SWB C.S.H.B. 2044 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS


WAYS & MEANS
C.S.H.B. 2044
By: Smith
4-22-97
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND 

Section 26.05, Tax Code (Tax Rate), requires that all local taxing units
propose and adopt an effective (property) tax rate for the current year.
If the proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the rollback rate or 103% of
last year's effective tax rate, then the taxing unit must publish notice
of, and then hold a public hearing on the proposed rate.   This notice,
which is required to appear in a local newspaper, has become rather
complex and technical over the years, and may be simply too confusing to
the average reader.  In addition, the notice is often in the back pages of
the paper where it can easily go unnoticed.   

PURPOSE

This bill establishes requirements for a municipality providing notice of
a hearing to increase property taxes. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or
institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.Amends Section 26.05, Tax Code (Tax Rate), by adding a
cross-reference to Section 26.065 (as proposed by this bill). 

SECTION 2.  Creates Section 26.065, Tax Code.  NOTICE OF HEARING ON
MUNICIPAL TAX INCREASE. 

(a)   Provides that Sections 26.05(b) and (c), Tax Code (Tax Rate), do not
apply to a municipality.  

(1)  Requires a municipality which operates a water or wastewater utility
system to include a notice of the hearing with the utility bill for
customers residing in the municipality. 

(2)  Requires a municipality to publish a notice of the public hearing in
the newspaper of general circulation in the municipality that has the
highest subscription rate in the municipality. 

(3)  Requires a municipality to mail a copy of the notice to the household
of each person who voted in the most recent general election for municipal
officers, if the person's household was not mailed a copy of the notice
under Subdivision (1). 

(b)  Provides that a notice required under Subsection (a)(2) may not be
smaller than one-quarter page of the standard-size page of the newspaper
in which the notice is required to be published and the headline in the
notice must be in 18point or larger type.  Specifies that the notice may
not be published in the part of the paper in which legal notices or
classified advertisements appear.  
 
(c)   Provides necessary notice language
 
(d)   Provides that a municipality which has access to a public,
educational, or governmental television channel must broadcast the notice
as required by Subsection (c) on that channel five times daily on each of
the seven days preceding the date of the public hearing. 

  (e)   Provides that if the percentage by which the municipality's
proposed tax rate  
  exceeds the lower of the municipality's effective or rollback includes a
fraction of one percent, in  a statement required by Subsection (c), the
fraction may not be expressed in decimal form by more than tow digits to
the right of the decimal point, and for that purpose shall be rounded to
the nearest one-hundredth of one percent if necessary. 

(f)   Establishes the date for the hearing to be at least seven days after
the later of: 1) the published notice; or 2) the earliest date on which
all or substantially all the notices have been mailed. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: January 1, 1998.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2044 differs from H.B. 2044 by requiring additional avenues for
public notification of a hearing and altering the language which must
appear in a notice.  C.S.H.B. 2044 also adds language dealing with the
format for publishing the percentage increase of the municipality's
effective tax rate.  H.B. 2044 did not contain such language.