AN ACT
1-1 relating to training for members of appraisal review boards and to
1-2 the qualifications of the members of appraisal review boards.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Tax Code, is amended by adding Section
1-5 5.041 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 5.041. TRAINING OF APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD MEMBERS.
1-7 (a) The comptroller shall:
1-8 (1) approve curricula and provide materials for use in
1-9 training and educating members of an appraisal review board; and
1-10 (2) supervise a course for training and education of
1-11 appraisal review board members and issue certificates indicating
1-12 course completion.
1-13 (b) A member of the appraisal review board established for
1-14 an appraisal district must complete the course established under
1-15 Subsection (a). A member of the appraisal review board may not
1-16 participate in a hearing conducted by the board unless the person
1-17 has completed the course established under Subsection (a) and
1-18 received a certificate of course completion.
1-19 (c) The comptroller may contract with service providers to
1-20 assist with the duties imposed under Subsection (a), but the course
1-21 required may not be provided by an appraisal district or a taxing
1-22 unit. The comptroller may assess a fee to recover a portion of the
1-23 costs incurred for the training course, but the fee may not exceed
1-24 $50 per person trained.
2-1 (d) The course material for the course required under
2-2 Subsection (a) is the comptroller's Appraisal Review Board Manual
2-3 in use on the effective date of this section. The manual shall be
2-4 updated regularly. It may be revised on request, in writing, to
2-5 the comptroller. The revision language must be approved on the
2-6 unanimous agreement of a committee selected by the comptroller and
2-7 representing, equally, taxpayers and chief appraisers. The person
2-8 requesting the revision shall pay the costs of mediation if the
2-9 comptroller determines that mediation is required.
2-10 (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (b), an
2-11 appraisal review board member appointed after a course offering may
2-12 continue to serve until the completion of the subsequent course
2-13 offering.
2-14 (f) The comptroller may not advise a property owner, a
2-15 property owner's agent, an appraisal district, or an appraisal
2-16 review board on a matter that the comptroller knows is the subject
2-17 of a protest to the appraisal review board.
2-18 SECTION 2. Section 6.412, Tax Code, is amended by adding
2-19 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
2-20 (c) A person is ineligible to serve on the appraisal review
2-21 board if the person is:
2-22 (1) a former officer or employee of the appraisal
2-23 district or a taxing unit for which the appraisal district
2-24 appraises property;
2-25 (2) a former member of the board of directors of the
2-26 appraisal district; or
2-27 (3) a former member of the governing body of a taxing
3-1 unit for which the appraisal district appraises property.
3-2 SECTION 3. (a) The changes in law made by this Act in the
3-3 qualifications of members of an appraisal review board do not
3-4 affect the entitlement of a member serving on a board immediately
3-5 before the effective date of this Act to continue to serve on the
3-6 board and to participate in board hearings for the remainder of the
3-7 member's term. The changes in law apply only to a member appointed
3-8 on or after the effective date of this Act. This Act does not
3-9 prohibit a person who is a member of an appraisal review board on
3-10 the effective date of this Act from being reappointed to the board
3-11 if the person has the qualifications required for a member under
3-12 the Tax Code as amended by this Act.
3-13 (b) The comptroller of public accounts shall implement
3-14 Section 5.041, Tax Code, as added by this Act, before January 1,
3-15 1998.
3-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1017 passed the Senate on
April 28, 1997, by a viva-voce vote; and that the Senate concurred
in House amendment on May 19, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1017 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 16, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor