By: Murr H.B. No. 4209
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the valuation of appraised value of qualified
  open-space land.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 23.51, Subchapter D, Chapter 23, Texas
  Tax Code, is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 23.51.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (1)  "Qualified open-space land" means land that is
  currently devoted principally to agricultural use to the degree of
  intensity generally accepted in the area and that has been devoted
  principally to agricultural use or to production of timber or
  forest products for five of the preceding seven years or land that
  is used principally as an ecological laboratory by a public or
  private college or university and that has been used principally in
  that manner by a college or university for five of the preceding
  seven years.  Qualified open-space land includes all appurtenances
  to the land.  For the purposes of this subdivision, appurtenances to
  the land means private roads, dams, reservoirs, water wells,
  canals, ditches, terraces, and other reshapings of the soil,
  fences, and riparian water rights. Notwithstanding the other
  provisions of this subdivision, land that is currently devoted
  principally to wildlife management as defined by Subdivision (7)(B)
  or (C) to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area
  qualifies for appraisal as qualified open-space land under this
  subchapter regardless of the manner in which the land was used in
  any preceding year.
               (2)  "Agricultural use" includes but is not limited to
  the following activities: cultivating the soil, producing crops for
  human food, animal feed, or planting seed or for the production of
  fibers; floriculture, viticulture, and horticulture; raising or
  keeping livestock; raising or keeping exotic animals for the
  production of human food or of fiber, leather, pelts, or other
  tangible products having a commercial value; planting cover crops
  or leaving land idle for the purpose of participating in a
  governmental program, provided the land is not used for residential
  purposes or a purpose inconsistent with agricultural use; and
  planting cover crops or leaving land idle in conjunction with
  normal crop or livestock rotation procedure. The term also
  includes the use of land to produce or harvest logs and posts for
  the use in constructing or repairing fences, pens, barns, or other
  agricultural improvements on adjacent qualified open-space land
  having the same owner and devoted to a different agricultural use.  
  The term also includes the use of land for wildlife management.  The
  term also includes the use of land to raise or keep bees for
  pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible
  products having a commercial value, provided that the land used is
  not less than 5 or more than 20 acres.
               (3)  "Category" means the value classification of land
  considering the agricultural use to which the land is principally
  devoted.  The chief appraiser shall determine the categories into
  which land in the appraisal district is classified.  In classifying
  land according to categories, the chief appraiser shall distinguish
  between irrigated cropland, dry cropland, improved pasture, native
  pasture, orchard, and waste.  The chief appraiser may establish
  additional categories.  The chief appraiser shall further divide
  each category according to soil type, soil capability, irrigation,
  general topography, geographical factors, and other factors that
  influence the productive capacity of the category.  The chief
  appraiser shall obtain information from the Texas Agricultural
  Extension Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service of
  the United States Department of Agriculture, and other recognized
  agricultural sources for the purposes of determining the categories
  of land existing in the appraisal district.
               (4)  "Net to land" means the average annual net income
  derived from the use of open-space land that would have been earned
  from the land during the five-year period preceding the year before
  the appraisal by an owner using ordinary prudence in the management
  of the land and the farm crops or livestock produced or supported on
  the land. [and, in addition, any income received from hunting or
  recreational leases]. The chief appraiser shall calculate net to
  land by considering the income that would be due to the owner of the
  land under cash lease, share lease, or whatever lease arrangement
  is typical in that area for that category of land, and all expenses
  directly attributable to the agricultural use of the land by the
  owner shall be subtracted from this owner income and the results
  shall be used in income capitalization. In calculating net to land,
  a reasonable deduction shall be made for any depletion that occurs
  of underground water used in the agricultural operation. For land
  that qualifies under Subdivision (7) for appraisal under this
  subchapter, the chief appraiser may not consider in the calculation
  of net to land the income that would be due to the owner under a
  hunting or recreational lease of the land.
               (5)  "Income capitalization" means the process of
  dividing net to land by the capitalization rate to determine the
  appraised value.
               (6)  "Exotic animal" means a species of game not
  indigenous to this state, including axis deer, nilga antelope, red
  sheep, other cloven-hoofed ruminant mammals, or exotic fowl as
  defined by Section 142.001, Agriculture Code.
               (7)  "Wildlife management" means:
                     (A)  actively using land that at the time the
  wildlife-management use began was appraised as qualified
  open-space land under this subchapter or as qualified timber land
  under Subchapter E in at least three of the following ways to
  propagate a sustaining breeding, migrating, or wintering
  population of indigenous wild animals for human use, including
  food, medicine, or recreation:
                           (i)  habitat control;
                           (ii)  erosion control;
                           (iii)  predator control;
                           (iv)  providing supplemental supplies of
  water;
                           (v)  providing supplemental supplies of
  food;
                           (vi)  providing shelters; and
                           (vii)  making of census counts to determine
  population;
                     (B)  actively using land to protect federally
  listed endangered species under a federal permit if the land is:
                           (i)  included in a habitat preserve and is
  subject to a conservation easement created under Chapter 183,
  Natural Resources Code; or
                           (ii)  part of a conservation development
  under a federally approved habitat conservation plan that restricts
  the use of the land to protect federally listed endangered species;
  or
                     (C)  actively using land for a conservation or
  restoration project to provide compensation for natural resource
  damages pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Section 9601 et
  seq.), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. Section 2701 et
  seq.), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section
  1251 et seq.), or Chapter 40, Natural Resources Code.
               (8)  "Endangered species," "federal permit," and
  "habitat preserve" have the meanings assigned by Section 83.011,
  Parks and Wildlife
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.