85R8027 SMT-F
 
  By: Murr H.B. No. 1471
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the eligibility of land for appraisal for ad valorem tax
  purposes as qualified open-space land on the basis of its use for
  wildlife management.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 23.51, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Subdivisions (9), (10), and (11) to read as follows:
               (9)  "Predator control" includes predation management
  activities conducted on a landowner's land by a local predation
  management organization or by Texas Wildlife Services in
  cooperation with the organization. The landowner must:
                     (A)  be a member in good standing of the local
  predation management organization and be current in the payment of
  the organization's membership dues; and
                     (B)  allow the local predation management
  organization or Texas Wildlife Services acting in cooperation with
  the organization reasonable access to the land to conduct the
  predation management activities.
               (10)  "Local predation management organization" means
  an organization that:
                     (A)  conducts predation management activities in
  a defined geographical region; and 
                     (B)  expends at least 70 percent of the
  organization's annual budget conducting predation management
  activities or making contributions to Texas Wildlife Services. 
               (11)  "Texas Wildlife Services" includes any of the
  Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Wildlife Services Program's
  cooperative partners as authorized by Chapter 825, Health and
  Safety Code, or any successor program having a substantially
  similar predator control purpose.
         SECTION 2.  Section 23.521, Tax Code, is amended by adding
  Subsections (e), (f), and (g) to read as follows:
         (e)  The Parks and Wildlife Department, with the assistance
  of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, shall develop a
  definition of "predation management activities" for purposes of
  Section 23.51.
         (f)  The Parks and Wildlife Department, with the assistance
  of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, shall develop a
  membership form and instructions for using the form to be issued by
  a local predation management organization to a landowner.  A
  landowner may present the form to a local appraisal office to prove
  membership in the organization.  The form shall include a
  certification by the organization that the organization is a local
  predation management organization. 
         (g)  The comptroller by rule shall adopt the definition
  described by Subsection (e) and membership form described by
  Subsection (f) and include them among the rules distributed to each
  appraisal district as provided by Subsection (a). 
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.