78S41510 JD-D
By: Van Arsdale H.J.R. No. 16
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment providing for funding public
education, providing for school district property tax rate
limitation and reduction, authorizing a school district ad valorem
tax for educational program enrichment, creating the Texas
education fund, dedicating certain sales and use tax revenue to
funding public education, increasing the amount of the residence
homestead exemption from school taxation, and authorizing the
legislature to establish a five percent limit on annual increases
in the appraised value for ad valorem tax purposes of residence
homesteads and other owner-occupied residential real property.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article VII, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 3A to read as follows:
Sec. 3A. (a) In this section:
(1) "Available state revenue" means state revenue from
any source other than federal funds. The term does not include
revenue that, under another provision of this constitution, may be
used only for a particular purpose.
(2) "Increase in available state revenue" means the
amount by which the estimate made by the comptroller of public
accounts under Section 49a(a), Article III, of this constitution of
available state revenue for the succeeding fiscal biennium exceeds
the estimate made by the comptroller under that section of
available state revenue for the current fiscal biennium.
(b) In each fiscal biennium, an amount of general revenue
equal to one-third of any increase in available state revenue for
the biennium must be used to reduce, as provided by general law, the
rate of the school district maintenance tax authorized by Section
3(e) of this article.
SECTION 2. Section 3, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsections (d) and (e) and adding Subsections
(f)-(k) to read as follows:
(d) The Legislature may provide for the formation of school
districts by general laws, and all such school districts may
embrace parts of two or more counties.
[(e)] The Legislature by general law may provide [shall be
authorized to pass laws for the assessment and collection of taxes
in all school districts and] for the management and control of the
public [school or] schools of such districts.
(e) A school district may impose an ad valorem tax on
taxable property in the district for the maintenance of public free
schools. The rate of the maintenance tax may not exceed $1.05 for
each $100 of taxable value.
(f) The Legislature may provide for school districts to
impose an additional ad valorem tax on all taxable property in the
district for the purpose of providing an enriched educational
program. The rate of the enrichment tax may not exceed $0.10 for
each $100 of taxable value.
(g) The Legislature may provide for school districts to
impose an additional ad valorem tax on all taxable property in the
district[, whether such districts are composed of territory wholly
within a county or in parts of two or more counties, and the
Legislature may authorize an additional ad valorem tax to be levied
and collected within all school districts for the further
maintenance of public free schools, and] for the erection and
equipment of school buildings.
(h) A school district may not impose a tax under Subsection
(e), (f), or (g) of this section unless the tax is approved by
[therein; provided that] a majority of the qualified voters of the
district voting at an election to be held for that purpose[, shall
approve the tax]. A tax imposed under Subsection (e) or (f) of this
section is not a state ad valorem tax for purposes of Section 1-e,
Article VIII, of this constitution.
(i) To the extent that there are increases in ad valorem
taxes collected by the school districts of this State from one year
to the next, and to the extent that distribution formulas for State
aid to the school districts would automatically reduce the amount
of that aid by all or part of the amount of those increases, the
Legislature shall provide that, at a minimum, the total amount of
those increases be added to the distribution formulas without
offsetting reductions in other aid to the districts.
(j) The Legislature may pass laws for the creation of junior
college districts, the management and control of those districts,
and the imposition of ad valorem taxes in those districts. A junior
college district may not impose a tax under this subsection unless
the tax is approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the
district voting at an election held for that purpose. A junior
college district is not a school district for purposes of this
section.
(k) An ad valorem tax approved by the voters of a junior
college district under this section on or before November 2, 2004,
is not affected by the amendment of this section approved by the
voters at an election held on November 2, 2004, and the junior
college district is not required to hold a new election to authorize
the existing tax. This subsection expires January 1, 2005.
SECTION 3. Section 3-b, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3-b. (a) A [No] tax for the maintenance of public free
schools voted in any independent school district or a [and no] tax
for the maintenance of a junior college voted by a junior college
district, and [nor] any bonds voted in any such district, but
unissued, are not [shall be] abrogated, cancelled, or invalidated
by change of any kind in the boundaries of the district [thereof].
(b) After any change in boundaries, the governing body of
any such district may, without the necessity of an additional
election, [shall have the power to] assess, levy, and collect ad
valorem taxes on all taxable property within the boundaries of the
district as changed, for the purposes of the maintenance of public
free schools or the maintenance of a junior college, as the case may
be, and for the payment of principal of and interest on all bonded
indebtedness outstanding against, or attributable, adjusted, or
allocated to, such district or any territory in the district
[therein], in the amount, at the rate, or not to exceed the rate,
and in the manner authorized in the district before [prior to] the
change in its boundaries[,] and [further] in accordance with the
laws under which all such bonds, respectively, were voted. The[;
and such] governing body of the district may [also shall have the
power], without the necessity of an additional election, [to] sell
and deliver any unissued bonds voted in the district before [prior
to] any such change in boundaries, and may [to] assess, levy, and
collect ad valorem taxes on all taxable property in the district as
changed, for the payment of principal of and interest on such bonds
in the manner permitted by the laws under which such bonds were
voted.
(c) If [In those instances where] the boundaries of any such
independent school district are changed by the annexation of, or
consolidation with, one or more whole school districts, the taxes
to be levied for the purposes [hereinabove] authorized by this
article may be in the amount or at not to exceed the rate previously
[theretofore] voted in the district having at the time of such
change the greatest scholastic population according to the latest
scholastic census, and only the unissued bonds of such district
voted before [prior to] such change[,] may be subsequently sold and
delivered. Unissued [and any voted, but unissued,] bonds of the
other school districts involved in such annexation or consolidation
may [shall] not [thereafter] be issued after the annexation or
consolidation.
