HBA-KDB C.S.H.B. 2782 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2782 By: Villarreal, Mike Ways & Means 4/19/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A taxing unit has to pay costs associated with the processing and consideration of an application or request for tax abatement. Under current law, a taxing unit, including a county, is not authorized to charge a fee for processing such an application or request. C.S.H.B. 2782 authorizes the commissioners court of a county to impose a reasonable fee in connection with an application or request for tax abatement. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2782 amends the Tax Code to provide that the guidelines and criteria adopted by the commissioners court of a county may include a requirement that an application or request for tax abatement submitted to the county under the Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act must be accompanied by a reasonable application fee not to exceed $1,000. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2782 modifies the original by authorizing the guidelines and criteria adopted by the commissioners court of a county to include a requirement that an application or request be accompanied by a reasonable fee not to exceed $1,000, rather than authorizing the governing body of a taxing unit, in its guidelines, to impose a reasonable fee, not to exceed $1,000, in connection with an application or request for tax abatement. The substitute modifies the effective date.