76R12793 E                           
         By Culberson, Keel                                     H.B. No. 374
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 374:
         By Heflin                                          C.S.H.B. No. 374
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the deferral or abatement of a suit to collect
 1-3     delinquent taxes on the homestead of an elderly person.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 33.06, Tax Code, is amended by amending
 1-6     Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsections (f)-(h) to
 1-7     read as follows:
 1-8           (a)  An individual is entitled to defer or abate a suit to
 1-9     collect [a] delinquent taxes [tax] if the individual [he] is 65 or
1-10     older and [he] owns and occupies as a residence homestead the
1-11     property on which the taxes [tax] subject to the suit are imposed
1-12     [is delinquent].
1-13           (b)  To obtain a deferral, an individual must file with the
1-14     chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the property is
1-15     located an affidavit stating the facts required to be established
1-16     by Subsection (a) [of this section].  The individual may not file
1-17     the affidavit before the date the taxes on the property become
1-18     delinquent if the appraised value of the property exceeds $100,000.
1-19     The individual may file the affidavit before, on, or after the date
1-20     the taxes on the property become delinquent if the appraised value
1-21     of the property does not exceed $100,000.  The chief appraiser
1-22     shall notify each taxing unit participating in the district of the
1-23     filing.  After an affidavit is filed under this subsection, a
1-24     taxing unit may not file suit to collect delinquent taxes on the
 2-1     property until the individual no longer owns and occupies the
 2-2     property as a residence homestead.
 2-3           (d)  A tax lien remains on the property and interest
 2-4     continues to accrue during the period collection of taxes is
 2-5     deferred as provided by this section. The interest rate during the
 2-6     deferral period is eight percent a year instead of the rate
 2-7     provided by Section 33.01 [of this code].  A penalty may be imposed
 2-8     for each month or portion of a month a delinquent tax remains
 2-9     unpaid before the date the affidavit is filed.  A penalty may not
2-10     be imposed during a deferral period.  The additional penalty
2-11     provided by Section 33.07 [of this code] may be imposed only if the
2-12     taxes for which collection is deferred remain delinquent on or
2-13     after the 91st day after the date the deferral period expires. A
2-14     plea of limitation, laches, or want of prosecution does not apply
2-15     against the taxing unit because of deferral of collection as
2-16     provided by this section.
2-17           (f)  Notwithstanding Subsections (b) and (c), if an
2-18     individual dies in a year in which the individual received a
2-19     deferral or abatement under this section and the individual is
2-20     survived by the individual's spouse who was 55 years of age or
2-21     older when the individual died, the deferral or abatement continues
2-22     in effect as long as the property for which the deferral or
2-23     abatement was obtained remains the residence homestead of the
2-24     surviving spouse.
2-25           (g)  The clerk of the court in which probate proceedings
2-26     relating to the estate of an individual who was receiving a
2-27     deferral or abatement under this section are pending shall notify
 3-1     the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
 3-2     property for which the deferral or abatement was obtained is
 3-3     located that the individual has died if the clerk can determine
 3-4     from documents on file in the proceedings that the individual was
 3-5     receiving a deferral or abatement under this section.
 3-6           (h)  If an individual who is receiving a deferral or
 3-7     abatement under this section conveys the property for which the
 3-8     deferral or abatement was obtained in a transaction conducted by a
 3-9     title company, the title company shall notify the chief appraiser
3-10     for the appraisal district in which the property is located that
3-11     the property has been conveyed.
3-12           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-18     passage, and it is so enacted.