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78R8084 T
By: Keffer of Dallas H.B. No. 2614
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to promoting independent and impartial appraisal review
boards.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 6, Subchapter C, Tax Code, is amended by
adding Sections 6.44, 6.45, 6.46, 6.47, and 6.48 to read as follows:
Sec. 6.44. IMPROPER CONTACT WITH APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD
MEMBERS. (a) A representative of an appraisal district, a taxing
unit, or a property owner may not discuss appraisal review board or
appraisal district activities generally or relating to a particular
property or kind of property with an appraisal review board or with
a member of or candidate for an appraisal review board outside of a
public hearing conducted under Section 25.25 or Chapter 41, a
non-emergency public meeting when the discussion is on the agenda
posted under the Open-Meetings Act, or as a presenter at a training
or education session conducted under Section 5.041.
(b) An appraisal review board member who has participated in
a contact that violates this section is ineligible to participate
in a hearing that directly or indirectly involves any matter
discussed in the contact. It is a ground for removal under Section
6.41(f) if an appraisal review board member fails to disclose
participation in a contact made improper by this section or
participates in a hearing in violation of this subsection.
(c) For purposes of this subchapter:
(1) "Representative of an appraisal district or a
taxing unit" includes a chief appraiser, an employee or agent of an
appraisal office, an officer, employee, or agent of a taxing unit,
or an employee, agent, or other representative of any group or
association of taxing units, appraisal districts, chief
appraisers, or appraisal district or taxing unit agents or
employees.
(2) "Representative of a property owner" means a
property tax consultant as defined in Article 8886, Revised
Statutes, an employee or agent of a property owner whose primary
responsibility is to represent the property owner in property tax
matters, a property owner who has a protest pending before the
appraisal review board, or an employee, agent, or other
representative of any group or association that is organized to
protect the interests of property tax payers or property tax
consultants.
(d) This section does not apply to an educational or
training course or meeting conducted under Section 5.041, but the
comptroller shall ensure that any presentation to members of or
candidates for appraisal review boards that includes, as a
presenter, a representative of an appraisal district, a taxing
unit, or a property owner is balanced with equally effective
presenters for both property owners and appraisal districts or
taxing units.
Sec. 6.45. APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD BUDGET. (a) Each year
the appraisal review board shall prepare a budget for the
operations of the appraisal review board for the following year.
The appraisal review board budget must comply with the requirements
of Section 6.06(a) for the appraisal office budget. The chairman
shall submit a copy of the budget to the chief appraiser before June
15 for the chief appraiser to attach to the appraisal office budget
under Section 6.06(a).
(b) In an appraisal district for a county having a
population of fewer than 300,000, the chairman of the appraisal
review board and the chairman of the appraisal district board of
directors may agree to have a member of the board of directors
prepare the budget for the appraisal review board.
Sec. 6.46. PROHIBITED INTERFERENCE WITH INDEPENDENCE. A
representative of an appraisal district, a taxing unit, or a
property owner may not:
(1) discuss, propose, or oppose a candidate for
appointment or reappointment to the appraisal review board,
directly or indirectly, with a member of the appraisal district
board of directors or with a member of the governing board or
officer of a taxing unit; or
(2) maintain a list of appraisal review board member
votes or otherwise monitor an appraisal review board member's
voting tendencies or assist anyone in doing so for the purpose of
informing or influencing the appraisal district board of directors
or a taxing unit relating to appointments to the appraisal review
board.
Sec. 6.47. APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD OFFICES. (a) If an
appraisal district provides office space for the appraisal review
board or its members and staff, the space must include the place for
conduct of appraisal review board meetings and must be separately
secured from the space for the appraisal office staff and be
controlled by the appraisal review board.
(b) The appraisal review board shall control access to its
offices by representatives of the appraisal district, a taxing
unit, and property owners in a manner that will promote and ensure
the independence and impartiality of its members and staff.
Sec. 6.48. CODE OF ETHICS. (a) The comptroller shall
adopt, and periodically update when circumstances justify a
revision, a code of ethics covering professional, personal, and
social activities of appraisal review board members and staff to
guide and assist them to maintain the highest standards of
independence and impartiality as well as the appearance of
independence and impartiality in the performance of their duties.
The code of ethics must give appropriate emphasis to the appraisal
review board's responsibility to be a neutral, impartial arbiter of
property tax disputes and to decide those disputes based on the
evidence presented at the hearing.
(b) The comptroller shall publish the code of ethics for
appraisal review board members, provide a copy without charge to
each appraisal review board member, and include appropriate
discussion of ethics in training sessions and educational courses.
SECTION 2. Section 6.41, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) Except as provided by this code, the appraisal review
board has exclusive, original jurisdiction of any dispute about an
action of the chief appraiser, the appraisal district, or the
appraisal review board that applies to and adversely affects a
property owner or a taxing unit.
SECTION 3. Section 6.43, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 6.43. PERSONNEL. (a) The appraisal review board may
employ legal counsel and clerical and administrative staff as
provided by the district budget [or]. In an appraisal district
established for a county having a population of fewer than 300,000,
the appraisal review board may use the services of the county
attorney and may use the staff of the appraisal office for clerical
assistance. However, an appraisal review board or a member or
employee of an appraisal review board may not seek professional or
technical assistance or advice from a representative of an
appraisal district or a taxing unit or from any property owner,
agent, or representative interested in a matter pending before the
board.
(b) The appraisal review board may not employ a
professional, administrative, and clerical employee who is or has
been in the preceding two years a representative of an appraisal
district or a taxing unit. The appraisal review board shall adopt
and enforce rules to ensure that staff and legal counsel it employs
are independent of the appraisal office, the taxing units
participating in the district, and property owners or agents
interested in a matter that may come before the board.
(c) Each member of the appraisal review board is an officer
for purposes of the nepotism law, Chapter 573, Government Code.
(d) The appraisal review board may not employ an individual
that Section 6.05 or the nepotism law, Chapter 573, Government
Code, prohibits the chief appraiser or the appraisal district from
employing.
SECTION 4. Section 42.21(b), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(b) A petition for review brought under Section 42.02 must
be brought against the owner of the property involved in the appeal.
A petition for review brought under Section 42.031 must be brought
against the appraisal district and against the owner of the
property involved in the appeal. A petition for review brought
under Subdivision (2) or (3) of Section 42.01 or under Section 42.03
must be brought against the comptroller. Any other petition for
review under this chapter must be brought against the appraisal
district. A petition for review may not [is not required to] be
brought against the appraisal review board or a member of the
appraisal review board[, but may be brought against the appraisal
review board in addition to any other required party, if
appropriate].
SECTION 5. Section 6.05, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (i) to read as follows:
(i) The chief appraiser may not employ any individual that
Section 6.43 or the nepotism law, Chapter 573, Government Code,
prohibits the appraisal review board from employing.
SECTION 6. Section 6.06(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) Each year the chief appraiser shall prepare a proposed
budget for the operations of the appraisal office [district] for
the following tax year and shall submit copies of the appraisal
office budget and the appraisal review board budget prepared as
provided by Section 6.45 to each taxing unit participating in the
district and to the district board of directors before June 15. The
two budgets combined constitute the appraisal district budget. The
chief appraiser [He] shall include in the budget a list showing each
proposed position, the proposed salary for the position, all
benefits proposed for the position, each proposed capital
expenditure, and an estimate of the amount of the budget that will
be allocated to each taxing unit. Each taxing unit entitled to vote
on the appointment of board members shall maintain a copy of the
proposed budget for public inspection at its principal
administrative office.
SECTION 7. Section 25.25(g), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(g) A [Within 45 days after receiving notice of the
appraisal review board's determination of a motion under this
section, the] property owner or the chief appraiser may file suit to
compel the board to hold a hearing on a motion filed under this
section if the board has not held a hearing within 60 days after the
date the motion was filed or to issue an order determining a motion
if the board has not issued an order within 30 days after the date of
the hearing [order a change in the appraisal roll as required by
this section].
SECTION 8. Section 5.041(d), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(d) The course material for the course required under
Subsection (a) is the comptroller's Appraisal Review Board Manual
in use on the effective date of this section the comptroller's Code
of Ethics for Appraisal Review Board Members in effect on the date
of the course. The manual shall be updated regularly. It may be
revised on request, in writing, to the comptroller. The revision
language must be approved on the unanimous agreement of a committee
selected by the comptroller and representing, equally, taxpayers
and chief appraisers. The person requesting the revision shall pay
the costs of mediation if the comptroller determines that mediation
is required.
SECTION 9. For purposes of the appraisal review board
budget for calendar year 2003, if this Act takes effect too late for
the appraisal review board to prepare a budget in compliance with
the timetable imposed by law, the appraisal review board shall
propose its budget as an amendment to the appraisal district budget
as soon as practicable after this Act becomes law. If the appraisal
review board proposes its amendment too late for adoption with the
remainder of the appraisal district's budget, the board of
directors shall consider the proposed amendment as provided by
Section 6.06(c), Tax Code, and amend the approved budget as
appropriate to establish and maintain an independent and impartial
appraisal review board as soon as practicable.