Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 873	Senate Author:  Harris et al.
Effective:  1-1-11	House Sponsor:  Otto et al.

            Senate Bill 873 amends the Tax Code to require conditionally that an appraisal district, if it had a publicly available website at the beginning of 2008 or if it establishes or has established such a website after that date, implement a system that allows the owner of a property that for the current tax year has been granted a residence homestead exemption to electronically accomplish specified functions. The system, if required, must enable the owner to file a notice of protest with the appraisal review board (ARB), to review and receive comparable sales data and other evidence that the chief appraiser intends to use at the ARB hearing, to receive either a settlement offer from the appraisal district or a notice that a settlement offer will not be made, and to accept or reject a settlement offer, if any. An appraisal district, however, is not required to make the system available to an owner in an area where the chief appraiser determines that the factors affecting the market value of real property are unusually complex, and an appraisal district for a county with a population of 250,000 or less is not required to implement a system before January 1, 2013. The bill requires an appraisal district affected by the above provisions to include information and instructions regarding the system with the notice of appraised value the district sends to an eligible property owner, and it sets out requirements for electronically filing a notice of protest and procedural requirements that apply to an accepted or rejected settlement offer.