By Hardcastle                                         H.B. No. 3478
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the valuation of open space land that was acquired from
 1-3     a governmental entity.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Amend Property Tax Code Section 23.51(1) to read
 1-6     as follows: (1)  "Qualified open-space land" means:
 1-7     (A)  land that is currently devoted principally to agricultural use
 1-8     to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area and that
 1-9     has either:
1-10                             (i)  been devoted principally to
1-11     agricultural use or to production of timber or forest products for
1-12     five of the preceding seven years, or
1-13                             (ii)  was owned by the state for the
1-14     preceding seven years; or,
1-15     (B)  land that is used principally as an ecological laboratory by a
1-16     public or private college or university.  Qualified open-space land
1-17     includes all appurtenances to the land.  For the purposes of this
1-18     subdivision, appurtenances to the land means private roads, dams,
1-19     reservoirs, water wells, canals, ditches, terraces, and other
1-20     reshapings of the soil, fences, and riparian water rights.
1-21           SECTION 2.  Amend Property Tax Code Sec. 23.56 to read as
 2-1     follows:  Sec.23.56. Land Ineligible for Appraisal as Open-Space
 2-2     Land
 2-3           Land, other than land that was owned by the state for the
 2-4     preceding seven years, is not eligible for appraisal as provided by
 2-5     this subchapter if:
 2-6                 (1)  the land is located inside the corporate limits of
 2-7     an incorporated city or town, unless:
 2-8                       (A)  the city or town is not providing the land
 2-9     with governmental and proprietary services substantially equivalent
2-10     in standard and scope to those services it provides in other parts
2-11     of the city or town with similar topography, land utilization, and
2-12     population density; or
2-13                       (B)  the land has been devoted principally to
2-14     agricultural use continuously for the preceding five years;
2-15                 (2)  the land is owned by an individual who is a
2-16     nonresident alien or by a foreign government if that individual or
2-17     government is required by federal law or by rule adopted pursuant
2-18     to federal law to register his ownership or acquisition of that
2-19     property; or
2-20                 (3)  the land is owned by a corporation, partnership,
2-21     trust, or other legal entity if the entity is required by federal
2-22     law or by rule adopted pursuant to federal law to register its
2-23     ownership or acquisition of that land and a nonresident alien or a
2-24     foreign government or any combination of nonresident aliens and
2-25     foreign governments own a majority interest in the entity.
 3-1           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition in both houses create an emergency and an
 3-3     imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring
 3-4     bills to be read on three separate days in each house be suspended,
 3-5     and this rule is hereby suspended.