By Wilson                                              H.B. No. 149

      75R1926 SMH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the award of attorney's fees to a property owner in

 1-3     certain ad valorem tax appeals.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 42.29, Tax Code, is amended to read as

 1-6     follows:

 1-7           Sec. 42.29.  Attorney's Fees.  (a)  A property owner who

 1-8     prevails in an appeal to the court under Section 42.25 or Section

 1-9     42.26:

1-10                 (1)  is entitled to be awarded reasonable attorney's

1-11     fees if the incorrect appraised value of the property as determined

1-12     by the appraisal review board exceeds by at least 10 percent the

1-13     correct appraised value of the property as determined by the court;

1-14     or

1-15                 (2)  [of this code] may be awarded reasonable

1-16     attorney's fees in an appeal to which Subdivision (1) does not

1-17     apply and in which the property owner's tax liability is reduced as

1-18     a result of the appeal.

1-19           (b)  The amount of attorney's fees awarded under this section

1-20     may not [to] exceed the greater of:

1-21                 (1)  [$15,000 or] 20 percent of the total amount by

1-22     which the property owner's tax liability is reduced as a result of

1-23     the appeal; or[.]

1-24                 (2)  [The award of attorney's fees, however, may not

 2-1     exceed] the lesser of $15,000 or the total amount by which the

 2-2     property owner's tax liability is reduced as a result of the

 2-3     appeal.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

 2-5     change in law made by this Act applies to any appeal filed under

 2-6     Section 42.25 or 42.26, Tax Code, on or after that date and to any

 2-7     appeal under those sections that is pending before a court on that

 2-8     date.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.