1-1     By:  Cain                                              S.B. No. 693
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 24, 1999; March 1, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     March 29, 1999, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; March 29, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                                 By:  Cain
 1-7     Amend S.B. No. 693 as follows:
 1-8           (1)  Add a new SECTION 1 to read as follows:
 1-9           SECTION 1.  Subsection (e), Section 26.04, Tax Code, is
1-10     amended to read as follows:
1-11           (e)  By August 7 or as soon thereafter as practicable, the
1-12     designated officer or employee shall submit the rates to the
1-13     governing body.  He shall deliver by mail to each property owner in
1-14     the unit or publish in a newspaper in the form prescribed by the
1-15     comptroller:
1-16                 (1)  the effective tax rate, the rollback tax rate, and
1-17     an explanation of how they were calculated;
1-18                 (2)  the estimated amount of interest and sinking fund
1-19     balances and the estimated amount of maintenance and operation or
1-20     general fund balances remaining at the end of the current fiscal
1-21     year that are not encumbered with or by corresponding existing debt
1-22     obligation, except that for a school district, estimated funds
1-23     necessary for the operation of the district prior to the receipt of
1-24     the first state education aid payment in the succeeding school year
1-25     shall be subtracted from the estimated fund balances;
1-26                 (3)  a schedule of the unit's debt obligations showing:
1-27                       (A)  the amount of principal and interest that
1-28     will be paid to service the unit's debts in the next year from
1-29     property tax revenue, including payments of lawfully incurred
1-30     contractual obligations providing security for the payment of the
1-31     principal of and interest on bonds and other evidences of
1-32     indebtedness issued on behalf of the unit by another political
1-33     subdivision and, if the unit is created under Section 52, Article
1-34     III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, payments on
1-35     debts that the unit anticipates to incur in the next calendar year;
1-36                       (B)  the amount by which taxes imposed for debt
1-37     are to be increased because of the unit's anticipated collection
1-38     rate; and
1-39                       (C)  the total of the amounts listed in
1-40     Paragraphs (A)-(B), less any amount collected in excess of the
1-41     previous year's anticipated collections certified as provided in
1-42     Subsection (b); and
1-43                 (4)  the amount of additional sales and use tax revenue
1-44     anticipated in calculations under Section 26.041;
1-45                 (5)  a statement that the adoption of the effective tax
1-46     rate would result in an increase or decrease, as applicable, of
1-47     total property taxes levied in the unit as compared to last year's
1-48     levy, and the amount of such increase or decrease;
1-49                 (6)  in the year that a taxing unit calculates an
1-50     adjustment under Subsection (i) or (j), the unit shall publish a
1-51     schedule that includes the following elements:
1-52                       (A)  the name of the unit discontinuing the
1-53     department, function, or activity;
1-54                       (B)  the amount of property tax revenue spent by
1-55     the unit listed under Paragraph (A) to operate the discontinued
1-56     department, function, or activity in the 12 months preceding the
1-57     month in which the calculations required by this chapter are made;
1-58     and
1-59                       (C)  the name of the unit that operates a
1-60     distinct department, function, or activity in all or a majority of
1-61     the territory of a taxing unit that has discontinued operating the
1-62     distinct department, function, or activity; and
1-63                 (7) [(6)]  in the year following the year in which a
1-64     taxing unit raised its rollback rate as required by Subsection (j),
1-65     the taxing unit shall publish a schedule that includes the
 2-1     following elements:
 2-2                       (A)  the amount of property tax revenue spent by
 2-3     the unit to operate the department, function, or activity for which
 2-4     the taxing unit raised the rollback rate as required by Subsection
 2-5     (j) for the 12 months preceding the month in which the calculations
 2-6     required by this chapter are made; and
 2-7                       (B)  the amount published by the unit in the
 2-8     preceding tax year under Subdivision (6)(B) [(5)(B)].
 2-9           (2)  Renumber subsequent sections of the bill accordingly.
2-10                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2-11                                   AN ACT
2-12     relating to public notice of and public hearings on proposed ad
2-13     valorem tax rates.
2-14           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
2-15           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 26.05, Tax Code, is
2-16     amended to read as follows:
2-17           (d)  The governing body may not adopt a tax rate that exceeds
2-18     the effective tax rate calculated as provided by Section 26.04 [if
2-19     applied to the total taxable value would impose an amount of taxes
2-20     that exceeds last year's levy] until the governing body [it] has
2-21     held a public hearing on the proposed tax rate and has otherwise
2-22     complied with Section 26.06.
