By:  Cain                                              S.B. No. 521
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to certain functions of the comptroller of public accounts
 1-2     involving ad valorem taxation.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 403.303, Government Code,
 1-5     is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  After receipt of a petition, the comptroller shall
 1-7     [notify the commissioner of education of the values specified by
 1-8     the school district or property owner and shall] hold a hearing.
 1-9     The comptroller has the burden to prove the accuracy of the
1-10     findings.  Until a final decision is made by the comptroller, the
1-11     taxable value of property in the district is determined, with
1-12     respect to property subject to the protest, according to the value
1-13     claimed by the school district or property owner, except that the
1-14     value to be used while a final decision is pending may not be less
1-15     than the appraisal roll value for the year of the study.  If after
1-16     a hearing the comptroller concludes that the findings should be
1-17     changed, the comptroller shall order the appropriate changes and
1-18     shall certify the changes to the commissioner of education.  The
1-19     comptroller shall complete all protest hearings and certify all
1-20     changes as necessary to comply with Chapter 42, Education Code.  A
1-21     hearing conducted under this subsection is not a contested case for
1-22     purposes of Section 2001.003.
1-23           SECTION 2.  The following provisions of the Tax Code are
1-24     repealed:
 2-1                 (1)  Subsection (h), Section 23.1241; and
 2-2                 (2)  Subsections (c) and (d), Section 23.41.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-8     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-9     passage, and it is so enacted.