H.B. No. 1082
AN ACT
relating to the appraisal of property by appraisal districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) Section 6.025, Tax Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) If on May 1 all the chief appraisers of the appraisal
districts described by Subsection (a) in which a parcel or item of
property is located are not in agreement as to the appraised or
market value of the property, on that date each of the chief
appraisers shall enter as the appraised or market value of the
property on the appraisal records of the appropriate appraisal
district the lowest appraised or market value of the property as
determined by any of the chief appraisers. If as a result of a
protest, appeal, or other action the appraised or market value of
the property is subsequently reduced in any of the appraisal
districts, the chief appraiser shall notify each of the appraisal
districts of the reduced appraised or market value. The chief
appraiser of each appraisal district shall enter that reduced
appraised or market value on the appraisal records as the appraised
or market value of the property. If the appraised or market value
is reduced in more than one appraisal district, each chief
appraiser shall enter the lowest of those values on the appraisal
records.
(b) This section takes effect January 1, 2004, and applies
only to the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of property for a
tax year that begins on or after that date.
SECTION 2. Sections 41.43(a) and (b), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(a) In a protest authorized by Section 41.41(a)(1) or (2)
[41.41(1) or (2)], the appraisal district has the burden of
establishing the value of the property by a preponderance of the
evidence presented at the hearing. If the appraisal district fails
to meet that standard, the protest shall be determined in favor of
the property owner.
(b) A protest on the ground of unequal appraisal of property
shall be determined in favor of the protesting party unless the
appraisal district establishes that:
(1) the appraisal ratio of the property is equal to or
less [not greater] than the median level of appraisal of[:
[(1)] a reasonable and representative sample of other
properties in the appraisal district;
(2) the appraisal ratio of the property is equal to or
less than the median level of appraisal of a sample of properties in
the appraisal district consisting of a reasonable number of other
properties similarly situated to, or of the same general kind or
character as, the property subject to the protest; or
(3) the appraised value of the property is equal to or
less than the median appraised value of a reasonable number of
comparable properties appropriately adjusted.
SECTION 3. Section 42.221, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 42.221. CONSOLIDATED APPEALS FOR MULTICOUNTY PROPERTY
[PIPELINE OR ELECTRIC LINE]. (a) The owner of property of a
telecommunications provider, as defined by Section 51.002,
Utilities Code, or the owner of property regulated by the Railroad
Commission of Texas, the federal Surface Transportation Board, or
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [an oil or gas pipeline or
electric transmission or distribution line] that runs through or
operates in more than one county and is appraised by more than one
appraisal district may appeal an order of an appraisal review board
relating to the property running through or operating in more than
one county [pipeline or electric line, to property attached to or
connected with the pipeline or electric line, or to an easement or
other real property on which the pipeline or electric line is
located] to the district court of any county in which a portion of
the property [pipeline or electric line] is located or operated if
the order relating to that portion of the property [pipeline or
electric line] is appealed.
(b) A petition for review of each appraisal review board
order under this section must be filed with the court as provided by
Section 42.21. The fee for filing each additional petition for
review under this section [relating to a pipeline or electric line]
after the first petition for review relating to the same property
[pipeline or electric line] is filed for a tax year is $5.
(c) If only one appeal by the owner of property subject to
this section [an oil or gas pipeline or electric line] is pending
before the court in an appeal from the decision of an appraisal
review board of a district other than the appraisal district for
that county, any party to the suit may, not earlier than the 30th
day before and not later than the 10th day before the date set for
the hearing, make a motion to transfer the suit to a district court
of the county in which the appraisal review board from which the
appeal is taken is located. In the absence of a showing that
further appeals under this section will be filed, the court shall
transfer the suit.
(d) When the owner files the first petition for review under
this section for a [pipeline or electric line for a] tax year, the
owner shall include with the petition a list of each appraisal
district in which the property [pipeline or electric line] is
appraised for taxation in that tax year.
