Amend HB 581 by striking SECTION 2 and substituting the
following:
      SECTION 2. Subsections (c)-(k), Section 25.25, Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
      (c)  The chief appraiser, upon the written request of a
property owner, or <At any time before the end of five years after
January 1 of a tax year,> the appraisal review board, on motion of
the chief appraiser or of a property owner, may direct by written
order changes in the appraisal roll for any year to correct:
            (1)  clerical errors that affect a property owner's
liability for a tax imposed in that tax year;
            (2)  multiple appraisals of a property in that tax
year; <or>
            (3)  the inclusion of property that does not exist in
the form or at the location described in the appraisal roll; or
            (4)  an error in appraisal judgment that resulted in an
appraised value that exceeds by more than one-third the correct
appraised value.
      (d)  The chief appraiser, pursuant to a written agreement
with a property owner, may at any time change the appraisal roll
for any year to correct an incorrect appraisal.  <At any time prior
to the date the taxes become delinquent, a property owner or the
chief appraiser may file a motion with the appraisal review board
to change the appraisal roll to correct an error that resulted in
an incorrect appraised value for the owner's property.  However,
the error may not be corrected unless it resulted in an appraised
value that exceeds by more than one-third the correct appraised
value.  If the appraisal roll is changed under this subsection, the
property owner must pay to each affected taxing unit a
late-correction penalty equal to 10 percent of the amount of taxes
as calculated on the basis of the corrected appraised value.  The
roll may not be changed under this subsection if the property was
the subject of a protest brought by the property owner under
Chapter 41 or if the appraised value of the property was
established as a result of a written agreement between the property
owner or his agent and the appraisal district.>
      (e)  The chief appraiser's failure to act upon a written
request under Subsection (c) or to enter a written agreement with a
property owner under Subsection (d) may not be protested to the
appraisal review board and may not be appealed to the district
court.  <A party bringing a motion under Subsection (d) of this
section is entitled to a hearing on and a determination of the
motion by the appraisal review board.  Not later than 15 days
before the hearing, the board must deliver written notice of the
date, time, and place of the hearing to the chief appraiser, the
property owner, and the presiding officer of the governing body of
each taxing unit in which the property is located.  The chief
appraiser, the property owner, and each taxing unit are entitled to
present evidence and argument at the hearing and to receive written
notice of the board's determination of the motion.  A property
owner who files the motion must comply with the payment
requirements of Section 42.08 of this code or he forfeits his right
to a final determination of the motion.>
      (f)  The chief appraiser shall certify each change made as
provided by this section to the assessor for each unit affected by
the change within five days after the date the change is entered.
      (g)  The appraisal review board shall determine any motion
that is filed with it under this section by written order unless
the chief appraiser files with the board an order or written
agreement disposing of the motion prior to the time the appraisal
review board rules on the motion.  Within 45 days after receiving
notice of the appraisal review board's determination of a motion
under this section, the property owner or the chief appraiser may
file suit to compel the board to order a change in the appraisal
roll as required by this section.
      (h)  <The appraisal review board, on the joint motion of the
property owner and the chief appraiser filed at any time prior to
the date the taxes become delinquent, shall by written order
correct an error that resulted in an incorrect appraised value for
the owner's property.>
      <(i)>  A person who acquires property after January 1 of the
tax year at issue is entitled to file any motion that this section
authorizes the person who owned the property on January 1 of that
year to file, if the deadline for filing the motion has not passed.
      (i) <(j)>  If during the pendency of a motion under this
section the ownership of property subject to the motion changes,
the new owner of the property is entitled to proceed with the
motion in the same manner as the property owner who filed the
motion.
      (j) <(k)>  The chief appraiser shall change the appraisal
records and school district appraisal rolls promptly to reflect the
detachment and annexation of property among school districts under
Subchapter C or G, Chapter 36, Education Code.
      SECTION 3.  Chapter 31, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Section 31.121 to read as follows:
      Sec. 31.121.  REFUNDS RESULTING FROM CORRECTIONS TO THE
APPRAISAL ROLL UNDER SECTION 25.25.  (a)  After a correction
certified by the chief appraiser under Section 25.25 has been
entered in the tax roll, the assessor shall promptly compute the
change in the property owner's tax liability and issue revised or
supplemental bills as required by Section 26.09.
      (b)  If the property owner has paid more than the amount of
tax that would be due as a result of the correction, the collector
shall refund the difference as follows:
            (1)  for a correction certified before January 1 of the
year following the year to which the correction applies, the
collector shall refund 100 percent of the difference;
            (2)  for a correction certified during the first year
following the year to which the correction applies, the collector
shall refund 90 percent of the difference;
            (3)  for a correction certified during the second year
following the year to which the correction applies, the collector
shall refund 75 percent of the difference; and
            (4)  for a correction certified during the third year
following the year to which the correction applies, the collector
shall refund 50 percent of the difference.
      (c)  The collector is not required to refund any portion of
taxes paid on the difference for corrections certified after the
third year following the year to which the correction applies.
      (d)  If the amount of tax due is reduced as a result of a
correction and the property owner has not paid all of the taxes due
for the year to which a correction applies, the assessor shall
remove from the owner's tax bill the amount of unpaid taxes
applicable to the difference, if any, together with any unpaid
penalties and interest applicable to the difference.
      SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
applies to corrections to appraisal rolls certified on or after
July 20, 1984.
      SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.