Amend SJR 29 (House committee printing) as follows:
(1) Between SECTIONS 1 and 2 of the resolution (on page 1, between lines 15 and 16), insert the following SECTIONS to the
resolution and renumber subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 2(b), Article VIII, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The Legislature may, by general law, exempt property
owned by a disabled veteran or by the surviving spouse and surviving
minor children of a disabled veteran. A disabled veteran is a
veteran of the armed services of the United States who is classified
as disabled by the Veterans' Administration or by a successor to
that agency[;] or by the military service in which the veteran [he]
served. A veteran who is certified as having a disability of less
than 10 percent is not entitled to an exemption. A veteran having a
disability rating of not less than 10 percent but less [nor more]
than 30 percent may be granted an exemption from taxation for
property valued at up to $5,000. A veteran having a disability
rating of not less [more] than 30 percent but less [not more] than
50 percent may be granted an exemption from taxation for property
valued at up to $7,500. A veteran having a disability rating of not
less [more] than 50 percent but less [not more] than 70 percent may
be granted an exemption from taxation for property valued at up to
$10,000. A veteran who has a disability rating of [more than] 70
percent or more, or a veteran who has a disability rating of not
less than 10 percent and has attained the age of 65, or a disabled
veteran whose disability consists of the loss or loss of use of one
or more limbs, total blindness in one or both eyes, or paraplegia,
may be granted an exemption from taxation for property valued at up
to $12,000. The spouse and children of any member of the United
States Armed Forces who dies while on active duty may be granted an
exemption from taxation for property valued at up to $5,000. A
deceased disabled veteran's surviving spouse and children may be
granted an exemption which in the aggregate is equal to the
exemption to which the veteran was entitled when the veteran died.
SECTION ____. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) This temporary provision applies
to the constitutional amendment proposed by the 80th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2007, authorizing the legislature to exempt all or
part of the residence homesteads of certain totally disabled
veterans from ad valorem taxation and authorizing a change in the
manner of determining the amount of the existing exemption from ad
valorem taxation to which a disabled veteran is entitled and
expires January 1, 2009.
(b) The amendments to Sections 1-b and 2(b), Article VIII,
of this constitution take effect January 1, 2008, and apply only to
a tax year beginning on or after that date.
(2) In SECTION 2 of the resolution, the proposed
constitutional election ballot language (on page 1, line 21),
between "taxation" and the period, insert "and authorizing a change
in the manner of determining the amount of the existing exemption
from ad valorem taxation to which a disabled veteran is entitled".