1-1     By:  Barrientos                                       S.J.R. No. 22
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 12, 2001; February 13, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Veteran Affairs and
 1-4     Military Installations; March 1, 2001, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; March 1, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                           SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
 1-7     proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the ad valorem tax
 1-8     exemption for the surviving spouse and children of a deceased
 1-9     disabled veteran.
1-10           BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 2, Article VIII, Texas
1-12     Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (b)  The Legislature may, by general law, exempt property
1-14     owned by a disabled veteran or by the surviving spouse and
1-15     surviving [minor] children of a disabled veteran.  A disabled
1-16     veteran is a veteran of the armed services of the United States who
1-17     is classified as disabled by the Veterans' Administration or [by] a
1-18     successor to that agency[;] or by the military service in which the
1-19     veteran [he] served.  A veteran who is certified as having a
1-20     disability of less than 10 percent is not entitled to an exemption.
1-21     A veteran having a disability rating of not less than 10 percent
1-22     nor more than 30 percent may be granted an exemption from taxation
1-23     for property valued at up to $5,000.  A veteran having a disability
1-24     rating of more than 30 percent but not more than 50 percent may be
1-25     granted an exemption from taxation for property valued at up to
1-26     $7,500.  A veteran having a disability rating of more than 50
1-27     percent but not more than 70 percent may be granted an exemption
1-28     from taxation for property valued at up to $10,000.  A veteran who
1-29     has a disability rating of more than 70 percent, or a veteran who
1-30     has a disability rating of not less than 10 percent and has
1-31     attained the age of 65, or a disabled veteran whose disability
1-32     consists of the loss or loss of use of one or more limbs, total
1-33     blindness in one or both eyes, or paraplegia, may be granted an
1-34     exemption from taxation for property valued at up to $12,000.  The
1-35     spouse and children of any member of the United States Armed Forces
1-36     who dies while on active duty may be granted an exemption from
1-37     taxation for property valued at up to $5,000.  A deceased disabled
1-38     veteran's surviving spouse and each child of the veteran [children]
1-39     may be granted an exemption [which] in an amount [the aggregate is]
1-40     equal to the exemption to which the veteran was entitled when the
1-41     veteran died.
1-42           SECTION 2.  Subsection (d), Section 2, Article VIII, Texas
1-43     Constitution, is repealed.
1-44           SECTION 3.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
1-45     submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 6, 2001.
1-46     The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
1-47     proposition:  "The constitutional amendment to authorize the
1-48     legislature to set the amount of the ad valorem tax exemption for
1-49     the surviving spouse and each child of a deceased disabled veteran
1-50     in an amount equal to the amount of the exemption to which the
1-51     disabled veteran was entitled."
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