1-1     By:  Carona                                            S.B. No. 307
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 28, 1999; February 1, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; February 15, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; February 15, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the postal service instructions for return service
 1-9     included on the exterior of an ad valorem tax bill.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 31.01, Tax Code, is
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (f) [of this section],
1-14     the assessor for each taxing unit shall prepare and mail a tax bill
1-15     to each person in whose name the property is listed on the tax roll
1-16     or to the person's [his] authorized agent.  The assessor shall mail
1-17     tax bills by October 1 or as soon thereafter as practicable.  The
1-18     assessor shall mail to the state agency or institution the tax bill
1-19     for any taxable property owned by the agency or institution.  The
1-20     agency or institution shall pay the taxes from funds appropriated
1-21     for payment of the taxes or, if there are none, from funds
1-22     appropriated for the administration of the agency or institution.
1-23     The exterior of the tax bill must show the return address of the
1-24     taxing unit and must contain, in all capital letters, the words
1-25     "RETURN SERVICE [ADDRESS CORRECTION] REQUESTED," or another
1-26     appropriate statement directing the United States Postal Service to
1-27     return the tax bill if it is not deliverable as addressed.
1-28           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-29           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-34                                  * * * * *