BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1208

By: Parker

Agriculture & Livestock

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that current law restrains investment in rural areas by imposing an onerous burden on development. H.B. 1208 seeks to address this issue by suspending a tax penalty relating to a property owner's liability for interest on taxes due if land appraised for property tax purposes as agricultural or open-space land is sold or diverted to a different use.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1208 amends the Tax Code to add temporary provisions, set to expire January 1, 2026, to establish that the interest on additional taxes that become due when land that has been designated for agricultural use in any year is sold or diverted to nonagricultural use or when the use of land appraised as agricultural land changes is not due if the sale, diversion, or change of use occurs on or after September 1, 2013, and before January 1, 2024. The bill prohibits the tax bill for those additional taxes from including any amount of that interest and requires a reference to the additional taxes and interest on those taxes in statutory provisions relating to land designated for agricultural use and to the appraisal of agricultural land to be treated as a reference solely to the additional taxes. The bill establishes that its provisions do not affect liability for interest that becomes due on the additional taxes if those taxes become delinquent. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.