1-1     By:  Wentworth                                        S.B. No. 1170
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Finance; April 27, 1999,
 1-4     reported favorably, as amended, by the following vote:  Yeas 8,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 27, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                              By:  Lindsay
 1-7           Amend S.B. No. 1170 by adding the following language
 1-8     following the last sentence of SECTION 5(e):
 1-9           In a county in which the method of appraisal district
1-10     director selection has been changed pursuant to Section 6.031, Tax
1-11     Code, the selection of directors required by this section shall be
1-12     made using the method of selection which would have otherwise been
1-13     in effect in that appraisal district as of the effective date of
1-14     this Act.
1-15                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-16                                   AN ACT
1-17     relating to the appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes.
1-18           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-19           SECTION 1.  Section 6.02, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-20     follows:
1-21           Sec. 6.02.  DISTRICT BOUNDARIES. The [(a) Except as otherwise
1-22     provided by this section, the] appraisal district's boundaries are
1-23     the same as the county's boundaries.
1-24           [(b) A taxing unit that has boundaries extending into two or
1-25     more counties may choose to participate in only one of the
1-26     appraisal districts.  In that event, the boundaries of the district
1-27     chosen extend outside the county to the extent of the unit's
1-28     boundaries.  To be effective, the choice must be approved by
1-29     resolution of the board of directors of the district chosen.  The
1-30     choice of a school district to participate in a single appraisal
1-31     district does not apply to property annexed to the school district
1-32     under Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code, unless:]
1-33                 [(1)  the school district taxes property other than
1-34     property annexed to the district under Subchapter C or G, Chapter
1-35     41, Education Code, in the same county as the annexed property; or]
1-36                 [(2)  the annexed property is contiguous to property in
1-37     the school district other than property annexed to the district
1-38     under Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code.]
1-39           [(c)  A taxing unit that has chosen to participate in a
1-40     single appraisal district under Subsection (b) of this section may
1-41     revoke that choice and, if permitted to do so by Subsection (b),
1-42     choose to participate in a single appraisal district other than the
1-43     one previously chosen.  A taxing unit that has withdrawn from an
1-44     appraisal district under this subsection and chosen to participate
1-45     in another single appraisal district may not under this subsection
1-46     withdraw from that district.]
1-47           [(d)  A taxing unit that makes a choice under this section
1-48     must do so by an official action of its governing body in the
1-49     manner required by law for official action by the body.  A choice
1-50     made by a taxing unit under this section takes effect beginning on
1-51     the next January 1 that is at least 90 days from the date on which
1-52     the choice is made.]
1-53           [(e)  If a taxing unit ceases to have territory in the county
1-54     for which the appraisal district in which the unit participates is
1-55     established, but still has territory in two or more counties, the
1-56     unit may choose to participate in only one district in the manner
1-57     prescribed by this section.]
1-58           [(f)  All costs of operating an appraisal district in
1-59     territory outside the county for which the appraisal district is
1-60     established are allocated to the taxing unit for which the
1-61     appraisal district appraises property in that territory.  If the
1-62     appraisal district appraises property in the same territory for two
1-63     or more taxing units, costs of operating the district in that
 2-1     territory are allocated to the units in the proportion the total
 2-2     dollar amount of taxes each unit imposes in that territory bears to
 2-3     the total dollar amount of taxes all taxing units participating in
 2-4     the appraisal district impose in that territory.]
 2-5           [(g)  If property is annexed to a school district under
 2-6     Subchapter C or G, Chapter 41, Education Code, the appraisal
 2-7     district established for the county in which the property is
 2-8     located shall appraise the property for the school district, and
 2-9     the school district participates in that appraisal district for
2-10     purposes of the appraisal of that property, except as otherwise
2-11     permitted by Subsection (b).]
