83R15616 CJC-D
 
  By: Otto H.B. No. 316
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 316:
 
  By:  Hilderbran C.S.H.B. No. 316
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the pilot program authorizing a property owner to
  appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings regarding
  certain appraisal review board determinations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003,
  Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER Z. [PILOT PROGRAM:] APPEALS FROM APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD
  DETERMINATIONS [IN CERTAIN COUNTIES]
         SECTION 2.  Section 2003.901, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 2003.901.  APPEALS FROM APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD
  DETERMINATIONS [PILOT PROGRAM]. As [(a) Not later than January 1,
  2010, the office shall develop a pilot program under which, as] an
  alternative to filing an appeal under Section 42.01, Tax Code, a
  property owner may appeal to the office an appraisal review board
  order determining a protest concerning the appraised or market
  value of property brought under Section 41.41(a)(1) or (2), Tax
  Code, if the appraised or market value, as applicable, of the
  property that was the subject of the protest, as determined by the
  board order, is more than $1 million.
         [(b)     The pilot program shall be developed and implemented in
  conformance with the provisions of this subchapter.
         [(c)     So as to expeditiously determine the appeals filed with
  the office using resources available to the office, the office is
  not required to determine more than 3,000 appeals filed under this
  subchapter.     The office may develop a formula to establish the
  number of appeals that may be filed in each county included in the
  pilot program based on the total number of lawsuits filed in a
  county to which this subchapter applies as a percentage of the total
  number of lawsuits filed in all of those counties.]
         SECTION 3.  Section 2003.902, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 2003.902.  PARTICIPATING OFFICES AND REMOTE HEARING
  SITES [COUNTIES INCLUDED].  The office shall hear appeals filed
  under this subchapter only in [pilot program shall be implemented]:
               (1)  Amarillo; [in Bexar, Cameron, El Paso, Harris,
  Tarrant, and Travis Counties for a four-year period beginning with
  the ad valorem tax year that begins January 1, 2010; and]
               (2)  Austin;
               (3)  Beaumont;
               (4)  Corpus Christi;
               (5)  El Paso;
               (6)  Fort Worth;
               (7)  Houston;
               (8)  Lubbock;
               (9)  Lufkin;
               (10)  McAllen;
               (11)  Midland;
               (12)  San Antonio;
               (13)  Tyler; and
               (14)  Wichita Falls [in Collin, Denton, Fort Bend,
  Montgomery, and Nueces Counties for a two-year period beginning
  with the ad valorem tax year that begins January 1, 2012].
         SECTION 4.  Section 2003.904, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 2003.904.  APPLICABILITY TO REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.
  This subchapter applies only to an appeal of [The pilot program must
  be applicable to] a determination of the appraised or market value
  made by an appraisal review board in connection with real or
  personal property, other than industrial property [or minerals].
         SECTION 5.  Section 2003.908, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 2003.908.  NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS. An appraisal
  review board [of an appraisal district established in a county
  listed in Section 2003.902 of this code] that delivers notice of
  issuance of an order described by Section 2003.901 of this code
  pertaining to property described by Section 2003.904 of this code
  and a copy of the order to a property owner as required by Section
  41.47, Tax Code, shall include with the notice and copy:
               (1)  a notice of the property owner's rights under this
  subchapter; and
               (2)  a copy of the notice of appeal prescribed by
  Section 2003.907.
         SECTION 6.  The heading to Section 2003.909, Government
  Code, is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 2003.909.  DESIGNATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE;
  LOCATION OF HEARING.
         SECTION 7.  Section 2003.909, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to read as
  follows:
         (b-1)  If all or part of the property that is the subject of
  the appeal is located in a municipality listed in Section 2003.902,
  the administrative law judge shall set the hearing in that
  municipality. If no part of the property that is the subject of the
  appeal is located in a municipality listed in Section 2003.902, the
  administrative law judge shall set the hearing in the listed
  municipality that is nearest to the subject property.
         (c)  The hearing must be held in a building or facility that
  is owned or partly or entirely leased by the office [and located in
  the county in which the applicable appraisal district is
  established], except that if the office does not own or lease a
  building or facility in the municipality in which the hearing is
  required to be held [county], the hearing may be held in any public
  or privately owned building or facility in that municipality
  [county], preferably a building or facility in which the office
  regularly conducts business.  The hearing may not be held in a
  building or facility that is owned, leased, or under the control of
  an [the] appraisal district.
         SECTION 8.  Sections 2003.915 and 2003.916, Government Code,
  are repealed.
         SECTION 9.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  an appeal filed under Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003, Government Code,
  on or after the effective date of this Act. An appeal filed under
  Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003, Government Code, before the effective
  date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the appeal was
  filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 10.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2014.