79R1805 JD-D

By:  Miller                                                       H.B. No. 559



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the notice and appeal of a protest of the appraised 
value of certain property for ad valorem tax purposes.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 41.44, Tax Code, is amended by amending 
Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
	(d)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), a [A] notice of 
protest is sufficient if it identifies the protesting property 
owner, including a person claiming an ownership interest in the 
property even if that person is not listed on the appraisal records 
as an owner of the property, identifies the property that is the 
subject of the protest, and indicates apparent dissatisfaction with 
some determination of the appraisal office.  The notice need not be 
on an official form, but the comptroller shall prescribe a form that 
provides for more detail about the nature of the protest.  The form 
must permit a property owner to include each property in the 
appraisal district that is the subject of a protest.  The 
comptroller, each appraisal office, and each appraisal review board 
shall make the forms readily available and deliver one to a property 
owner on request.
	(e)  This subsection applies only to a protest of the 
determination of the appraised value of real property used 
primarily for commercial purposes, including real property owned by 
a utility.  In addition to the information required by Subsection 
(d), if the property was subject to a change in use, quality, or 
condition made by the owner after the appraisal of the property for 
the last year in which the property was appraised for taxation that 
is reasonably likely to have decreased the market value of the 
property by more than $1,000, the notice of protest must contain a 
description of that change in use, quality, or condition.
	SECTION 2.  Section 42.43(b), Tax Code, is amended to read as 
follows:       
	(b)  For a refund made under this section because an 
exemption under Section 11.20 that was denied by the chief 
appraiser or appraisal review board is granted, the taxing unit 
shall include with the refund interest on the amount refunded 
calculated at an annual rate that is equal to the auction average 
rate quoted on a bank discount basis for three-month treasury bills 
issued by the United States government, as published by the Federal 
Reserve Board, for the week in which the taxes became delinquent, 
but not more than 10 percent, calculated from the delinquency date 
for the taxes until the date the refund is made.  For any other 
refund made under this section, the amount of the tax to be refunded 
accrues interest at a rate of one percent for each month or part of a 
month that the refund is unpaid [the taxing unit shall include with 
the refund interest on the amount refunded at an annual rate of 
eight percent], beginning on [calculated from] the 60th day after 
the [delinquency] date of the final determination of the appeal and 
continuing [for the taxes] until the date the refund is made.
	SECTION 3.  (a)  Section 41.44, Tax Code, as amended by this 
Act, applies only to a notice of a protest of the appraised value of 
a property owner's property for ad valorem tax purposes that is 
filed on or after January 1, 2006.
	(b)  Section 42.43, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, applies 
only to the payment of interest on an ad valorem tax refund required 
in connection with a final determination of an appeal that is made 
on or after January 1, 2006.  Interest on a refund required in 
connection with a final determination of an appeal made before that 
date is governed by the law in effect when the determination became 
final, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2006.