By Hupp                                               H.B. No. 1360
         76R5885 JD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to appraisal of open-space land for ad valorem tax
 1-3     purposes.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 23.51(1), Tax Code, is amended to read as
 1-6     follows:
 1-7                 (1)  "Qualified open-space land" means land that is
 1-8     currently devoted  principally to agricultural use to the degree of
 1-9     intensity generally accepted in the area and that has been devoted
1-10     principally to agricultural use or to production of timber or
1-11     forest products for the preceding year [five of the preceding seven
1-12     years] or land that is used principally as an ecological laboratory
1-13     by a public or private college or university.  Qualified open-space
1-14     land includes all appurtenances to the land.  For the purposes of
1-15     this subdivision, appurtenances to the land means private roads,
1-16     dams, reservoirs, water wells, canals, ditches, terraces, and other
1-17     reshapings of the soil, fences, and riparian water rights.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 23.55(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-19     follows:
1-20           (a)  If the use of land that has been appraised as provided
1-21     by this subchapter  changes, an additional tax is imposed on the
1-22     land. The amount of the additional tax is three times [equal to]
1-23     the difference between the taxes imposed on the land for [each of]
1-24     the year [five years] preceding the year in which the change of use
 2-1     occurs, if [that] the land was appraised as provided by this
 2-2     subchapter in that year, and the tax that would have been imposed
 2-3     had the land been taxed on the basis of market value in that year
 2-4     [each of those years], plus interest at an annual rate of seven
 2-5     percent calculated from the date [dates] on which the difference
 2-6     [differences] would have become due.  For purposes of this
 2-7     subsection, the chief appraiser may not consider any period during
 2-8     which land is owned by the state in determining whether a change in
 2-9     the use of the land has occurred.
2-10           SECTION 3.  (a)  Section 1 of this Act takes effect January
2-11     1, 2000, and applies only to the appraisal of property for ad
2-12     valorem tax purposes for a tax year that begins on or after that
2-13     date.
2-14           (b)  Section 2 of this Act takes effect September 1, 1999,
2-15     and applies only to a change of use of land that occurs on or after
2-16     that date. A change of use of land that occurs before that date is
2-17     covered by the law in effect when the change of use occurs, and the
2-18     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-19           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.