Honorable Morgan Meyer, Chair, House Committee on Ways & Means
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB30 by Troxclair (Relating to the repeal of provisions authorizing certain taxing units in the year following the year in which a disaster occurs to adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the voter-approval tax rate without holding an election to approve the adopted tax rate; making conforming changes.), As Introduced
Passage of the bill would prohibit school districts from adopting a tax rate with disaster pennies without a voter-approval tax rate election. As a result, state costs to the Foundation School Fund could be reduced.
The bill would repeal the authority of certain taxing units to adopt a property tax rate that exceeds the voter-approval tax rate without holding an election in the year after a disaster occurred. The bill makes conforming changes.
The bill would prohibit school districts from adopting a tax rate with disaster pennies without a voter-approval tax rate election (VATRE) for the current tax year. If the VATRE does not pass, districts could receive less tier two tax collections and would not receive additional tier two funding under the Foundation School Program, which could result in a savings to the state.
Local Government Impact
Passage of the bill would prohibit local governments in a disaster area from adopting a tax rate that exceed the voter-approval tax rate without holding an election in the year after a disaster occurred. As a result, local tax revenue for local governments in disaster areas could be reduced.
Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 701 Texas Education Agency