S.B. No. 548
AN ACT
1-1 relating to judicial review of ad valorem tax appraisals of oil and
1-2 gas pipelines and of electric transmission and distribution lines.
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 OR ELECTRIC LINE. (a) The owner of an oil or gas pipeline or
1-14 electric transmission or distribution line that runs through more
1-15 than one county and is appraised by more than one appraisal
1-16 district may appeal an order of an appraisal review board relating
1-17 to the pipeline or electric line, to property attached to or
1-18 connected with the pipeline or electric line, or to an easement or
1-19 other real property on which the pipeline or electric line is
1-20 located to the district court of any county in which a portion of
1-21 the pipeline or electric line is located if the order relating to
1-22 that portion of the pipeline or electric line is appealed.
1-23 (b) A petition for review of each appraisal review board
1-24 order under this section must be filed with the court as provided
2-1 by Section 42.21. The fee for filing each additional petition for
2-2 review relating to a pipeline or electric line after the first
2-3 petition for review relating to the same pipeline or electric line
2-4 is filed for a tax year is $5.
2-5 (c) If only one appeal by the owner of an oil or gas
2-6 pipeline or electric line is pending before the court in an appeal
2-7 from the decision of an appraisal review board of a district other
2-8 than the appraisal district for that county, any party to the suit
2-9 may, not earlier than the 30th day before and not later than the
2-10 10th day before the date set for the hearing, make a motion to
2-11 transfer the suit to a district court of the county in which the
2-12 appraisal review board from which the appeal is taken is located.
2-13 In the absence of a showing that further appeals under this section
2-14 will be filed, the court shall transfer the suit.
2-15 (d) When the owner files the first petition for review under
2-16 this section for a pipeline or electric line for a tax year, the
2-17 owner shall include with the petition a list of each appraisal
2-18 district in which the pipeline or electric line is appraised for
2-19 taxation in that tax year.
2-20 (e) The court shall consolidate all the appeals for a tax
2-21 year relating to a single pipeline or electric line for which a
2-22 petition for review is filed with the court and may consolidate
2-23 other appeals relating to other pipelines or electric lines of the
2-24 same owner if the pipelines or electric lines are located in one or
2-25 more of the counties on the list required by Subsection (d).
2-26 Except as provided by this subsection, on the motion of the
2-27 pipeline or electric line owner the court shall grant a continuance
3-1 to provide the owner with an opportunity to include in the
3-2 proceeding appeals of appraisal review board orders from additional
3-3 appraisal districts. The court may not grant a continuance to
3-4 include an appeal of an appraisal review board order that relates
3-5 to the pipeline or electric line in that tax year after the time
3-6 for filing a petition for review of that order has expired.
3-7 (f) This section does not affect the property owner's right
3-8 to file a petition for review of an individual appraisal district's
3-9 order relating to a pipeline or electric line in the district court
3-10 in the county in which the appraisal review board is located.
3-11 (g) On a joint motion or the separate motions of at least 60
3-12 percent of the appraisal districts that are defendants in a
3-13 consolidated suit filed before the 45th day after the date on which
3-14 the property owner's petitions for review of the appraisal review
3-15 board orders relating to a pipeline or electric line for that tax
3-16 year must be filed, the court shall transfer the suit to a district
3-17 court of the county named in the motion or motions if that county
3-18 is one in which one of the appraisal review boards from which an
3-19 appeal was taken is located.
3-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. The
3-21 changes in law made by this Act apply to any petition for review
3-22 filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, on or
3-23 after the effective date of this Act and to any petition for review
3-24 filed under that chapter that is pending before a district court on
3-25 that date.
3-26 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.