Cortez’s bill for veteran manufactured home down payment grants

The text as introduced · 757 words

89R14050 JAM-D

By: Cortez
H.B. No. 4601

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of a down payment assistance grant

program for veterans purchasing manufactured homes and the

dedication of certain sales and use tax revenue to finance that

program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 162, Natural Resources

Code, is amended by adding Section 162.0105 to read as follows:

Sec. 162.0105. DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM. (a)

In this section, "manufactured home" has the meaning assigned by

Section 1201.003, Occupations Code.

(b) Using money from the manufactured home grant fund

established under Subsection (f), the board shall award to eligible

veterans grants to be used as down payment assistance for the

purchase of new manufactured homes.

(c) The board may award a grant under this section only in

accordance with a contract between the commission and a grant

recipient. The contract must include provisions under which the

board is granted sufficient control to ensure the public purpose of

providing affordable housing to veterans is accomplished and the

state receives the return benefit.

(d) To be eligible for a grant under this section, a person

must be a veteran at the time the person applies for the grant. If

an eligible veteran dies after filing an application, the surviving

spouse may complete the transaction.

(e) A manufactured home for which a grant is awarded under

this section may not be leased, transferred, sold, or conveyed in

whole or in part until the original veteran purchaser has occupied

the home as the veteran's principal residence for a period of three

years following the date of the purchase of the home and complied

with the terms and conditions of this section and the rules of the

board. After the three-year period, a home may be transferred,

sold, or conveyed if the terms and conditions of this section and

rules of the board have been met and the approval of the board has

been obtained. The board may waive the time limitation of this

subsection at any time the board considers a waiver to be in the

best interest of the grant program, including on the death,

bankruptcy, financial incapacity, or divorce of the veteran and

including when the veteran is forced to move due to a change in

employment or because the veteran's home is condemned through no

fault of the veteran. If the time limitation requirement of this

subsection is not met and the board does not waive the time

limitation as provided in this subsection, the board may provide in

its rules for the repayment of the grant or any other remedy as the

board considers appropriate.

(f) The manufactured home grant fund is established as a

special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue

fund. The board shall administer the fund. The board may use money

in the fund only for the purposes of awarding grants under this

section and for paying the reasonable expenses of managing the fund

and its assets. The fund consists of:

(1) money transferred by the comptroller to the fund

under Section 158.059, Tax Code;

(2) money the legislature appropriates, credits, or

transfers to the fund;

(3) gifts and grants, including grants from the

federal government, and other donations received for the fund; and

(4) investment earnings and interest earned on amounts

credited to the fund.

(g) The board by rule shall establish:

(1) the value of a grant awarded under this section;

(2) income limits for a veteran's eligibility for a

grant awarded under this section; and

(3) any other provision necessary to implement this

section.

SECTION 2. The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 158, Tax

Code, is amended to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER B. IMPOSITION AND COLLECTION OF TAX ; DISPOSITION OF TAX

PROCEEDS

SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 158, Tax Code, is amended

by adding Section 158.059 to read as follows:

Sec. 158.059. ALLOCATION OF REVENUE. The comptroller shall

deposit the revenue attributable to the taxes imposed by this

chapter as follows:

(1) 10 percent to the credit of the manufactured home

grant fund established under Section 162.0105, Natural Resources

Code; and

(2) the remainder to the credit of the general revenue

fund.

SECTION 4. Section 158.059, Tax Code, as added by this Act,

applies only to the allocation of tax proceeds received by the

comptroller of public accounts with a report that covers a period

beginning on or after September 1, 2025.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.