2-23           SECTION 2.  Subsections (a), (b), (d), and (e), Section
2-24     26.06,  Tax Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-25           (a)  A public hearing required by Section 26.05 [of this
2-26     code] may not be held before the seventh day after the date the
2-27     notice of the public hearing on the proposed tax increase is given.
2-28     The hearing must be on a weekday that is not a public holiday.  The
2-29     hearing must be held inside the boundaries of the unit in a
2-30     publicly owned building or, if a suitable publicly owned building
2-31     is not available, in a suitable building to which the public
2-32     normally has access.  At the hearing, the governing body must
2-33     afford adequate opportunity for proponents and opponents of the tax
2-34     increase to present their views.
2-35           (b)  The notice of a public hearing may not be smaller than
2-36     one-quarter page of a standard-size or a tabloid-size newspaper,
2-37     and the headline on the notice must be in 18-point or larger type.
2-38     The notice must:
2-39                 (1)  contain a statement in the following form:
2-40                  "NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON TAX INCREASE
2-41           "The (name of the taxing unit) will hold a public hearing on
2-42     a proposal to increase total tax revenues from properties on the
2-43     tax roll in the preceding year by (percentage by which [taxes to be
2-44     imposed under] proposed tax rate exceeds effective tax rate
2-45     calculated under Section 26.04 [exceed last year's levy]) percent.
2-46     Your individual taxes may increase at a greater or lesser rate, or
2-47     even decrease, depending on the change in the taxable value of your
2-48     property in relation to the change in taxable value of all other
2-49     property and the tax rate that is adopted.
2-50           "The public hearing will be held on (date and time) at
2-51     (meeting place).
2-52           "(Names of all members of the governing body, showing how
2-53     each voted on the proposal to consider the tax increase [in total
2-54     tax revenues] or, if one or more were absent, indicating the
2-55     absences.)"; and
2-56                 (2)  contain the following information:
2-57                       (A)  the unit's adopted tax rate for the
2-58     preceding year and the proposed tax rate, expressed as an amount
2-59     per $100;
2-60                       (B)  the difference, expressed as an amount per
2-61     $100 and as a percent increase or decrease, as applicable, in the
2-62     proposed tax rate compared to the adopted tax rate for the
2-63     preceding year;
2-64                       (C)  the average appraised value of a residence
2-65     homestead in the taxing unit in the preceding year and in the
2-66     current year; the unit's homestead exemption, other than an
2-67     exemption available only to disabled persons or persons 65 years of
 3-1     age or older, applicable to that appraised value in each of those
 3-2     years; and the average taxable value of a residence homestead in
 3-3     the unit in each of those years, disregarding any homestead
 3-4     exemption available only to disabled persons or persons 65 years of
 3-5     age or older;
 3-6                       (D)  the amount of tax that would have been
 3-7     imposed by the unit in the preceding year on a residence homestead
 3-8     appraised at the average appraised value of a residence homestead
 3-9     in that year, disregarding any homestead exemption available only
3-10     to disabled persons or persons 65 years of age or older;
3-11                       (E)  the amount of tax that would be imposed by
3-12     the unit in the current year on a residence homestead appraised at
3-13     the average appraised value of a residence homestead in the current
3-14     year, disregarding any homestead exemption available only to
3-15     disabled persons or persons 65 years of age or older, if the
3-16     proposed tax rate is adopted; and
3-17                       (F)  the difference between the amounts of tax
3-18     calculated under Paragraphs (D) and (E), expressed in dollars and
3-19     cents and described as the annual increase or decrease, as
3-20     applicable, in the tax to be imposed by the unit on the average
3-21     residence homestead in the unit in the current year if the proposed
3-22     tax rate is adopted.
3-23           (d)  At the public hearing the governing body shall announce
3-24     the date, time, and place of the meeting at which it will vote on
3-25     the proposed tax rate [to increase total tax revenues].  After the
3-26     hearing the governing body [it] shall give notice of the meeting at
3-27     which it will vote on the proposed tax rate [to increase total tax
3-28     revenues] and the notice shall be in the same form as prescribed by
3-29     Subsections (b) and (c), except that it must state the following:
3-30                         "NOTICE OF VOTE ON TAX RATE
3-31           "The (name of the taxing unit) conducted a public hearing on
3-32     a proposal to increase the total tax revenues of the (name of the
3-33     taxing unit) from properties on the tax roll in the preceding year
3-34     by (percentage by which [taxes to be imposed under] proposed tax
3-35     rate exceeds effective tax rate calculated under Section 26.04
3-36     [exceed last year's levy]) percent on (date and time public hearing
3-37     was conducted).
