By:  Barrientos                                       S.B. No. 1394
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to homestead tax exemptions for Texas residents who attain
    1-2  the age of 65.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 11.42, Tax Code, is amended by amending
    1-5  Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  Except as provided by Subsections <Subsection> (b) and
    1-7  (c) and by Sections 11.421, 11.422, 11.434, 11.435, and 11.436,
    1-8  eligibility for and amount of an exemption authorized by this
    1-9  chapter for any tax year are determined by a claimant's
   1-10  qualifications on January 1.  A person who does not qualify for an
   1-11  exemption on January 1 of any year may not receive the exemption
   1-12  that year.
   1-13        (c)  For the purposes of Section 11.13, a person who reaches
   1-14  the age of 65 during the tax year qualifies for any exemptions
   1-15  allowed for a person who is 65 or older on January 1 of the tax
   1-16  year.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
   1-18        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.