BILL ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 1614 By: Whitmire Finance 04-10-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND The Texas Legislature has supported districts giving homestead tax exemptions. A large number of homeowners in Texas are elderly and living on a fixed income. Repeals of homestead tax exemptions may threaten home security for the elderly who sometimes encounter problems meeting their property tax obligations without public notice of a tax repeal. However, school districts can repeal homestead tax exemptions without voter approval. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 1614 requires a governing body of a taxing unit to hold a public hearing and an election prior to repealing an existing homestead exemption. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 11.13(f), Tax Code, to authorize an exemption provided by Subsection (d) of this section to be increased, rather than repealed or decreased, in amount by the governing body of the taxing unit or by the procedure authorized by Subdivision (2) of Subsection (d) of this section and to be repealed or reduced in amount only in the manner prescribed by Section 11.135. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 11B, Tax Code, by adding Section 11.135, as follows: Sec. 11.135. REPEAL OR REDUCTION OF AMOUNT OF CERTAIN RESIDENCE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS. (a) Prohibits the governing body of a taxing unit from repealing or reducing the amount of an exemption adopted under Section 11.13(d) or (n) without first receiving a majority vote in favor of the repeal or reduction at an election held in the taxing unit. Requires the governing body to hold a public hearing on the reduction or repeal before calling the election. Requires the governing body to give notice of the hearing before a certain date. (b) Prohibits the notice of the hearing from being smaller than a certain size, and requires the headline on the notice to be in 18-point or larger type. Requires the notice to be in a certain form. (c) Requires the notice to be delivered by mail to each property owner in the taxing unit receiving such exemption according to the current appraisal roll, or published in a part of a newspaper other than the part in which legal notices and classified advertisements appear. (d) Requires the hearing to be on a weekday that is not a holiday; and in the taxing unit in a publicly owned building or, if a suitable publicly owned building is not available, in a suitable building to which the public normally has access. (e) Requires the body to afford adequate opportunity for proponents and opponents of the reduction or repeal to present their views; and announce the date, time, and place of the meeting at which it will vote on the proposed reduction or repeal. (f) Requires the governing body to give notice of the meeting at which it will vote to repeal or reduce the amount of the exemption. Prohibits the notice of the meeting from being smaller than a certain size, and requires the headline on the notice to be in 18-point or larger type. Requires the notice to be in a certain form. (g) Prohibits the meeting to vote on the exemption reduction or repeal from being earlier than a certain date. Requires the meeting to be held in a publicly owned building or in a suitable building to which the public normally has access. Requires the governing body to give new notice under Subdivision (e)(2) before it may vote on the repeal or reduction if the governing body does not vote to repeal or reduce the amount of the exemption before the 15th day after the date of the public hearing. (h) Requires the governing body to order the election to be held in the taxing unit on a certain date on which it voted to repeal or reduce the amount of the exemption if the governing body votes to repeal or reduce the amount of the exemption. Sets forth the required language of the ballot. (i) Provides that the repeal or reduction in the amount of the residence homestead exemption takes effect on January 1 of the succeeding year if the majority of the votes cast in the election favor the proposition. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.