Texas § CN.49-e - TEXAS PARK DEVELOPMENT FUND

§ CN.49-e. TEXAS PARK DEVELOPMENT FUND

TEXAS PARK DEVELOPMENT FUND; BONDS. (a) The Parks and Wildlife Department, or its successor vested with the powers, duties, and authority which deals with the operation, maintenance, and improvement of State Parks, shall have the authority to provide for, issue and sell general obligation bonds of the State of Texas in an amount authorized by constitutional amendment or by a debt proposition under Section 49 of this article. The bonds shall be called "Texas Park Development Bonds," shall be executed in such form, denominations, and upon such terms as may be prescribed by law, shall bear a rate or rates of interest as may be fixed by the Parks and Wildlife Department or its successor, not to exceed the maximum prescribed by Section 65 of this article, and may be issued in such installments as said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor, finds feasible and practical in accomplishing the purpose set forth herein. (b) All moneys received from the sale of said bonds shall be deposited in a fund hereby created with the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas to be known as the Texas Park Development Fund to be administered (without further appropriation) by the said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor, in such manner as prescribed by law. (c) Such fund shall be used by said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor, under such provisions as the Legislature may prescribe by general law, for the purposes of acquiring lands from the United States, or any governmental agency thereof, from any governmental agency of the State of Texas, or from any person, firm, or corporation, for State Park Sites and for developing said sites as State Parks. (d) While any of the bonds, or any interest on any such bonds, is outstanding and unpaid, there is hereby appropriated out of the first moneys coming into the Treasury in each fiscal year, not otherwise appropriated by this Constitution, an amount which is sufficient to pay the principal and interest on such bonds that mature or become due during such fiscal year, less the amount in the interest and sinking fund at the close of the prior fiscal year, which includes any receipts derived during the prior fiscal year by said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor, from admission charges to State Parks, as the Legislature may prescribe by general law. (e) The Legislature may provide for the investment of moneys available in the Texas Park Development Fund and the interest and sinking fund established for the payment of bonds issued by said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor. Income from such investment shall be used for the purposes prescribed by the Legislature. (f) From the moneys received by said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor, from the sale of the bonds issued hereunder, there shall be deposited in the interest and sinking fund for the bonds authorized by this section sufficient moneys to pay the interest to become due during the State fiscal year in which the bonds were issued. After all bonds have been fully paid with interest, or after there are on deposit in the interest and sinking fund sufficient moneys to pay all future maturities of principal and interest, additional moneys received from admission charges to State Parks shall be deposited to the State Parks Fund, or any successor fund which may be established by the Legislature as a depository for Park revenue earned by said Parks and Wildlife Department, or its said successor. (g) All bonds issued hereunder shall after approval by the Attorney General, registration by the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas, and delivery to the purchasers, be incontestable and shall constitute general obligations of the State of Texas under the Constitution of Texas. (Added Nov. 11, 1967; amended Nov. 7, 1995, and Nov. 2, 1999.) (TEMPORARY TRANSITION PROVISIONS for Sec. 49-e: See Appendix, Note 1.) Sec. 49-e-1. CENTENNIAL PARKS CONSERVATION FUND. (a) The centennial parks conservation fund is established as a trust fund outside the treasury. In accordance with general law, the fund may be used only for the creation and improvement of state parks. (b) The centennial parks conservation fund consists of: (1) money appropriated, credited, or transferred to the fund by the legislature; (2) gifts, grants, and donations received by the Parks and Wildlife Department or the department's successor in function for a purpose for which money in the fund may be used under this section; and (3) investment earnings and interest earned on amounts credited to the fund. (c) The legislature may appropriate money from the centennial parks conservation fund to the Parks and Wildlife Department or the department's successor in function for the purposes prescribed for the fund by this section and general law. (d) For purposes of Section 22 , Article VIII, of this constitution: (1) money in the centennial parks conservation fund is dedicated by this constitution; and (2) an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution. (e) The reasonable expenses of managing the fund and its assets shall be paid from the fund. (Added Nov. 7, 2023.)