(a) General.
  (1) Filing of applications. Applications shall be filed by the applicant with the Finance Division of the Office. Each application shall be as complete as practicable, and not requiring addendum in order to be approved. To insure adequate time for review by the Office staff, an application should be filed with the Office at least 14 days prior to the Office's approval.
  (2) Filing fee. Each application for approval shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable filing fee in the amount equal to one-tenth of 1.0% of the face amount of the bond issue or $25,000, whichever is less, but in no event less than $500. This fee is payable to the department upon the initial filing of such application.
  (3) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
    (A) Act--The Development Corporation Act, Texas Local Government Code, Title 12, as amended.
    (B) Application--The application to the department, the contents of which are outlined in subsection (b) of this section.
    (C) Approval--The approval of a lease, sale, or loan agreement or bonds issued by a corporation or any other document submitted as a part of the application to the department.
    (D) Board of directors--The board of directors of any corporation organized pursuant to the Act.
    (E) Bonds--Bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness.
    (F) City--Any municipality of the state incorporated under the provisions of:
      (i) any general or special law; or
      (ii) the home-rule amendment to the constitution.
    (G) Corporation--An industrial development corporation organized pursuant to the Act, §4(a).
    (H) Cost--The cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, and expansion, including the cost of the acquisition of all land, rights-of-way, property rights, easements, and interests, the cost of all machinery and equipment, financing charges, inventory, raw materials and other supplies, research and development costs, interest prior to and during construction and for one year after completion of construction, whether or not capitalized, necessary reserve funds, cost of estimates and of engineering and legal services, plans, specifications, surveys, estimates of cost and of revenue, other expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility and practicability of acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, and expanding any such project, administrative expense and such other expense as may be necessary or incident to the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, and expansion thereof, the placing of the same in operation, and the financing or refinancing of any such project, including the refunding of any outstanding obligations, mortgages, or advances issued, made or given by any person for any of the cost mentioned in this definition.
    (I) County--A county of this state.
    (J) Development area--Any area or areas of a city that the city finds and determines, after a public hearing, should be developed in order to meet the development objectives of the city.
    (K) District--A conservation and reclamation district established under authority of Texas Constitution, Article XVI, §59.
    (L) Executive director--The executive director of the Office.
    (M) Federally assisted new community--Those federally assisted areas which have received or will receive assistance in the form of loan guarantees under the National Housing Act, Title X, and a portion of the federally assisted area has received grants under the 42 U.S.C.A. §5307.
    (N) Governing body--The board, council, commission, commissioners' court, or legislative body of the unit.
    (O) Governmental agency--
      (i) the United States or any political subdivision, agency, territory, or insular possession thereof;
      (ii) the District of Columbia; or
      (iii) the State of Texas or any other state of the United States, or any unit, county, city, municipal corporation, district, political subdivision, or agency of the State of Texas, or of any other state of the United States.
    (P) Guarantor--
      (i) any individual, partnership, corporation, or any other private entity that is a party to a contract with the user, if such entity is contractually obligated to make payments to or on behalf of the user in amounts at least equal to the payments required to be made by the user under its lease, sale, or loan agreement with the corporation, provided the user has assigned to the corporation its contractual rights to receive such payments in order to secure said user's obligations under the lease, sale, or loan agreement;
      (ii) any individual, partnership, corporation, or any other private entity directly guaranteeing the user's payments in the amounts required under the lease, sale, or loan agreements;
      (iii) any individual, partnership, corporation, or any other private entity directly guaranteeing payment of bonds issued to finance the project.
    (Q) Office--The Economic Development and Tourism Office in the Office of the Governor.
    (R) Population--The number of inhabitants within a geographical area as found and determined by the most recent federal decennial census.
    (S) Project--The project as defined in the Act.
    (T) Resolution--The resolution, order, ordinance, or other official action by the governing body of a unit.
    (U) Rules--The rules of the Office.
    (V) Unit--A city, county, or district which may create and utilize a corporation.
    (W) User--An individual, partnership, corporation, or any other private entity, whether organized for profit or not for profit, or a city, county district, or any other political subdivision or public entity of the state.
  (4) Fee schedules and bond procedures. Each corporation shall file with the Office a schedule of all fees charged by, collected by, or otherwise involved with the corporation, directly or indirectly, in the application for approval to issue industrial revenue bonds. In addition, a complete set of the corporation's written procedures for application of industrial revenue bond projects shall be submitted prior to the Office review of industrial revenue bond applications involving such corporations. Such written procedures and fee schedules shall be updated upon amendment, such update to be filed with the Office within 30 days from the effective date of such amendment. In the event that the procedures and fee schedule already on file with the Office are still in full force and effect at the time an application is submitted to the Office, a letter from the issuer stating such shall be included in the application. All bond procedures filed with the Office must contain the name, street address, mailing address, and telephone number of the corporation's authorized agent or representative.
(b) Application contents.
  (1) Generally.
    (A) The project description prepared by the user shall include:
      (i) a brief description of the project, its location, and intended use;
      (ii) estimates of the number and type of jobs to be created as a result of the project and the estimated annual payroll of employees working at the project. If there is a probability that loss of existing jobs would occur within the unit as a result of the disapproval of the lease, sale, or loan agreement, estimate the number and type of existing jobs which would be lost and the estimated annual payroll of employees currently holding such jobs;
      (iii) a statement indicating who presently owns the project site describing any liens and encumbrances, and representing that all necessary interest in real estate required for the construction, installation, and operation of the project has been or can be acquired; that all necessary access roads, utilities, and drainage facilities have been or can be provided; and that all approvals, permits, consents, or authorizations of any governmental or public agency, authority, or person required in connection with the construction, installation, and operation of the project have been or can be obtained;
      (iv) a detailed showing of the estimated costs of the project, together with a list of the sources from which payment will be made, which statement shall show actual, or if not possible, estimated, cost of items as follows:
        (I) the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, and expansion, including the cost of the acquisition of all land, rights-of-way, property rights, and easements; if none, so state;
        (II) machinery and equipment; if none, so state;
        (III) building costs; if none, so state;
Cont'd...