SECTION 4. Article VII, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 5A to read as follows:
Sec. 5A. (a) The Texas education fund consists of:
(1) certain proceeds of the sales and use tax imposed
by a political subdivision of this state as provided by Section 25,
Article VIII, of this constitution; and
(2) other funds transferred or dedicated to the fund
by general law.
(b) The fund may be used only for public education.
SECTION 5. Section 1(i), Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(i) Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (b) of this
section, the Legislature by general law may limit the maximum
average annual percentage increase in the appraised value [of
residence homesteads] for ad valorem tax purposes of residence
homesteads and of other real property that is designed or adapted
for residential purposes and used primarily for residential
purposes by the owner of the property to five [10] percent, or a
greater percentage, for each year since the most recent tax
appraisal. A limitation on appraisal increases for property
authorized by this subsection:
(1) takes effect in the tax year following the first
tax year in which the owner owns the property on January 1 and in
which the owner qualifies the property as a residence homestead or
uses the property primarily for the owner's residential purposes,
or, if the property qualifies for an exemption as the [to a]
residence homestead of the owner under Section 1-b of this article
in the tax year in which the owner acquires the property, in [on the
later of the effective date of the law imposing the limitation or
January 1 of] the tax year following the [first] tax year in which
the owner acquires [qualifies] the property [for an exemption under
Section 1-b of this article]; and
(2) expires on January 1 of the [first] tax year
following the tax year in which [that neither] the owner of the
property when the limitation took effect ceases to own the property
or ceases to qualify the property as a residence homestead or to use
the property primarily for the owner's residential purposes, except
that the Legislature by general law may provide for the limitation
to continue during ownership of the property by [nor] the owner's
spouse or surviving spouse who qualifies the property for an
exemption under Section 1-b of this article.
SECTION 6. Section 1-b(c), Article VIII, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(c) Forty-five Thousand Dollars ($45,000) [Fifteen Thousand
Dollars ($15,000)] of the market value of the residence homestead
of a married or unmarried adult, including one living alone, is
exempt from ad valorem taxation for general elementary and
secondary public school purposes. The legislature by general law
may provide that all or part of the exemption does not apply to a
district or political subdivision that imposes ad valorem taxes for
public education purposes but is not the principal school district
providing general elementary and secondary public education
throughout its territory. In addition to this exemption, the
legislature by general law may exempt an amount not to exceed Ten
Thousand Dollars ($10,000) of the market value of the residence
homestead of a person who is disabled as defined in Subsection (b)
of this section and of a person sixty-five (65) years of age or
older from ad valorem taxation for general elementary and secondary
public school purposes. The legislature by general law may base the
amount of and condition eligibility for the additional exemption
authorized by this subsection for disabled persons and for persons
sixty-five (65) years of age or older on economic need. An eligible
disabled person who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older may not
receive both exemptions from a school district but may choose
either. An eligible person is entitled to receive both the
exemption required by this subsection for all residence homesteads
and any exemption adopted pursuant to Subsection (b) of this
section, but the legislature shall provide by general law whether
an eligible disabled or elderly person may receive both the
additional exemption for the elderly and disabled authorized by
this subsection and any exemption for the elderly or disabled
adopted pursuant to Subsection (b) of this section. Where ad
valorem tax has previously been pledged for the payment of debt, the
taxing officers of a school district may continue to levy and
collect the tax against the value of homesteads exempted under this
subsection until the debt is discharged if the cessation of the levy
would impair the obligation of the contract by which the debt was
created. The legislature shall provide for formulas to protect
school districts against all or part of the revenue loss incurred by
the implementation of Article VIII, Sections 1-b(c), 1-b(d), and
1-d-1, of this constitution. The legislature by general law may
define residence homestead for purposes of this section.
SECTION 7. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) This temporary provision applies
to the constitutional amendment proposed by the 78th Legislature,
4th Called Session, 2004, to increase the amount of the residence
homestead exemption from school taxation and to authorize the
legislature to limit the maximum average annual increase in the
appraised value for ad valorem tax purposes of residence homesteads
and other owner-occupied residential real property and expires
January 1, 2006.
(b) The amendments to Sections 1(i) and 1-b(c), Article
VIII, of this constitution take effect January 1, 2005, and apply
only to a tax year that begins on or after that date.
SECTION 8. Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 25 to read as follows:
Sec. 25. The net revenue derived from the imposition of a
sales and use tax by a political subdivision of this state on the
sale or use of an item, including a service, that was not a taxable
item on December 31, 2004, and that becomes subject to the sales and
use tax after that date, shall be deposited to the credit of the
Texas education fund created by Section 5A, Article VII, of this
constitution.
SECTION 9. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) If H.B. No. 1 is enacted by the
78th Legislature, 4th Called Session, 2004, and includes a
provision that imposes the state sales and use tax authorized by
Chapter 151, Tax Code, or its successor in function, at a rate that
exceeds 6.25 percent, the provision of H.B. No. 1 that imposes the
tax at the higher rate expires January 2, 2005.
(b) This temporary provision expires December 31, 2005.
SECTION 10. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 2004.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment providing financial
support for public education, limiting and reducing school property
tax rates, authorizing a school district property tax for
educational program enrichment, increasing the amount of the
residence homestead exemption from school taxation, and
authorizing a five percent limitation on annual increases in the
appraised value for ad valorem tax purposes of residence homesteads
and other owner-occupied residential real property."