LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE 75th Regular Session February 18, 1997 TO: Honorable Tom Craddick, Chair IN RE: House Bill No. 829 Committee on Ways & Means By: Alexander/et al. House Austin, Texas FROM: John Keel, Director In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB829 ( Relating to the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of land used for wildlife management.) this office has detemined the following: Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB829- No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. FISCAL ANALYSIS The bill would amend Sections 23.51 (7), 23.52, and 23.56 of the Tax Code to allow owners of timberland qualified for productivity appraisal to convert their land to qualified wildlife management use in the same manner as owners of qualified agricultural land. The bill would require the appraisal of qualified wildlife management land at the value of the category of land it qualified under before the wildlife management use began. The bill would allow wildlife management land within a city to qualify for special appraisal if the land were devoted principally to wildlife management use and had been devoted principally in each of the preceding five years to wildlife management use or to the production of timber or forest products. METHODOLOGY Wildlife management use is a revenue-neutral use of the land, meaning that the owner who switches from agricultural or timberland use to wildlife management use should pay the same amount of property taxes that would have been paid if the land had remained in its former use. LOCAL No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. Source: Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts LBB Staff: JK ,RR ,BR