By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1737
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a property owner's right to inspect and copy records
 1-3     and information used to appraise the owner's property for ad
 1-4     valorem tax purposes.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 25.195, Tax Code, is amended by amending
 1-7     Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e) to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           (a)  After the chief appraiser has submitted the appraisal
1-10     records to the appraisal review board as provided by Section
1-11     25.22(a), a property owner or the owner's designated agent is
1-12     entitled to [may] inspect and copy the appraisal records relating
1-13     to property of the property owner, together with supporting data,
1-14     schedules, and, except as provided by Subsection (b), any other
1-15     material or information held by the chief appraiser or required by
1-16     Section 25.01(c) to be provided to the appraisal district under a
1-17     contract for appraisal services, including material or information
1-18     obtained under Section 22.27, that is obtained or used in making
1-19     appraisals for the appraisal records relating to that property.
1-20           (c)  A property owner or the designated agent of an owner
1-21     whose property is appraised by a private appraisal firm under a
1-22     contract for appraisal services with an appraisal district is
1-23     entitled to inspect and copy, at the office of that firm, all
1-24     information pertaining to the property that the firm considered in
1-25     appraising the property, including information showing each method
 2-1     of appraisal used to determine the value of the property and all
 2-2     calculations, personal notes, correspondence, and working papers
 2-3     used in appraising the property.  This subsection does not apply to
 2-4     information made confidential by Section 22.27, except that the
 2-5     property owner or agent is entitled to inspect and copy any
 2-6     information relating to the owner's property, including otherwise
 2-7     confidential information.
 2-8           (d)  The appraisal firm shall make information covered by
 2-9     Subsection (c) available for inspection and copying by the owner or
2-10     agent not later than the 15th day after the date the owner or agent
2-11     delivers a written request to inspect the information, unless the
2-12     owner or agent agrees in writing to a later date.
2-13           (e)  If an owner or agent states under oath in a document
2-14     filed with an appraisal review board in connection with a
2-15     proceeding initiated under Section 25.25 or Chapter 41 that the
2-16     applicable appraisal firm has not complied with a request for
2-17     inspection or copying under Subsection (c) related to the property
2-18     that is the subject of the proceeding, the board may not conduct a
2-19     hearing on the merits of any claim relating to that property and
2-20     may not approve the appraisal records relating to that property
2-21     until the board determines in a hearing that:
2-22                 (1)  the appraisal firm has made the information
2-23     available for inspection and copying as required by Subsection (c);
2-24     or
2-25                 (2)  the owner or agent has withdrawn the motion or
2-26     protest that initiated the proceeding.
 3-1           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
 3-2     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
 3-3     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
 3-4     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 3-5     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.