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.