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.