SWB S.B. 344 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS WAYS & MEANS S.B. 344 By: Harris (Brimer) 5-23-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Current law provides that a person is entitled to an exemption from taxes of the buildings and tangible personal property if the property is used only for educational purposes, if the person operates the school, and if the buildings and property are reasonably necessary for the operation of the school. Current law also provides that use of the property for non-educational purposes does not result in the loss of an exemption, if those other purposes are incidental to use of the property for educational functions and benefit the students or faculty of the school. PURPOSE S.B. 344 adds a provision to current law to provide that the buyer of the tax exempt property is entitled to exemption on the property if the seller is authorized to continue to use the property pending the use of the property for a school and the seller would be entitled to an exemption if that person continued to own the property. 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 11.21, Tax Code (Schools), by adding Section (f) to provide that, notwithstanding Subsection (a), a person is entitled to an exemption from taxation of the buildings and tangible personal property the person acquires for use for a school that meets each requirement of Subsection (d) if: 1) the person authorizes the former owner to continue the use of the property pending the use of the property for a school; and 2) the former owner would be entitled to an exemption if the former owner continued to own the property. SECTION 2.Requires the chief appraiser of an appraisal district to accept and approve or deny an application for an exemption from ad valorem taxation under Section 11.21(f), Tax Code (Schools), as added by this Act, for the ad valorem tax year that began January 1, 1997, if the application is filed as provided by Section 11.434, Tax Code. SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 4.Emergency clause.