2-12           SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 41.097, Education Code,
2-13     is amended to read as follows:
2-14           (a)  The total amount required under Section 41.093 for a
2-15     district to purchase attendance credits under this subchapter for
2-16     any school year is reduced by an amount equal to the product of the
2-17     district's costs under Section 6.06, Tax Code, for each [the
2-18     central] appraisal district in which it participates multiplied by
2-19     a percentage that is computed by dividing the total amount required
2-20     under Section 41.093 by the total amount of taxes imposed in the
2-21     district for that year less any amounts paid into a tax increment
2-22     fund under Chapter 311, Tax Code.
2-23           SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 41.210, Education Code,
2-24     is amended to read as follows:
2-25           (b)  As soon as practicable after the detachment and
2-26     annexation of property, the chief appraiser of the appraisal
2-27     district in which the property is located [for the school district
2-28     from which the property is detached] shall send a written notice of
2-29     the detachment and annexation to the owner of any property taxable
2-30     in a different school district as a result of the detachment and
2-31     annexation.  The notice must include the name of the school
2-32     district by which the property is taxable after the detachment and
2-33     annexation.
2-34           SECTION 4.  The following statutes are repealed:
2-35                 (1)  Section 13.007, Education Code;
2-36                 (2)  Section 6.025, Tax Code; and
2-37                 (3)  Subsection (m), Section 6.03, Tax Code.
2-38           SECTION 5.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
2-39     section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2000.
2-40           (b)  This section takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-41           (c)  The changes in law made by this Act relating to the
2-42     appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes apply only to the
2-43     appraisal of property for a tax year that begins on or after
2-44     January 1, 2000.
2-45           (d)  The term of each appraisal district director in an
2-46     appraisal district described by Section 6.025, Tax Code, as that
2-47     law existed immediately before September 1, 1999, serving a
2-48     staggered term that but for this subsection would expire after
2-49     January 1, 2000, expires on January 1, 2000.  The appraisal
2-50     district board of directors shall fill the vacant directorships as
2-51     soon as practicable after January 1, 2000, as provided by
2-52     Subsection (l), Section 6.03, Tax Code.
2-53           (e)  Notwithstanding Section 6.03, Tax Code, a taxing unit is
2-54     entitled to vote in 1999 for appraisal district directors for terms
2-55     beginning on January 1, 2000, in each appraisal district in which
2-56     the taxing unit will participate in 2000 under the law as amended
2-57     by this Act.  The voting entitlement of each taxing unit entitled
2-58     to vote for directors in 1999 is determined for each appraisal
2-59     district by dividing the total dollar amount of property taxes
2-60     imposed by the taxing unit for the 1996 tax year in the county for
2-61     which the appraisal district is established by the sum of the total
2-62     dollar amount of property taxes imposed in that county for that
2-63     year by each taxing unit that is entitled to vote for directors of
2-64     that appraisal district under this subsection in 1999, by
2-65     multiplying the quotient by 1,000, and by rounding the product to
2-66     the nearest whole number.  That number is multiplied by the number
2-67     of directorships to be filled.  A taxing unit located in two or
2-68     more counties is entitled to vote in the appraisal district
2-69     established for each county in which it is located, but only the
 3-1     taxes imposed in 1998 in the county for which a district is
 3-2     established are used to calculate the 1999 voting entitlement in
 3-3     that district.
 3-4           (f)  Notwithstanding Section 6.06, Tax Code, not later than
 3-5     September 15, 1999, the chief appraiser of each appraisal district
 3-6     shall revise the proposed 2000 budget for the district, if
 3-7     necessary, to account for the changes in law made by this Act.
 3-8           (g)  Notwithstanding Section 6.06, Tax Code, for the 2000 tax
 3-9     year, each taxing unit participating in an appraisal district in
3-10     2000 is allocated a portion of the amount of the 2000 budget for
3-11     the district equal to the proportion that the total dollar amount
3-12     of property taxes imposed in the county for which the district is
3-13     established by the unit for the 1999 tax year bears to the sum of
3-14     the total dollar amount of property taxes imposed in the county by
3-15     each participating unit for that year.  If a taxing unit
3-16     participates in two or more appraisal districts in 2000, only the
3-17     1999 taxes imposed in the county for which a district is
3-18     established are used to calculate the unit's cost allocations for
3-19     2000 in that district.
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