LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 25, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Tom Craddick, Chair          IN RE: Committee Substitute
         Committee on Ways & Means              for House Bill No. 1358
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas








FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
1358 (Relating to the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of
open-space land used for wildlife management.) this office has
determined the following:

The bill would expand the definition of "wildlife management" as
applied to special use productivity valuation for ad valorem
property taxes purposes.

The bill would require an owner to "actively" use the land in at
least three of seven specified ways to propagate a sustaining
breeding population of indigenous wild animals for human use,
including food, medicine, or recreation.

The bill would delete current language requiring the owner to
produce a harvestable surplus of those animals.

The bill would also require the Comptroller, with the assistance
of the Parks and Wildlife Department or the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service, to develop and distribute to each appraisal
district guidelines for determining whether land qualifies as
"wildlife management."

There would be a revenue loss to units of local government if
local implementation by appraisal districts allows additional
property to qualify at a productivity value below its current
taxable value.    




Passage of this bill could cause a reduction in school district
taxable values reported to the Commissioner of Education by the 
Comptroller.  Changes in school district property wealth could
have an impact on state funding for public education.

The Comptroller's office does not receive and maintain
information on current and previously qualified open-space land,
therefore, the fiscal implication to the State or units local
government cannot be determined



    

    







Source:   LBB Staff: JK, BR, DF