HBA-KDB S.B. 1533 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1533 By: Madla Ways & Means 4/27/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Applications or requests for tax abatements usually require a significant investment of a taxing unit's staff time. However, current law does not authorize a taxing unit to collect fees to help defray the costs of staff time used to process tax abatement applications. Senate Bill 1533 provides that the guidelines and criteria of the commissioners court of a county may include a requirement that an application or request for a tax abatement must be accompanied by a reasonable application fee not to exceed $1,000. 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 Senate Bill 1533 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.