By:  Haywood                                          S.B. No. 1396
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the valuation of open space land that was acquired from
 1-2     a governmental entity.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Amend Property Tax Code Section 23.51(1) to read
 1-5     as follows:  (1)  "Qualified open-space land" means:
 1-6     (A)  land that is currently devoted principally to agricultural use
 1-7     to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area and that
 1-8     has either:
 1-9                 (i)  been devoted principally to agricultural use or to
1-10     production of timber or forest products for five of the preceding
1-11     seven years, or
1-12                 (ii)  was owned by the state for the preceding seven
1-13     years; or,
1-14     (B)  land that is used principally as an ecological laboratory by a
1-15     public or private college or university.  Qualified open-space land
1-16     includes all appurtenances to the land.  For the purposes of this
1-17     subdivision, appurtenances to the land means private roads, dams,
1-18     reservoirs, water wells, canals, ditches, terraces, and other
1-19     reshapings of the soil, fences, and riparian water rights.
1-20           SECTION 2.  Amend Property Tax Code Sec. 23.56 to read as
1-21     follows:  Sec. 23.56.  Land Ineligible for Appraisal as Open-Space
1-22     Land
 2-1           Land, other than land that was owned by the state for the
 2-2     preceding seven years, is not eligible for appraisal as provided by
 2-3     this subchapter if:
 2-4           (1)  the land is located inside the corporate limits of an
 2-5     incorporated city or town, unless:
 2-6           (A)  the city or town is not providing the land with
 2-7     governmental and proprietary services substantially equivalent in
 2-8     standard and scope to those services it provides in other parts of
 2-9     the city or town with similar topography, land utilization, and
2-10     population density; or
2-11           (B)  the land has been devoted principally to agricultural
2-12     use continuously for the preceding five years;
2-13           (2)  the land is owned by an individual who is a nonresident
2-14     alien or by a foreign government if that individual or government
2-15     is required by federal law or by rule adopted pursuant to federal
2-16     law to register his ownership or acquisition of that property; or
2-17           (3)  the land is owned by a corporation, partnership, trust,
2-18     or other legal entity if the entity is required by federal law or
2-19     by rule adopted pursuant to federal law to register its ownership
2-20     or acquisition of that land and a nonresident alien or a foreign
2-21     government or any combination of nonresident aliens and foreign
2-22     governments own a majority interest in the entity.
2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.