By Eiland                                             H.B. No. 1773
       74R5075 JD-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of certain school districts to establish
    1-3  an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the rate limitation imposed on
    1-4  school districts.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 20, Education Code, is
    1-7  amended by adding Section 20.10 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 20.10.  MAINTENANCE TAX REQUIRED FOR JUDGMENT ORDERING
    1-9  AD VALOREM TAX REFUND.  (a)  Notwithstanding Sections 20.04 and
   1-10  20.09, a school district may levy, assess, and collect maintenance
   1-11  taxes at a rate that exceeds $1.50 per $100 valuation of taxable
   1-12  property if:
   1-13              (1)  additional ad valorem taxes are necessary to pay a
   1-14  debt of the district that:
   1-15                    (A)  results from the rendition of a judgment
   1-16  against the district;
   1-17                    (B)  decreases a property owner's ad valorem tax
   1-18  liability;
   1-19                    (C)  requires the district to refund to the
   1-20  property owner the difference between the amount of taxes paid by
   1-21  the property owner and the amount of taxes for which the property
   1-22  owner is liable; and
   1-23                    (D)  is payable according to the judgment in more
   1-24  than one of the district's fiscal years; and
    2-1              (2)  the additional taxes are approved by the voters of
    2-2  the district at an election held for that purpose.
    2-3        (b)  In a school district that under this section adopts an
    2-4  ad valorem tax rate that exceeds $1.50 per $100 valuation of
    2-5  taxable property, the governing body of the district may, under
    2-6  Section 11.13(n), Tax Code, set the amount of a residence homestead
    2-7  exemption for property in the district at any time before the date
    2-8  the governing body adopts the tax rate for the tax year in which
    2-9  the election approving the additional taxes is held.
   2-10        (c)  The authority of a school district to levy the
   2-11  additional ad valorem taxes under this section expires when the
   2-12  judgment against the district is paid.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.