(e) The court shall consolidate all the appeals for a tax
year relating to a single property subject to this section
[pipeline or electric line] for which a petition for review is filed
with the court and may consolidate other appeals relating to other
property subject to this section [pipelines or electric lines] of
the same owner if the property is [pipelines or electric lines are]
located in one or more of the counties on the list required by
Subsection (d). Except as provided by this subsection, on the
motion of the [pipeline or electric line] owner of a property
subject to this section the court shall grant a continuance to
provide the owner with an opportunity to include in the proceeding
appeals of appraisal review board orders from additional appraisal
districts. The court may not grant a continuance to include an
appeal of an appraisal review board order that relates to a property
subject to this section [the pipeline or electric line] in that tax
year after the time for filing a petition for review of that order
has expired.
(f) This section does not affect the property owner's right
to file a petition for review of an individual appraisal district's
order relating to a property subject to this section [pipeline or
electric line] in the district court in the county in which the
appraisal review board is located.
(g) On a joint motion or the separate motions of at least 60
percent of the appraisal districts that are defendants in a
consolidated suit filed before the 45th day after the date on which
the property owner's petitions for review of the appraisal review
board orders relating to a property subject to this section
[pipeline or electric line] for that tax year must be filed, the
court shall transfer the suit to a district court of the county
named in the motion or motions if that county is one in which one of
the appraisal review boards from which an appeal was taken is
located.
SECTION 4. Sections 42.26(a), (b), and (d), Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The district court shall grant relief on the ground that
a property is appraised unequally if:
(1) the appraisal ratio of the property exceeds by at
least 10 percent the median level of appraisal of[:
[(1)] a reasonable and representative sample of other
properties in the appraisal district; [or]
(2) the appraisal ratio of the property exceeds by at
least 10 percent the median level of appraisal of a sample of
properties in the appraisal district consisting of a reasonable
number of other properties similarly situated to, or of the same
general kind or character as, the property subject to the appeal; or
(3) the appraised value of the property exceeds the
median appraised value of a reasonable number of comparable
properties appropriately adjusted.
(b) If a property owner is entitled to relief under
Subsection (a)(1), the court shall order the property's appraised
value changed to the value as calculated on the basis of the median
level of appraisal according to Subsection (a)(1). If a property
owner is entitled to relief under Subsection (a)(2), the court
shall order the property's appraised value changed to the value
calculated on the basis of the median level of appraisal according
to Subsection (a)(2). If a property owner is entitled to relief
under Subsection (a)(3), the court shall order the property's
appraised value changed to the value calculated on the basis of the
median appraised value according to Subsection (a)(3). If a
property owner is entitled to relief under more than one
subdivision of Subsection (a) [both Subsection (a)(1) and
Subsection (a)(2)], the court shall order the property's appraised
value changed to the value [calculated on the basis of the median
level of appraisal] that results in the lowest [lower] appraised
value. The court shall determine each applicable median level of
appraisal or median appraised value according to law, and is not
required to adopt the median level of appraisal or median appraised
value proposed by a party to the appeal. The court may not limit or
deny relief to the property owner entitled to relief under a
subdivision of Subsection (a) because the appraised value
determined according to another [the other] subdivision of
Subsection (a) results in a higher appraised value.
(d) For purposes of this section, the value of the property
subject to the suit and the value of a comparable property or sample
property that is used for comparison must be the market value
determined by the appraisal district when the property is a
residence homestead subject to the limitation on appraised value
imposed by Section 23.23. [The district court shall grant relief on
the ground that a property is appraised unequally if the appraised
value of the property exceeds the median appraised value of a
reasonable number of comparable properties appropriately
adjusted.]
SECTION 5. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to review
of an appraisal of property that was initiated by the filing of a
notice of protest with an appraisal review board on or after the
effective date of this Act. Review of an appraisal of property that
was initiated by the filing of a notice of protest with an appraisal
review board before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the notice of protest was filed, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1082 was passed by the House on May 9,
2003, by a non-record vote; that the House refused to concur in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 1082 on May 30, 2003, and requested
the appointment of a conference committee to consider the
differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the
conference committee report on H.B. No. 1082 on June 1, 2003, by a
non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1082 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 28, 2003, by a viva-voce vote; at the request of
the House, the Senate appointed a conference committee to consider
the differences between the two houses; and that the Senate adopted
the conference committee report on H.B. No. 1082 on June 1, 2003, by
a viva-voce vote.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor