By:  Nelson                                                       S.B. No. 173


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to deferred payment of property taxes for certain persons 
serving in the United States armed forces during a war or national 
emergency.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsections (b), (c), (f), and (g), Section 
31.02, Tax Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(b)  An eligible person serving on active duty in any branch 
of the United States armed forces during a war or national emergency 
declared in accordance with federal law [hostilities in the Persian 
Gulf] may pay delinquent property taxes on property in which the 
person owns any interest without penalty or interest no later than 
the 60th day after the date on which the earliest of the following 
occurs:
		(1)  the person is discharged from active military 
service;                 
		(2)  the person returns to the state for more than 10 
days;                 
		(3)  the person returns to non-active duty status in 
the reserves; or       
		(4)  the war or national emergency ends [governor 
issues a proclamation that hostilities in the Persian Gulf have 
ended].
	(c)  "Eligible person" means a person on active military duty 
in this state [on or before September 1, 1990,] who was transferred 
out of this state as a result of a war or national emergency 
declared in accordance with federal law [hostilities in the Persian 
Gulf] or a person in the reserve forces who was placed on active 
military duty [on or after September 1, 1990,] and [who was] 
transferred out of this state as a result of a war or national 
emergency declared in accordance with federal law [hostilities in 
the Persian Gulf].
	(f)  This section applies only to property in which the 
person eligible for the exemption owned an interest on the date the 
person was transferred out of this state as described by Subsection 
(c) [or before January 1, 1991,] or in which the person acquired the 
interest by gift, devise, or inheritance after that date.
	(g)  For the purposes of this section, a person is considered 
to be on active military duty if the person is covered by the 
Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 (50 App. U.S.C. 
Section 501 et seq.) or the Uniformed Services Employment and 
Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (38 U.S.C. Section 4301 et seq.), as 
amended.  [When the hostilities in the Persian Gulf have ceased, the 
governor shall issue a proclamation stating that finding.]
	SECTION 2.  Subsection (h), Section 31.02, Tax Code, is 
repealed.            
	SECTION 3.  This Act applies to penalties and interest on 
delinquent taxes if the taxes are paid on or after the effective 
date of this Act, even if the penalties or interest accrued before 
the effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.