By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1170
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 6.02, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-4 follows:
1-5 Sec. 6.02. DISTRICT BOUNDARIES. The [(a) Except as
1-6 otherwise provided by this section, the] appraisal district's
1-7 boundaries are the same as the county's boundaries.
1-8 [(b) A taxing unit that has boundaries extending into two or
1-9 more counties may choose to participate in only one of the
1-10 appraisal districts. In that event, the boundaries of the district
1-11 chosen extend outside the county to the extent of the unit's
1-12 boundaries. To be effective, the choice must be approved by
1-13 resolution of the board of directors of the district chosen. The
1-14 choice of a school district to participate in a single appraisal
1-15 district does not apply to property annexed to the school district
1-16 under Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code, unless:]
1-17 [(1) the school district taxes property other than
1-18 property annexed to the district under Subchapter C or G, Chapter
1-19 41, Education Code, in the same county as the annexed property; or]
1-20 [(2) the annexed property is contiguous to property in
1-21 the school district other than property annexed to the district
1-22 under Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code.]
1-23 [(c) A taxing unit that has chosen to participate in a
1-24 single appraisal district under Subsection (b) of this section may
2-1 revoke that choice and, if permitted to do so by Subsection (b),
2-2 choose to participate in a single appraisal district other than the
2-3 one previously chosen. A taxing unit that has withdrawn from an
2-4 appraisal district under this subsection and chosen to participate
2-5 in another single appraisal district may not under this subsection
2-6 withdraw from that district.]
2-7 [(d) A taxing unit that makes a choice under this section
2-8 must do so by an official action of its governing body in the
2-9 manner required by law for official action by the body. A choice
2-10 made by a taxing unit under this section takes effect beginning on
2-11 the next January 1 that is at least 90 days from the date on which
2-12 the choice is made.]
2-13 [(e) If a taxing unit ceases to have territory in the county
2-14 for which the appraisal district in which the unit participates is
2-15 established, but still has territory in two or more counties, the
2-16 unit may choose to participate in only one district in the manner
2-17 prescribed by this section.]
2-18 [(f) All costs of operating an appraisal district in
2-19 territory outside the county for which the appraisal district is
2-20 established are allocated to the taxing unit for which the
2-21 appraisal district appraises property in that territory. If the
2-22 appraisal district appraises property in the same territory for two
2-23 or more taxing units, costs of operating the district in that
2-24 territory are allocated to the units in the proportion the total
2-25 dollar amount of taxes each unit imposes in that territory bears to
2-26 the total dollar amount of taxes all taxing units participating in
3-1 the appraisal district impose in that territory.]
3-2 [(g) If property is annexed to a school district under
3-3 Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code, the appraisal
3-4 district established for the county in which the property is
3-5 located shall appraise the property for the school district, and
3-6 the school district participates in that appraisal district for
3-7 purposes of the appraisal of that property, except as otherwise
3-8 permitted by Subsection (b).]
3-9 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 41.097, Education Code,
3-10 is amended to read as follows:
3-11 (a) The total amount required under Section 41.093 for a
3-12 district to purchase attendance credits under this subchapter for
3-13 any school year is reduced by an amount equal to the product of the
3-14 district's costs under Section 6.06, Tax Code, for each [the
3-15 central] appraisal district in which it participates multiplied by
3-16 a percentage that is computed by dividing the total amount required
3-17 under Section 41.093 by the total amount of taxes imposed in the
3-18 district for that year less any amounts paid into a tax increment
3-19 fund under Chapter 311, Tax Code.
3-20 SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 41.210, Education Code,
3-21 is amended to read as follows:
3-22 (b) As soon as practicable after the detachment and
3-23 annexation of property, the chief appraiser of the appraisal
3-24 district in which the property is located [for the school district
3-25 from which the property is detached] shall send a written notice of
3-26 the detachment and annexation to the owner of any property taxable
4-1 in a different school district as a result of the detachment and
4-2 annexation. The notice must include the name of the school
4-3 district by which the property is taxable after the detachment and
4-4 annexation.
4-5 SECTION 4. The following statutes are repealed:
4-6 (1) Section 13.007, Education Code;
4-7 (2) Section 6.025, Tax Code; and
4-8 (3) Subsection (m), Section 6.03, Tax Code.
4-9 SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
4-10 section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2000.
4-11 (b) This section takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-12 (c) The changes in law made by this Act relating to the
4-13 appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes apply only to the
4-14 appraisal of property for a tax year that begins on or after
4-15 January 1, 2000.
4-16 (d) The term of each appraisal district director in an
4-17 appraisal district described by Section 6.025, Tax Code, as that
4-18 law existed immediately before September 1, 1999, serving a
4-19 staggered term that but for this subsection would expire after
4-20 January 1, 2000, expires on January 1, 2000. The appraisal
4-21 district board of directors shall fill the vacant directorships as
4-22 soon as practicable after January 1, 2000, as provided by
4-23 Subsection (l), Section 6.03, Tax Code.
4-24 (e) Notwithstanding Section 6.03, Tax Code, a taxing unit is
4-25 entitled to vote in 1999 for appraisal district directors for terms
4-26 beginning on January 1, 2000, in each appraisal district in which
5-1 the taxing unit will participate in 2000 under the law as amended
5-2 by this Act. The voting entitlement of each taxing unit entitled
5-3 to vote for directors in 1999 is determined for each appraisal
5-4 district by dividing the total dollar amount of property taxes
5-5 imposed by the taxing unit for the 1996 tax year in the county for
5-6 which the appraisal district is established by the sum of the total
5-7 dollar amount of property taxes imposed in that county for that
5-8 year by each taxing unit that is entitled to vote for directors of
5-9 that appraisal district under this subsection in 1999, by
5-10 multiplying the quotient by 1,000, and by rounding the product to
5-11 the nearest whole number. That number is multiplied by the number
5-12 of directorships to be filled. A taxing unit located in two or
5-13 more counties is entitled to vote in the appraisal district
5-14 established for each county in which it is located, but only the
5-15 taxes imposed in 1998 in the county for which a district is
5-16 established are used to calculate the 1999 voting entitlement in
5-17 that district. In a county in which the method of appraisal
5-18 district director selection has been changed pursuant to Section
5-19 6.031, Tax Code, the selection of directors required by this
5-20 section shall be made using the method of selection which would
5-21 have otherwise been in effect in that appraisal district as of the
5-22 effective date of this Act.
5-23 (f) Notwithstanding Section 6.06, Tax Code, not later than
5-24 September 15, 1999, the chief appraiser of each appraisal district
5-25 shall revise the proposed 2000 budget for the district, if
5-26 necessary, to account for the changes in law made by this Act.
6-1 (g) Notwithstanding Section 6.06, Tax Code, for the 2000 tax
6-2 year, each taxing unit participating in an appraisal district in
6-3 2000 is allocated a portion of the amount of the 2000 budget for
6-4 the district equal to the proportion that the total dollar amount
6-5 of property taxes imposed in the county for which the district is
6-6 established by the unit for the 1999 tax year bears to the sum of
6-7 the total dollar amount of property taxes imposed in the county by
6-8 each participating unit for that year. If a taxing unit
6-9 participates in two or more appraisal districts in 2000, only the
6-10 1999 taxes imposed in the county for which a district is
6-11 established are used to calculate the unit's cost allocations for
6-12 2000 in that district.
6-13 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.