AUSTIN, TX - Today, Senate Bill 1136, authored by Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa and sponsored by Representative Terry Canales was sent to the Governor's desk with overwhelming approval from the Texas Legislature. SB 1136 authorizes the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for sporting-related facilities for the City of Edinburg.

Senator Hinojosa issued the following statement:

"Edinburg is experiencing rapid growth and quickly becoming a tourist destination, having just finished the construction of a 9,000 seat professional soccer arena attracting tourists from all over the state. SB 1136 will allow Edinburg to use the municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue to pay for the construction, maintenance, and expansion of the new soccer stadium and other sports related venues.

I am proud to author legislation that allows Edinburg to utilize municipal hotel tax revenue to build more sports related facilities, and at the same time attract tourists to the Rio Grande Valley so that our hotels and restaurants continue to experience significant growth and sales."

SB 1136 amends the tax code to allow for the HOT revenue collection if certain criteria are met, specifically if the municipality's sports facilities and fields have been used in the preceding year a combined total of 10 times for district, sate, regional, or national sports tournaments. The city has 10 years to ensure the tax revenue on the sports facilities are less than the revenues of the area hotels attributable to sporting or other events held at the facility of fiend. If not, the city will reimburse the municipal HOT revenue fund from the city's general fund.

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