By Mowery                                             H.B. No. 2945
         76R7847 GJH-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the award of attorney's fees to a prevailing property
 1-3     owner in  a judicial appeal of certain ad valorem tax
 1-4     determinations.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 42.29, Tax Code, is amended to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           Sec. 42.29.  ATTORNEY'S FEES.  (a)  A property owner who
 1-9     prevails in an appeal to the  court under Section 42.25 or 42.26
1-10     may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees.  Except as provided by
1-11     Subsection (c), the [The] amount of the award may not exceed the
1-12     greater of:
1-13                 (1)  $15,000; or
1-14                 (2)  20 percent of the total amount by which the
1-15     property owner's tax liability is reduced as a result of the
1-16     appeal.
1-17           (b)  Except as provided by [Notwithstanding] Subsection (c)
1-18     [(a)], the amount of an award of attorney's fees may not exceed the
1-19     lesser  of:
1-20                 (1)  $100,000; or
1-21                 (2)  the total amount by which the property owner's tax
1-22     liability is reduced as a result of the appeal.
1-23           (c)  The amount of an award of attorney's fees is not subject
1-24     to a limitation imposed by this section if the court determines
 2-1     that:
 2-2                 (1)  the appraised value of the property exceeds by 200
 2-3     percent or more the appraised value required by law; or
 2-4                 (2)  the appraisal ratio of the property exceeds by at
 2-5     least 200 percent the median level of appraisal according to
 2-6     Section 42.26(a).
 2-7           SECTION 2.  The changes in law to Section 42.29, Tax Code,
 2-8     made by this Act apply only to an appeal under Chapter 42, Tax
 2-9     Code, that is filed on or after the effective date of this Act.  An
2-10     appeal under Chapter 42, Tax Code, that is filed before the
2-11     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
2-12     date the appeal was filed, and the former law is continued in
2-13     effect for that purpose.
2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.