| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to an award of attorney's fees to a prevailing property |
|
|
owner in a property tax dispute resolved by binding arbitration. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 41A.09, Tax Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding new subsection (6) to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) An award under this section: |
|
|
(1) must include a determination of the appraised |
|
|
market value, as applicable, of the property that is the subject of |
|
|
the appeal; |
|
|
(2) may include any remedy or relief a court may order |
|
|
under Chapter 42 in an appeal relating to the appraised or market |
|
|
value of property; |
|
|
(3) shall specify the arbitrator's fee, which may not |
|
|
exceed the amount provided by Section 41A.06(b)(3); |
|
|
(4) is final and may not be appealed except as |
|
|
permitted under Section 171.088, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, |
|
|
for an award subject to that section; [and] |
|
|
(5) may be enforced in the manner provided by |
|
|
Subchapter D, Chapter 171, Civil Practice and Remedies Code; and |
|
|
(6) must include an award of attorney's fees if the |
|
|
property owner prevails in an arbitration under this chapter. |
|
|
Attorney's fees may only be awarded to a property owner represented |
|
|
by an attorney in an arbitration under this chapter. The attorney's |
|
|
fees award shall be calculated as provided in Section 42.29, Tax |
|
|
Code. |
|
|
SECTION 2. 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, 2009. |