By Sadler                                             H.B. No. 2610
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the administration of the property value study
    1-3  conducted for school finance purposes:
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 11.86 (a) Education Code, is amended and
    1-6  subsection (i) is added, to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  The comptroller shall conduct an annual study using
    1-8  comparable sales and generally accepted auditing and sampling
    1-9  techniques to determine the total value of all taxable property in
   1-10  each county education school district and each of its component
   1-11  school districts.  The study shall determine the taxable value of
   1-12  all property and of each category of property within the district
   1-13  and the productivity value of all land that qualifies for appraisal
   1-14  on the basis of its productive capacity and for which the owner has
   1-15  applied for and received a productivity appraisal.  In conducting
   1-16  the study, the comptroller shall regularly review the appraisal
   1-17  standards, procedures, and methodology used by each appraisal
   1-18  district to determine the taxable value of property in each school
   1-19  district.  The review must test the validity of the taxable values
   1-20  assigned to each category of property by the appraisal district:
   1-21              (1)  using, if appropriate, samples selected through
   1-22  generally accepted sampling techniques; and
   1-23              (2)  according to generally accepted standard
    2-1  valuation, statistical compilation, and analysis techniques.  If
    2-2  the comptroller finds in the annual study that generally accepted
    2-3  appraisal standards and practices were used by the appraisal
    2-4  district in valuing a particular category of property, and that the
    2-5  taxable values assigned to each category of property by the
    2-6  appraisal district are valid, the appraisal roll value of that
    2-7  category of property is presumed to represent taxable value.  In
    2-8  the absence of such a presumption, the comptroller shall estimate
    2-9  the taxable value of that category of property using generally
   2-10  accepted standard valuation, statistical compilation, and analysis
   2-11  techniques.  For the purposes of this section, "taxable value"
   2-12  means market value less:
   2-13              (1)  the total dollar amount of any exemptions of part
   2-14  but not all of the value of taxable property required by the
   2-15  constitution or a statute that a district lawfully granted in the
   2-16  year that is the subject of the study;
   2-17              (2)  the total dollar amount of any exemptions granted
   2-18  within a reinvestment zone under agreements authorized by the
   2-19  Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act (Chapter 312, Tax
   2-20  Code);
   2-21              (3)  the total dollar amount of any captured appraised
   2-22  value of property that is located in a reinvestment zone and that
   2-23  is eligible for tax increment financing under the Tax Increment
   2-24  Financing Act (Chapter 311, Tax Code);
   2-25              (4)  the total dollar amount of any exemptions granted
    3-1  under Section 11.252, Tax Code;
    3-2              (5)  the difference between the market value and the
    3-3  productivity value of land that qualifies for appraisal on the
    3-4  basis of its productive capacity, except that the productivity
    3-5  value may not exceed the fair market value of the land;
    3-6              (6)  the portion of the appraised value of residence
    3-7  homesteads of the elderly on which school district taxes are not
    3-8  imposed in the year that is the subject of the study, calculated as
    3-9  if the residence homesteads were appraised at the full value
   3-10  required by law;
   3-11              (7)  a portion of the market value of property not
   3-12  otherwise fully taxable by the district at market value because of
   3-13  action required by statute or the Texas Constitution that, if the
   3-14  tax rate adopted by the district is applied to it, produces an
   3-15  amount equal to the difference between the tax that the district
   3-16  would have imposed on the property if the property were fully
   3-17  taxable at market value and the tax that the district is actually
   3-18  authorized to impose on the property; and
   3-19              (8)  the market value of all tangible personal
   3-20  property, other than manufactured homes, owned by a family or
   3-21  individual and not held or used for the production of income.
   3-22        (i)  If a school district's adjusted total tax roll value is
   3-23  greater than the school district's taxable value as determined by
   3-24  the comptroller under subsection (a) of this section, the
   3-25  comptroller, when certifying the property values as required by
    4-1  this section, shall certify the district's adjusted total tax roll
    4-2  value for the year of the study.  For purposes of this subsection,
    4-3  "adjusted total tax roll value" means a school district's total tax
    4-4  roll value, plus any exemptions, exclusions or other amounts not
    4-5  required to be deducted by subsection (a)(1) through (8) of this
    4-6  section.
    4-7        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately.
    4-8        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    4-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended
   4-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   4-14  passage and it so enacted.