bill's reference from the 2007 edition, which is not yet published, to the 2005 edition. We are attempting to ascertain why the state is proposing to now go back to a date-specific reference for A17.1, and will be prepared to testify on the bill if necessary.

HB 1168 -- Building Code Requirements
HB 1168 was recently voted out of the House Committee on Human Services. It would allow the Health and Human Services Commission the discretion to publish and/or adopt model code requirements for certain facilities. Texas BOMA is opposed to this bill as presently drafted, and is working in conjunction with the International Code Council to modify the bill. We hope to use this bill to confirm, by statute, exactly what construction requirements for these facilities will be. By modifying this bill, we hope to ensure uniform application of widely-accepted codes, such as the International Building Code.

Immigration Bills
No filed immigration bill is currently moving.

Energy Efficiency Bills
No filed energy efficiency bill is currently moving.