By:  Wilson                                           H.B. No. 1293
       73R5711 JD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the award of attorney's fees to a property owner in
    1-3  certain ad valorem tax appeals.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 42.29, Tax Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 42.29.  Attorney's Fees.  (a)  A property owner who
    1-8  prevails in an appeal to the court under Section 42.25 or Section
    1-9  42.26:
   1-10              (1)  shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees if the
   1-11  court finds that the incorrect appraised value of the property as
   1-12  determined by the appraisal review board exceeds by at least 10
   1-13  percent the correct appraised value of the property as determined
   1-14  by the court; and
   1-15              (2)  <of this code> may be awarded reasonable
   1-16  attorney's fees in an appeal not covered by Subdivision (1) in
   1-17  which the property owner's tax liability is reduced as a result of
   1-18  the appeal.
   1-19        (b)  The amount of attorney's fees awarded under this section
   1-20  may not <to> exceed:
   1-21              (1)  the greater of $15,000 or 20 percent of the total
   1-22  amount by which the property owner's tax liability is reduced as a
   1-23  result of the appeal; or<.>
   1-24              (2)  <The award of attorney's fees, however, may not
    2-1  exceed> the total amount by which the property owner's tax
    2-2  liability is reduced as a result of the appeal.
    2-3        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.  The
    2-4  change in law made by this Act applies to any appeal filed under
    2-5  Section 42.25 or 42.26, Tax Code, on or after that date, and to any
    2-6  appeal under those sections that is pending before a court on that
    2-7  date.
    2-8        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.