|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the appraisal of open-space land devoted principally to |
|
|
agricultural use. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subdivision (2), Section 23.51, Tax Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(2) "Agricultural use" includes but is not limited to |
|
|
the following activities: cultivating the soil, producing crops |
|
|
for human food, animal feed, or planting seed or for the production |
|
|
of fibers; floriculture, viticulture, and horticulture; raising or |
|
|
keeping livestock; raising or keeping exotic animals for the |
|
|
production of human food or of fiber, leather, pelts, or other |
|
|
tangible products having a commercial value; [and] planting cover |
|
|
crops or leaving land idle for the purpose of participating in a |
|
|
[any] governmental deficiency payment or conservation reserve |
|
|
program; and planting cover crops or leaving land idle in |
|
|
conjunction with [or] normal crop or livestock rotation procedure. |
|
|
The term also includes the use of land to produce or harvest logs |
|
|
and posts for the use in constructing or repairing fences, pens, |
|
|
barns, or other agricultural improvements on adjacent qualified |
|
|
open-space land having the same owner and devoted to a different |
|
|
agricultural use. The term also includes the use of land for |
|
|
wildlife management. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to an ad valorem tax year |
|
|
that begins on or after the effective date of this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2008. |