BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2245

By: Shine

Ways & Means

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are a number of concerns with respect to the property appraisal process. For instance, appraisal districts may use unique account numbers to identify all or part of a property in the appraisal records. However, an appraisal district is not required to inform a property owner if their account number changes. Additionally, property owners currently do not have the option to request that contiguous parcels or tracts of land they own be combined into a single appraisal record or that separate identifiable segments of a parcel or tract of their property be divided into individual appraisal records. C.S.H.B. 2245 seeks to address these concerns.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2245 amends the Tax Code to require each appraisal record to have a unique account number. If an appraisal district changes the account number, the district must provide written notice of the change to the property owner as soon as practicable after the change and provide notice of the change in the next notice of appraised value that is delivered to the owner.

C.S.H.B. 2245 requires a chief appraiser to do the following on written request of a property owner:

· combine contiguous parcels or tracts of the owner's real property into a single appraisal record; or

· separate identifiable segments of the owner's parcel or tract of real property into individual appraisal records.

These provisions do not apply to an appraisal record for a residential property, for an improvement only, or for a property on which a delinquent tax is due.

C.S.H.B. 2245 requires the property owner to include in the request a legal description as contained in a deed sufficient to describe the property and to make the request to the chief appraiser before January 1 of the tax year for which the requested change is to be made. If the chief appraiser refuses to combine or separate parcels or tracks as requested, the appraisal review board (ARB) established for that appraisal district may order the requested change on a motion filed by the owner for a correction of the appraisal roll or a taxpayer protest filed with the ARB.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2245 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The original established certain notice requirements applicable with respect to a unique account number used to identify property in the appraisal records, but did not require that these numbers be used. The substitute retains these notice requirements but also requires that each appraisal record have such a unique account number.

The substitute, in a provision that applies to certain types of property, includes provisions not in the original requiring a chief appraiser to combine contiguous parcels or tracts of property into a single appraisal record or separate segments thereof into individual appraisal records on request of the property owner. The substitute includes provisions providing for the applicable ARB to order the requested change on a motion or protest filed by the owner if the chief appraiser refuses to comply with the request.

The substitute omits a provision included in the original making the bill's provisions applicable only to a property tax year that begins on or after the bill's effective date.

The substitute changes the bill's effective date from January 1, 2022, to September 1, 2021.