79R6873 JD-D
By: Ogden S.J.R. No. 38
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a state property
tax for public education, prohibiting school district property
taxes for maintenance purposes, and authorizing a school district
property tax for educational enrichment.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1-e, Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1-e. Except as provided by Section 3-a, Article VII, of
this constitution, no [No] State ad valorem taxes shall be levied
upon any property within this State.
SECTION 2. Article VII, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 3-a to read as follows:
Sec. 3-a. (a) The legislature by general law may authorize
the state to impose ad valorem taxes for elementary and secondary
public free school purposes on all taxable property at a rate not to
exceed $1 for each $100 of taxable value.
(b) During each regular legislative session, the
legislature by general law, including a provision in a general
appropriations act, shall establish the rate of the state ad
valorem tax for the current tax year and for the following tax year.
The tax rate must be the same for each of those tax years. For the
two tax years for which the legislature establishes a tax rate, the
tax rate may not exceed the rate that when applied to the taxable
value of property subject to state ad valorem taxes for the first of
the two tax years, less new property value as defined by general
law, would levy for that tax year an amount of state ad valorem
taxes that exceeds 105 percent of the amount of state ad valorem
taxes levied for the tax year preceding the preceding tax year. If
during any regular legislative session the legislature fails to
establish the state ad valorem tax rate, the state ad valorem tax
rate for the then current tax year and for the following tax year is
the tax rate established by the legislature for the two preceding
tax years.
(c) To promote economic development in this state, the
legislature by general law may grant exemptions or other relief
from state ad valorem taxes imposed by a law enacted under
Subsection (a) of this section.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 23, Article VIII, of this
constitution, the legislature may provide for the appraisal of
property subject to state ad valorem taxes, for the equalization of
the taxable values of that property, and for the collection of the
state ad valorem taxes imposed on that property.
(e) State ad valorem taxes shall be assessed on the
valuation of property subject to those taxes as determined by the
appraisal officials in the county in which the property is located.
If an appraisal official uses generally accepted appraisal
standards and practices to appraise property subject to the state
ad valorem tax and the valuation of the property subject to that tax
conforms to or is equalized by the local appraisal review process to
conform to the accepted standards and practices, the assessment of
a state ad valorem tax on that valuation is not invalid. This
subsection expires at the end of the 2006 ad valorem tax year.
SECTION 3. Section 1-j, Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
(d) Property described by Subsection (a) of this section is
not exempt from state ad valorem taxes imposed for elementary and
secondary public free school purposes unless expressly exempted by
a general law enacted after January 1, 2005.
(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (d) of this section,
property described by Subsection (a) of this section that is held at
a location at which property described by that subsection was
exempt from taxation by a school district in the 2005 tax year is
exempt from state ad valorem taxes imposed for elementary and
secondary public free school purposes.
SECTION 4. Section 3, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsections (d) and (e) and adding Subsections
(f)-(i) to read as follows:
(d) The Legislature may provide for the formation of school
districts by general laws, and all such school districts may
embrace parts of two or more counties.
[(e)] The Legislature by general law may provide [shall be
authorized to pass laws for the assessment and collection of taxes
in all school districts and] for the management and control of the
public [school or] schools of such districts.
(e) A school district, as provided by general law, may
impose an ad valorem tax on taxable property in the district for the
purpose of providing an enriched educational program. The rate of
the enrichment tax may not exceed 15 cents for each $100 of taxable
value. The Legislature may provide state funding to supplement the
yield of a tax levied under this subsection.
(f) The Legislature may provide for school districts to
impose an additional ad valorem tax on all taxable property in the
district[, whether such districts are composed of territory wholly
within a county or in parts of two or more counties, and the
Legislature may authorize an additional ad valorem tax to be levied
and collected within all school districts for the further
maintenance of public free schools, and] for the erection and
equipment of school buildings.
(g) A school district may not impose a tax under Subsection
(e) or (f) of this section unless the tax is approved by [therein;
provided that] a majority of the qualified voters of the district
voting at an election to be held for that purpose[, shall approve
the tax]. An election held before January 1, 2006, to authorize an
ad valorem tax for the maintenance of the public schools of a
district does not authorize the imposition of an enrichment tax
under Subsection (e) of this section.
(h) The Legislature may pass laws for the creation of junior
college districts, the management and control of those districts,
and the imposition of ad valorem taxes in those districts. A junior
college district may not impose a tax under this subsection unless
the tax is approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the
district voting at an election held for that purpose. A junior
college district is not a school district for purposes of this
section.
(i) An ad valorem tax approved by the voters of a junior
college district under this section before November 8, 2005, is not
affected by the amendment of this section approved by the voters at
an election held on November 8, 2005, and the junior college
district is not required to hold a new election to authorize the
existing tax. This subsection expires January 1, 2006.
SECTION 5. Section 3-b, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3-b. No tax for the enrichment [maintenance] of public
free schools voted in any independent school district and no tax for
the maintenance of a junior college voted by a junior college
district, nor any bonds voted in any such district, but unissued,
shall be abrogated, cancelled, or invalidated by change of any kind
in the boundaries thereof. After any change in boundaries, the
governing body of any such district, without the necessity of an
additional election, shall have the power to assess, levy, and
collect ad valorem taxes on all taxable property within the
boundaries of the district as changed, for the purposes of the
enrichment [maintenance] of public free schools or the maintenance
of a junior college, as the case may be, and the payment of
principal of and interest on all bonded indebtedness outstanding
against, or attributable, adjusted, or allocated to, such district
or any territory therein, in the amount, at the rate, or not to
exceed the rate, and in the manner authorized in the district prior
to the change in its boundaries, and further in accordance with the
laws under which all such bonds, respectively, were voted; and such
governing body also shall have the power, without the necessity of
an additional election, to sell and deliver any unissued bonds
voted in the district prior to any such change in boundaries, and to
assess, levy, and collect ad valorem taxes on all taxable property
in the district as changed, for the payment of principal of and
interest on such bonds in the manner permitted by the laws under
which such bonds were voted. In those instances where the
boundaries of any such independent school district are changed by
the annexation of, or consolidation with, one or more whole school
districts, the taxes to be levied for the purposes hereinabove
authorized may be in the amount or at not to exceed the rate
theretofore voted in the district having at the time of such change
the greatest scholastic population according to the latest
scholastic census and only the unissued bonds of such district
voted prior to such change, may be subsequently sold and delivered
and any voted, but unissued, bonds of other school districts
involved in such annexation or consolidation shall not thereafter
be issued.
SECTION 6. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 8, 2005.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing a state
property tax for public education, prohibiting school district
property taxes for maintenance purposes, and authorizing a school
district property tax for educational enrichment."