The vote was 71-55. A final vote on the measure will be taken today and it is expected to pass, then be sent to the Senate. The Harris County delegation voted 16-9 in favor of the bill.

But before passing it, the House removed the hotel occupancy tax, which means Houston won't have sufficient funding tools to build a basketball arena. Left in the bill were taxes on rental cars, parking and sporting event tickets, and the authority for local governments to use funds levied for regional transit purposes.

Also approved was an amendment to force Harris County to hold another referendum on building a downtown baseball stadium, even though such a measure was passed last November.

Mayor Bob Lanier said he was disappointed at the House amendments, but now that the legislation goes to the Senate, he hoped to get it changed.

"We have a long way to go before we get home," Lanier said.

Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, introduced the amendment to require a second referendum on the baseball stadium, even though he had made commercials supporting the measure that passed in November.

Turner told the House that the last referendum did not address the specifics of funding the stadium construction and that voters deserve the right to revisit the issue.  His amendment was supported by 14 other Harris County legislators.

"Let the bell of freedom ring tonight for Houston and Harris County," Turner said.

Opposing the amendment were Houston Democrats Debra Danburg and Garnet Coleman, who argued that voters were well aware of the funding mechanisms when they cast their ballots.

Danburg said another referendum would be a needless expense, and Coleman said opponents were simply trying to kill the baseball stadium.

One reason cited for killing the hotel occupancy tax was that it would be unfair to rural people who must use big-city facilities such as the Texas Medical Center but never attend athletic events.

Though most cities and counties would use the legislation for projects other than sports stadiums and arenas, much of the debate focused on the four cities that want to use the taxes for such facilities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Arlington.

Rep. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas, argued it is bad public policy to spend tax dollars that wind up in the pockets of wealthy team owners and their players, specifically citing Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, took exception to Wolens' remark about Irvin, chasing him down on the floor and chastising him for giving the impression that Irvin used money for drugs.

"He apologized to me for it," Thompson said later.

Wolens also argued that the bill would make Texas' hotel and rental car taxes the nation's highest.

"We can be ahead of New York City," Wolens said. "Won't that be something to be proud of?"

Defending the bill was its author, Rep. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, who early in the debate referred to Wolens as "Willie Wonka."

Brimer, who played freshman football for the University of Houston in 1963 and carried a Cougars helmet onto the House floor, pointed out that under his bill voters would determine whether the new taxes are imposed for stadiums or other projects.

He also cited his yearlong study of the legislation, and then he got a personal with Wolens, saying, "Are we going to let some guy who never played contact sports in his life kill the bill?"

An amendment by Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, was adopted that would prevent property tax revenues from being spent on maintenance or operation of sports facilities.

Legislators rejected an amendment by Rep. Robert Puente, D-San Antonio, to limit public participation to 25 percent of a project. He wanted half of the cost of building sports facilities to come from selling naming rights, seat licenses and other stadium-specific revenue and 25 percent from the private sector.

The early debate focused on whether the bill gave Arlington an unfair advantage over Dallas in their battle to build a new arena for the Mavericks and Stars.

Wolens argued that the bill would prevent Dallas from creating a state-sanctioned economic development corporation to build an arena.

The bill, however, would allow Arlington to use the same corporation it created to build The Ballpark at Arlington as a vehicle for a new arena.

"This is giving the raspberry to Dallas, and I don't understand it," Wolens said.

Rep. Rene Oliviera, D-Brownsville, argued that the provision would prevent Dallas or other cities from using a corporation to impose the new taxes without a vote. Under the law governing economic development corporations, voters must approve the creation, but not the imposition, of taxes.

Last week, House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, allowed the bill to be killed on a point of order raised by Wolens. But Wednesday, after Wolens sought another point of order, Laney denied the request.