Texas Transportation Code 504.614 – Professional Sports Team License Plates
(a) The department may issue specialty license plates that include the name and insignia of a professional sports team located in this state. The department shall design the license plates in consultation with the professional sports team and may enter a trademark license with the professional sports team or its league to implement this section. A license plate may be issued under this section only for a professional sports team that:
(1) certifies to the department that the requirements of § 504.702 are met; and
(2) plays its home games in a facility:
(A) constructed or operated, in whole or in part, with public funds; or
(B) owned, in whole or in part, by a public entity.
(b) After deduction of the department’s administrative costs, the remainder of the fee for issuance of the license plates shall be sent to the public entity that provided public funds for the construction or renovation of the facility in which the professional sports team plays its home games or that provides public funds for the operation of that facility. The funds shall be deposited to the credit of the venue project fund, if the public entity has created a venue project fund under § 334.042 or 335.072, Local Government Code. If the public entity has not created a venue project fund, funds distributed to a public entity under this section must first be used to retire any public debt incurred by the public entity in the construction or acquisition of the facility in which the professional sports team plays its home games. After that debt is retired, funds distributed to the public entity may be spent only for maintenance or improvement of the facility.
Terms Used In Texas Transportation Code 504.614
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
(b-1) A public entity that receives money under Subsection (b) may contract with the private vendor under § 504.6011 to distribute the entity’s portion of the money in a manner other than that described by Subsection (b).
(c) In this section:
(1) “Public entity” includes a municipality, county, industrial development corporation, or special district that is authorized to plan, acquire, establish, develop, construct, or renovate a facility in which a professional sports team plays its home games.
(2) “Professional sports team” means a sports team that is a member or an affiliate of a member of the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, or a major league baseball team.