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House Bill 585 |
House Author: Villarreal et al. |
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Effective: See below |
Senate Sponsor: Eltife |
House Bill 585 amends the Occupations Code to specify an allocation of the hours to be completed as part of the continuing education requirements for a registered professional appraiser who is the chief appraiser of an appraisal district, which must include at least two hours of professional ethics training specific to a chief appraiser. The bill also amends the Tax Code to require each member of an appraisal review board, at the conclusion of the initial training course for appraisal review board members and again at the conclusion of each subsequent continuing education course required of the member, to complete a statement that the member will comply with the applicable requirements of law in conducting hearings.
House Bill 585 further amends the Tax Code to provide for appraisal review board oversight by requiring the comptroller of public accounts to prepare appropriate model hearing procedures for appraisal review boards; requiring each board to follow the applicable model procedures when establishing its own hearing procedures; establishing a survey form for public comments and suggestions concerning an appraisal review board, matters addressed by the board's hearing procedures, and any other matters relating to the board's fairness and efficiency; and requiring the comptroller to issue an annual report summarizing the survey forms submitted by property owners concerning each appraisal review board.
House Bill 585 makes a person ineligible to serve on an appraisal district board of directors if the person has either appraised property subject to a proceeding or represented a property owner in a proceeding for compensation during the preceding five years; specifies the professional credentials required for appointment or service as chief appraiser; and provides for the comptroller's temporary appointment of an eligible individual as chief appraiser for an appraisal district with an ineligible chief appraiser.
House Bill 585 reduces from 125,000 to 120,000 the minimum county population threshold for the mandatory appointment of a taxpayer liaison officer and adds to the officer's duties the receipt, compilation, and transmittal to the comptroller of survey comments and suggestions filed by a chief appraiser, property owner, or property owner's agent and the provision of clerical assistance to the local administrative district judge in the selection of appraisal review board members. The bill also substantially lowers the minimum population threshold for certain populous counties in which the appraisal review board members are appointed by the local administrative district judge rather than by the appraisal district's board of directors, making those provisions applicable in a county with a population of 120,000 or more and, with certain exceptions, makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense for a chief appraiser or another employee or agent of the appraisal district for such a county, a member of either the district's appraisal review board or its board of directors, a property tax consultant, or a property owner's agent to communicate with the local administrative district judge regarding the appointment of appraisal review board members. The bill also makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense for a chief appraiser or another district employee or agent to communicate with a member of the district's appraisal review board or board of directors or, in a county with a population of 120,000 or more, with the local administrative district judge regarding a basis on which the appraisal review board or a panel of the board reduces the appraised value of property.
House Bill 585 sets out specific application requirements and procedures for claiming and receiving certain allocations of taxable property value; authorizes a secured party, with a property owner's consent, to render for taxation any property that has a historical cost greater than $50,000 in which the secured party has a security interest on January 1; and establishes that a replacement structure whose square footage exceeds that of the replaced structure or whose exterior is of a higher quality construction or composition than that of the replaced structure is not considered a new improvement if the square footage or exterior construction or composition was necessary to satisfy disaster recovery program requirements. The bill establishes that an application for a refund of a property tax overpayment or erroneous payment is presumed to have been denied if the collector for a taxing unit does not respond to the application on or before the 90th day after the date the application is filed and, on the denial of an application, authorizes the taxpayer to file suit against the taxing unit in district court to compel payment of the refund.
House Bill 585 sets out conditions under which an appraisal district must establish the value of property subject to a taxpayer protest by clear and convincing evidence presented at the hearing and requires the protest to be determined in the property owner's favor if the appraisal district fails to meet that standard for its burden of proof.
House Bill 585 clarifies that a property owner does not waive the right to appear in person at a taxpayer protest hearing by submitting an evidence or argument affidavit to the appraisal review board and sets limitations and conditions on the board's consideration and use of the affidavit in the property owner's absence. The bill also sets out provisions regarding scheduling of hearings, including scheduling of hearings on protests concerning multiple properties, and the use of panels to conduct such hearings. The bill repeals provisions relating to expedited arbitrations in appeals of an appraisal review board's determination of a property owner's protest regarding a property's appraised or market value.
House Bill 585 gives a property owner whose appeal through judicial review is pending the option of paying the amount of taxes imposed on the property in the preceding tax year before the applicable delinquency date in order to avoid forfeiting the right to proceed to a final determination of the appeal; authorizes the property owner to pay an additional amount at any time without forfeiting that right; and allows a property owner to pay half of the required amount by December 1 and the other half before the following July if the taxes are subject to the split-payment option. The bill authorizes a petition for judicial review to include multiple properties owned or leased by the same person that are similar and would typically sell as a single property; authorizes the amendment of a petition to include additional properties meeting the same criteria; and clarifies the court's jurisdiction over an appeal through judicial review in certain cases.
House Bill 585 specifies the conditions under which evidence, argument, or other testimony offered at an appraisal review board hearing by a property owner or agent is admissible in an appeal through judicial review and authorizes the award of reasonable attorney fees to a property owner who prevails in an appeal to the court of an appraisal review board determination of a protest regarding the denial of certain property tax exemptions.
House Bill 585 takes effect June 14, 2013, except for provisions relating to continuing education requirements for a chief appraiser, board members' completion of a compliance statement at the conclusion of each training and continuing education course, appraisal review board oversight, eligibility criteria for chief appraisers, and the comptroller's appointment of a chief appraiser; appraisal districts in counties with a revised population bracket; a secured third party's rendition; replacement structures under a disaster recovery program; use of affidavits in a protest hearing; and hearing scheduling, all of which take effect January 1, 2014, and provisions relating to the standard for burden of proof in establishing the value of property, which take effect September 1, 2013.