1-1  By:  Stiles (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)              H.B. No. 2197
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 1995;
    1-3  May 5, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
    1-4  May 23, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 11,
    1-5  Nays 0; May 23, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the payment in installments of ad valorem taxes on
    1-9  certain property located in a disaster area.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Chapter 31, Tax Code, is amended by adding
   1-12  Section 31.032 to read as follows:
   1-13        Sec. 31.032.  INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS OF TAXES ON PROPERTY IN
   1-14  DISASTER AREA.  (a)  This section applies only to:
   1-15              (1)  real property that:
   1-16                    (A)  is the residence homestead of the owner or
   1-17  consists of property that is used for residential purposes and that
   1-18  has fewer than five living units;
   1-19                    (B)  is located in a disaster area; and
   1-20                    (C)  has been damaged as a direct result of the
   1-21  disaster; and
   1-22              (2)  taxes that are imposed on the property by a taxing
   1-23  unit before the first anniversary of the disaster.
   1-24        (b)  If, before the delinquency date, a person pays at least
   1-25  one-fourth of a taxing unit's taxes imposed on property that the
   1-26  person owns, accompanied by notice to the taxing unit that the
   1-27  person will pay the remaining taxes in installments, the person may
   1-28  pay the remaining taxes without penalty or interest in three equal
   1-29  installments.  The first installment must be paid before April 1,
   1-30  the second installment before June 1, and the third installment
   1-31  before August 1.
   1-32        (c)  If the person fails to make a payment before the
   1-33  applicable date provided by Subsection (b), the unpaid amount is
   1-34  delinquent and incurs a penalty of 12 percent and interest as
   1-35  provided by Section 33.01(c).
   1-36        (d)  A person may pay more than the amount due for each
   1-37  installment and the amount in excess of the amount due shall be
   1-38  credited to the next installment.  A person may not pay less than
   1-39  the total amount due for each installment unless the collector
   1-40  provides for the acceptance of partial payments under this section.
   1-41  If the collector accepts a partial payment, penalties and interest
   1-42  are incurred only by the amount of each installment that remains
   1-43  unpaid on the applicable date provided by Subsection (b).
   1-44        (e)  If the delinquency date for taxes to which this section
   1-45  applies is postponed to May 1 or a later date, the collector shall
   1-46  extend each installment deadline provided by Subsection (b) by the
   1-47  number of months that the delinquency date was postponed.  The
   1-48  collector may not extend the third installment deadline beyond
   1-49  December 31.
   1-50        (f)  The comptroller shall adopt rules to implement this
   1-51  section.
   1-52        (g)  In this section:
   1-53              (1)  "Disaster" has the meaning assigned by Section
   1-54  418.004, Government Code.
   1-55              (2)  "Disaster area" has the meaning assigned by
   1-56  Section 151.350.
   1-57        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-58  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-59  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-60  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-61  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-62  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-63  passage, and it is so enacted.
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