By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1209
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to communication in an electronic format between a
 1-2     property owner and a chief appraiser of an appraisal district for
 1-3     the purpose of ad valorem taxation.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 1.07, Tax Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  An official or agency required by this title to deliver
 1-8     a notice to a property owner may deliver the notice by regular
 1-9     first-class mail, with postage prepaid, unless this section or
1-10     another provision of this title requires a different method of
1-11     delivery or the parties agree that the notice must be delivered as
1-12     provided by Section 1.085.
1-13           SECTION 2.  Chapter 1, Tax Code, is amended by adding Section
1-14     1.085 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 1.085.  COMMUNICATION IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT.  (a)  Except
1-16     as provided by Section 1.07(d), any notice, rendition, application
1-17     form, or completed application that is required or permitted by
1-18     this title to be delivered between a chief appraiser and a property
1-19     owner or between a chief appraiser and a person designated by a
1-20     property owner under Section 1.111(f) may be delivered in an
1-21     electronic format if the chief appraiser and the property owner
1-22     agree under this section.
1-23           (b)  An agreement between a chief appraiser and a property
1-24     owner must:
 2-1                 (1)  be in writing;
 2-2                 (2)  be signed by the chief appraiser and the property
 2-3     owner; and
 2-4                 (3)  specify:
 2-5                       (A)  the medium of communication;
 2-6                       (B)  the type of communication covered; and
 2-7                       (C)  the means for protecting the security of a
 2-8     communication.
 2-9           (c)  An agreement may address other matters.
2-10           (d)  Unless otherwise provided by an agreement, the delivery
2-11     of any information in an electronic format is effective on receipt
2-12     by a chief appraiser, property owner, or person designated by a
2-13     property owner.
2-14           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.