1-1     By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1209
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; April 6, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 6, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to communication in an electronic format between a
 1-9     property owner and a chief appraiser of an appraisal district for
1-10     the purpose of ad valorem taxation.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 1.07, Tax Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (a)  An official or agency required by this title to deliver
1-15     a notice to a property owner may deliver the notice by regular
1-16     first-class mail, with postage prepaid, unless this section or
1-17     another provision of this title requires a different method of
1-18     delivery or the parties agree that the notice must be delivered as
1-19     provided by Section 1.085.
1-20           SECTION 2.  Chapter 1, Tax Code, is amended by adding Section
1-21     1.085 to read as follows:
1-22           Sec. 1.085.  COMMUNICATION IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT.  (a)  Except
1-23     as provided by Section 1.07(d), any notice, rendition, application
1-24     form, or completed application that is required or permitted by
1-25     this title to be delivered between a chief appraiser and a property
1-26     owner or between a chief appraiser and a person designated by a
1-27     property owner under Section 1.111(f) may be delivered in an
1-28     electronic format if the chief appraiser and the property owner
1-29     agree under this section.
1-30           (b)  An agreement between a chief appraiser and a property
1-31     owner must:
1-32                 (1)  be in writing;
1-33                 (2)  be signed by the chief appraiser and the property
1-34     owner; and
1-35                 (3)  specify:
1-36                       (A)  the medium of communication;
1-37                       (B)  the type of communication covered; and
1-38                       (C)  the means for protecting the security of a
1-39     communication.
1-40           (c)  An agreement may address other matters.
1-41           (d)  Unless otherwise provided by an agreement, the delivery
1-42     of any information in an electronic format is effective on receipt
1-43     by a chief appraiser, property owner, or person designated by a
1-44     property owner.
1-45           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-46           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-47     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-48     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-49     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-50     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-51                                  * * * * *