By: Henderson S.B. No. 548
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to judicial review of ad valorem tax appraisals of oil and
1-2 gas pipelines.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 42.22, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 Sec. 42.22. VENUE. Venue is in the county in which the
1-7 appraisal review board that issued the order appealed is located,
1-8 except as provided by Section 42.221. Venue is in Travis County if
1-9 the order appealed was issued by the comptroller.
1-10 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Tax Code, is amended by
1-11 adding Section 42.221 to read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 42.221. CONSOLIDATED APPEALS FOR MULTICOUNTY PIPELINE.
1-13 (a) The owner of an oil or gas pipeline that runs through more
1-14 than one county and is appraised by more than one appraisal
1-15 district may appeal an order of an appraisal review board relating
1-16 to the pipeline, to property attached to or used in connection with
1-17 the pipeline, or to an easement or other real property on which the
1-18 pipeline is located to the district court of any county in which a
1-19 portion of the pipeline is located.
1-20 (b) A petition for review of each appraisal review board
1-21 order under this section must be filed with the court as provided
1-22 by Section 42.21. The fee for filing each additional petition for
1-23 review relating to a pipeline after the first petition for review
1-24 relating to the same pipeline is filed for a tax year is $5.
2-1 (c) If only one appeal by the owner of an oil or gas
2-2 pipeline is pending before the court in an appeal from the decision
2-3 of an appraisal review board of a district other than the appraisal
2-4 district for that county, any party to the suit may, not earlier
2-5 than the 30th day before and not later than the 10th day before the
2-6 date set for the hearing, make a motion to transfer the suit to a
2-7 district court of the county in which the appraisal review board
2-8 from which the appeal is taken is located. In the absence of a
2-9 showing that further appeals under this section will be filed, the
2-10 court shall transfer the suit.
2-11 (d) When the owner files the first petition for review under
2-12 this section for a pipeline for a tax year, the owner shall include
2-13 with the petition a list of each appraisal district in which the
2-14 pipeline is appraised for taxation in that tax year.
2-15 (e) The court shall consolidate all the appeals for a tax
2-16 year relating to a single pipeline for which a petition for review
2-17 is filed with the court and may consolidate other appeals relating
2-18 to other pipelines of the same owner if the court considers it
2-19 appropriate to do so. On the motion of the pipeline owner, the
2-20 court shall grant a continuance to provide the owner with an
2-21 opportunity to include in the proceeding appeals of appraisal
2-22 review board orders from additional appraisal districts.
2-23 (f) This section does not affect the property owner's right
2-24 to file a petition for review of an individual appraisal district's
2-25 order relating to a pipeline in the district court in the county in
2-26 which the appraisal review board is located.
2-27 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. The
3-1 changes in law made by this Act apply to any petition for review
3-2 filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, on or
3-3 after the effective date of this Act and to any petition for review
3-4 filed under that chapter that is pending before a district court on
3-5 that date.
3-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.