3-38           "The (governing body of the taxing unit) is scheduled to vote
3-39     on the tax rate that will result in that tax increase at a public
3-40     meeting to be held on (date and time) at (meeting place)."
3-41           (e)  The meeting to vote on the tax increase may not be
3-42     earlier than the third day or later than the 14th day after the
3-43     date of the public hearing.  The meeting must be held inside the
3-44     boundaries of the unit in a publicly owned building or, if a
3-45     suitable publicly owned building is not available, in a suitable
3-46     building to which the public normally has access.  If the governing
3-47     body does not adopt a tax rate that exceeds the effective tax rate
3-48     [would impose an amount of taxes that exceeds last year's levy] by
3-49     the 14th day, it must give a new notice under Subsection (d) before
3-50     it may adopt a rate that exceeds the effective tax rate [would
3-51     impose an amount of taxes that exceeds last year's levy].
3-52           SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 25.19, Tax Code, is
3-53     amended to read as follows:
3-54           (b)  The chief appraiser shall separate real from personal
3-55     property and include in the notice for each:
3-56                 (1)  a list of the taxing units in which the property
3-57     is taxable;
3-58                 (2)  the appraised value of the property in the
3-59     preceding year;
3-60                 (3)  the taxable value of the property in the preceding
3-61     year for each taxing unit taxing the property;
3-62                 (4)  the appraised value of the property for the
3-63     current year and the kind and amount of each partial exemption, if
3-64     any, approved for the current year;
3-65                 (5)  if the appraised value is greater than it was in
3-66     the preceding year:
3-67                       (A)  the effective tax rate that would be
3-68     announced pursuant to Chapter 26 if the total values being
3-69     submitted to the appraisal review board were to be approved by the
 4-1     board with an explanation that that rate would raise the same
 4-2     amount of revenue from property taxed in the preceding year as the
 4-3     unit raised for those purposes in the preceding year;
 4-4                       (B)  the amount of tax that would be imposed on
 4-5     the property on the basis of the rate described by Paragraph (A);
 4-6     and
 4-7                       (C)  a statement that the governing body of the
 4-8     unit may not adopt a rate that will increase tax revenues for
 4-9     operating purposes from properties taxed in [above tax revenues
4-10     for] the preceding year without publishing notice in a newspaper
4-11     that it is considering a tax increase and holding a hearing for
4-12     taxpayers to discuss the tax increase;
4-13                 (6)  in italic typeface, the following statement:  "The
4-14     Texas Legislature does not set the amount of your local taxes.
4-15     Your property tax burden is decided by your locally elected
4-16     officials, and all inquiries concerning your taxes should be
4-17     directed to those officials";
4-18                 (7)  a detailed explanation of the time and procedure
4-19     for protesting the value;
4-20                 (8)  the date and place the appraisal review board will
4-21     begin hearing protests; and
4-22                 (9)  a brief explanation that:
4-23                       (A)  the governing body of each taxing unit
4-24     decides whether or not taxes on the property will increase and the
4-25     appraisal district only determines the value of the property; and
4-26                       (B)  a taxpayer who objects to increasing taxes
4-27     and government expenditures should complain to the governing bodies
4-28     of the taxing units and only complaints about value should be
4-29     presented to the appraisal office and the appraisal review board.
4-30           SECTION 4.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-31           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,
4-32     this Act applies only to the adoption of an ad valorem tax rate for
4-33     a tax year that begins on or after January 1, 2000.
4-34           (c)  This Act applies to the adoption of an ad valorem tax
4-35     rate by a taxing unit for the 1999 tax year unless before the
4-36     effective date of this Act the taxing unit:
4-37                 (1)  has given notice under Subsection (a), Section
4-38     26.06, Tax Code, as that subsection existed when the notice was
4-39     given, of the taxing unit's proposed tax rate as required by
4-40     Subsection (d), Section 26.05, Tax Code, as that subsection existed
4-41     when the notice was given; or
4-42                 (2)  has adopted its ad valorem tax rate for the 1999
4-43     tax year under Subsection (a), Section 26.05, Tax Code.
4-44           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
4-45     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-46     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-47     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-48     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
4-49                                  * * * * *