By Marchant                                           H.B. No. 3513
         76R5603 GJH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the ad valorem tax exemption of certain real property
 1-3     purchased by a religious organization from another religious
 1-4     organization.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 11.43, Tax Code, is amended by amending
 1-7     Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (l) to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (l), to [To] receive an
1-10     exemption, a person claiming the exemption, other than an exemption
1-11     authorized by Section 11.11, 11.12, 11.14, 11.145, 11.146, 11.15,
1-12     11.16, 11.161, or 11.25 [of this code], must apply for the
1-13     exemption.  To apply for an exemption, a person must file an
1-14     exemption application form with the chief appraiser for each
1-15     appraisal district in which the property subject to the claimed
1-16     exemption has situs.
1-17           (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (l), an [An] exemption
1-18     provided by Section 11.13, 11.17, 11.18, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21,
1-19     11.22, 11.23(j), 11.29, 11.30, or 11.31 [of this code], once
1-20     allowed, need not be claimed in subsequent years, and except as
1-21     otherwise provided by Subsection (e) [of this section], the
1-22     exemption applies to the property until it changes ownership or the
1-23     person's qualification for the exemption changes.  However, the
1-24     chief appraiser may require a person allowed one of the exemptions
 2-1     in a prior year to file a new application to confirm the person's
 2-2     current qualification for the exemption by delivering a written
 2-3     notice that a new application is required, accompanied by an
 2-4     appropriate application form, to the person previously allowed the
 2-5     exemption.
 2-6           (l)  If a religious organization acquires property in a tax
 2-7     year from another religious organization and the property was
 2-8     exempt from taxation under Section 11.20 for the portion of the
 2-9     year that the property was owned by the other religious
2-10     organization, the religious organization may receive an exemption
2-11     under Section 11.20 for the property without applying for the
2-12     exemption for the remainder of the tax year in which the
2-13     organization acquires the property and for the next tax year.
2-14     After that next tax year, the organization must apply for the
2-15     exemption.  Once allowed pursuant to an application, the exemption
2-16     is covered by Subsection (c) in subsequent years.
2-17           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately and applies
2-18     only to an acquisition of property on or after that date.  An
2-19     acquisition of property before the effective date of this Act is
2-20     governed by the law in effect on the date of the acquisition, and
2-21     that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-27     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-1     passage, and it is so enacted.