By Hartnett                                            H.B. No. 366
       74R964 SMH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of
    1-3  income-producing tangible personal property having a value of less
    1-4  than a certain amount.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Tax Code, is amended by
    1-7  adding Section 11.145 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 11.145.  INCOME-PRODUCING TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY
    1-9  HAVING VALUE OF LESS THAN $500.   (a)  A person is entitled to an
   1-10  exemption from taxation of the tangible personal property the
   1-11  person owns that is held or used for the production of income if
   1-12  that property has a taxable value of less than $500.
   1-13        (b)  The exemption provided by Subsection (a) applies to each
   1-14  separate location at which a person holds or uses tangible personal
   1-15  property for the production of income and, for the purposes of
   1-16  Subsection (a), all property at each location is aggregated to
   1-17  determine taxable value.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  Section 11.43(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
   1-19  follows:
   1-20        (a)  To receive an exemption, a person claiming the
   1-21  exemption, other than an exemption authorized by Section 11.11,
   1-22  11.12, 11.14, 11.145, 11.15, 11.16, or 11.161 of this code, must
   1-23  apply for the exemption.  To apply for an exemption, a person must
   1-24  file an exemption application form with the chief appraiser for
    2-1  each appraisal district in which the property subject to the
    2-2  claimed exemption has situs.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 1997, but only
    2-4  if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 74th Legislature,
    2-5  Regular Session, 1995, authorizing the legislature to exempt from
    2-6  ad valorem taxation personal property that has a value insufficient
    2-7  to recover the administrative costs of collecting the taxes is
    2-8  approved by the voters.  If that amendment is not approved by the
    2-9  voters, this Act has no effect.
   2-10        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.