1-1 By: Culberson, Keel (Senate Sponsor - Lindsay) H.B. No. 374
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1999;
1-3 May 10, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; May 13, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 13, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the deferral or abatement of a suit to collect
1-9 delinquent taxes on the homestead of an elderly person.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 33.06, Tax Code, is amended by amending
1-12 Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsections (f)-(h) to
1-13 read as follows:
1-14 (a) An individual is entitled to defer or abate a suit to
1-15 collect [a] delinquent taxes [tax] if the individual [he] is 65 or
1-16 older and [he] owns and occupies as a residence homestead the
1-17 property on which the taxes [tax] subject to the suit are imposed
1-18 [is delinquent].
1-19 (b) To obtain a deferral, an individual must file with the
1-20 chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the property is
1-21 located an affidavit stating the facts required to be established
1-22 by Subsection (a) [of this section]. The individual may not file
1-23 the affidavit before the date the taxes on the property become
1-24 delinquent if the appraised value of the property exceeds $250,000.
1-25 The individual may file the affidavit before, on, or after the date
1-26 the taxes on the property become delinquent if the appraised value
1-27 of the property does not exceed $250,000. The chief appraiser
1-28 shall notify each taxing unit participating in the district of the
1-29 filing. After an affidavit is filed under this subsection, a
1-30 taxing unit may not file suit to collect delinquent taxes on the
1-31 property until the individual no longer owns and occupies the
1-32 property as a residence homestead.
1-33 (d) A tax lien remains on the property and interest
1-34 continues to accrue during the period collection of taxes is
1-35 deferred as provided by this section. The interest rate during the
1-36 deferral period is eight percent a year instead of the rate
1-37 provided by Section 33.01 [of this code]. A penalty may be imposed
1-38 for each month or portion of a month a delinquent tax remains
1-39 unpaid before the date the affidavit is filed. A penalty may not
1-40 be imposed during a deferral period. The additional penalty
1-41 provided by Section 33.07 [of this code] may be imposed only if the
1-42 taxes for which collection is deferred remain delinquent on or
1-43 after the 91st day after the date the deferral period expires. A
1-44 plea of limitation, laches, or want of prosecution does not apply
1-45 against the taxing unit because of deferral of collection as
1-46 provided by this section.
1-47 (f) Notwithstanding Subsections (b) and (c), if an
1-48 individual dies in a year in which the individual received a
1-49 deferral or abatement under this section and the individual is
1-50 survived by the individual's spouse who was 55 years of age or
1-51 older when the individual died, the deferral or abatement continues
1-52 in effect as long as the property for which the deferral or
1-53 abatement was obtained remains the residence homestead of the
1-54 surviving spouse.
1-55 (g) The clerk of the court in which probate proceedings
1-56 relating to the estate of an individual who was receiving a
1-57 deferral or abatement under this section are pending shall notify
1-58 the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
1-59 property for which the deferral or abatement was obtained is
1-60 located that the individual has died if the clerk can determine
1-61 from documents on file in the proceedings that the individual was
1-62 receiving a deferral or abatement under this section.
1-63 (h) If an individual who is receiving a deferral or
1-64 abatement under this section conveys the property for which the
2-1 deferral or abatement was obtained in a transaction conducted by a
2-2 title company, the individual or the individual's designee shall
2-3 notify the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
2-4 property is located that the property has been conveyed. A copy of
2-5 the deed shall be sufficient notice.
2-6 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-12 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-13 * * * * *