84R10513 LEH-F
 
  By: Hancock S.B. No. 1394
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to protests before appraisal review boards.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 41.413, Tax Code, is amended by amending
  Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
         (c)  A person bringing a protest under this section is
  considered the owner of the property for purposes of the protest.
  The appraisal review board shall deliver a copy of any notice
  relating to the protest and of the order determining the protest to
  the owner of the property and to either the person bringing the
  protest or the person designated as the agent of the person if a
  designation has been made by the person under Subsection (e).
         (e)  A person bringing a protest under this section may
  designate another person to act as the agent of the person for any
  purpose under this section. The comptroller shall prescribe forms
  and adopt rules to facilitate compliance with this subsection.
         SECTION 2.  Section 41.45, Tax Code, is amended by amending
  Subsection (h) and adding Subsection (o) to read as follows:
         (h)  Before the hearing on a protest or immediately after the
  hearing begins, the chief appraiser and the property owner or the
  owner's agent shall each provide the other with a copy of any
  written material or material preserved on any portable device
  designed to maintain an electronic, magnetic, or digital
  reproduction of a document or image that the person intends to offer
  or submit to the appraisal review board at the hearing.
         (o)  The appraisal office shall provide audiovisual
  equipment at each hearing on a protest for use during the hearing by
  the property owner or the property owner's agent. The audiovisual
  equipment must be of the same general type, kind, and character as
  the equipment used by the chief appraiser at a protest hearing. 
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2016.