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78R3561 RCJ-F

By:  Goolsby                                                      H.B. No. 500



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the confidentiality of applications for ad valorem tax 
exemptions; providing criminal penalties.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 11, Tax Code, is amended by 
adding Section 11.48 to read as follows:
	Sec. 11.48.  APPLICATION CONFIDENTIAL.  (a) An application 
for an exemption filed with a chief appraiser is confidential and 
not open to public inspection.  The application and the information 
it contains about specific property or a specific owner may not be 
disclosed to anyone other than an employee of the appraisal office 
who appraises property, except as authorized by Subsection (b).
	(b)  Information made confidential by this section may be 
disclosed:
		(1)  in a judicial or administrative proceeding 
pursuant to a lawful subpoena;
		(2)  to the person who filed the application or to the 
person's representative authorized in writing to receive the 
information;
		(3)  to the comptroller and the comptroller's employees 
authorized by the comptroller in writing to receive the information 
or to an assessor or a chief appraiser if requested in writing;
		(4)  in a judicial or administrative proceeding 
relating to property taxation to which the person who filed the 
application is a party;
		(5)  for statistical purposes if in a form that does not 
identify specific property or a specific property owner;  or
		(6)  if and to the extent the information is required to 
be included in a public document or record that the appraisal office 
is required by law to prepare or maintain.
	(c)  A person who legally has access to an application for an 
exemption or who legally obtains the confidential information the 
application contains commits an offense if the person knowingly:
		(1)  permits inspection of the application by a person 
not authorized by Subsection (b) to inspect the application; or
		(2)  discloses confidential information contained in 
the report to a person not authorized by Subsection (b) to receive 
the information.
	(d)  An offense under Subsection (c) is a Class B 
misdemeanor.        
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.