H.B. No. 1030
AN ACT
relating to the protest or appeal of ad valorem tax matter.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1.111, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (j) to read as follows:
(j) An individual exempt from registration as a property tax
consultant under Section 1152.002, Occupations Code, who files a
protest with the appraisal review board on behalf of the property
owner is entitled to receive all notices from the appraisal
district regarding the property subject to the protest until the
authority is revoked by the property owner as provided by this
section.
SECTION 2. Section 6.41, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsections (d), (e), and (f) and adding Subsections (d-1), (d-2),
(d-3), (d-4), (d-5), (d-6), (d-7), (d-8), and (d-9) to read as
follows:
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (d-1), members
[Members] of the board are appointed by resolution of a majority of
the appraisal district board of directors. A vacancy on the board
is filled in the same manner for the unexpired portion of the term.
(d-1) In a county with a population of 3.3 million or more or
a county with a population of 350,000 or more that is adjacent to a
county with a population of 3.3 million or more the members of the
board are appointed by the local administrative district judge in
the county in which the appraisal district is established.
(d-2) A local administrative district judge making
appointments under Subsection (d-1) may make such appointments
directly or may, by written order, appoint from three to five
persons to perform the duties of appraisal review board
commissioner. If the local administrative district judge chooses
to appoint appraisal review board commissioners, each commissioner
shall possess the same qualifications as those required of an
appraisal review board member.
(d-3) The local administrative judge making appointments
under Subsection (d-1) shall cause the proper officer to notify
such appointees of such appointment, and when and where they are to
appear.
(d-4) If appraisal review board commissioners are appointed
under Subsection (d-2), they shall meet as directed by the local
administrative district judge in order to complete their duties.
(d-5) The appraisal district of the county shall provide to
the local administrative district judge, or to the appraisal review
board commissioners, as the case may be, the number of appraisal
review board positions that require appointment and shall provide
whatever reasonable assistance is requested by the local
administrative district judge or the commissioners.
(d-6) An appraisal review board commissioner is not
disqualified from serving as a member of the appraisal review
board.
(d-7) If appraisal review board commissioners are appointed
under this section, the commissioners shall return a list of
proposed appraisal review board members to the local administrative
district judge at a time directed by such local administrative
judge, but in no event later than January 1 of each year. Such list
shall be composed of no less than five (5) names in excess of the
number of appraisal review board positions to be filled by the local
administrative district judge. The local administrative judge may
accept the proposed names, or reject the proposed list and return
the proposed list to the commissioners upon which the commissioners
shall propose a revised list until the local administrative judge
accepts the list.
(d-8) Any appraisal review board commissioners appointed
pursuant to this section shall hold office for a term of one year
beginning January 1. A commissioner may be appointed to successive
terms at the discretion of the local administrative district judge.
(d-9) Upon selection of the individuals who are to serve as
members of the appraisal review board, the local administrative
district judge shall enter an appropriate order designating such
members and setting each member's respective term of office, as
provided elsewhere in this section.
(e) Members of the board hold office for terms of two years
beginning January 1. The appraisal district board of directors by
resolution shall provide for staggered terms, so that the terms of
as close to one-half of the members as possible expire each year.
In making the initial or subsequent appointments, the board of
directors or the local administrative district judge or the judge's
designee shall designate those members who serve terms of one year
as needed to comply with this subsection.
(f) A member of the board may be removed from the board by a
majority vote of the appraisal district board of directors, or by
the local administrative district judge or the judge's designee, as
applicable, that appointed the member. Grounds for removal are:
(1) a violation of Section 6.412, 6.413, 41.66(f), or
41.69; or
(2) good cause relating to the attendance of members
at called meetings of the board as established by written policy
adopted by a majority of the appraisal district board of directors.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 41, Tax Code, is amended by
adding Section 41.415 to read as follows:
Sec. 41.415. ELECTRONIC FILING OF NOTICE OF PROTEST. (a)
This section applies only to an appraisal district established for
a county having a population of 500,000 or more.
(b) The appraisal district shall implement a system that
allows the owner of a property that for the current tax year has
been granted a residence homestead exemption under Section 11.13,
in connection with the property, to electronically:
(1) file a notice of protest under Section 41.41(a)(1)
or (2) with the appraisal review board;
(2) receive and review comparable sales data and other
evidence that the chief appraiser intends to use at the protest
hearing before the board;
(3) receive, as applicable:
(A) a settlement offer from the district to
correct the appraisal records by changing the market value and, if
applicable, the appraised value of the property to the value as
redetermined by the district; or
(B) a notice from the district that a settlement
offer will not be made; and
(4) accept or reject a settlement offer received from
the appraisal district under Subdivision (3)(A).
(c) With each notice sent under Section 25.19 to an eligible
property owner, the chief appraiser shall include information about
the system required by this section, including instructions for
accessing and using the system.
(d) A notice of protest filed electronically under this
section must include, at a minimum:
(1) a statement as to whether the protest is brought
under Section 41.41(a)(1) or under Section 41.41(a)(2);
(2) a statement of the property owner's good faith
estimate of the value of the property; and
(3) an electronic mail address that the district may
use to communicate electronically with the property owner in
connection with the protest.
(e) If the property owner accepts a settlement offer made by
the appraisal district, the chief appraiser shall enter the
settlement in the appraisal records as an agreement made under
Section 1.111(e).
(f) If the property owner rejects a settlement offer, the
appraisal review board shall hear and determine the property
owner's protest in the manner otherwise provided by this subchapter
and Subchapter D.
(g) An appraisal district is not required to make the system
required by this section available to an owner of a residence
homestead located in an area in which the chief appraiser
determines that the factors affecting the market value of real
property are unusually complex or to an owner who has designated an
agent to represent the owner in a protest as provided by Section
1.111.
(h) An electronic mail address provided by a property owner
to an appraisal district under Subsection (d)(3) is confidential
and may not be disclosed by the district.
SECTION 4. Section 41.45, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (e-1) and (e-2) to read as
follows:
(e) On request made to the appraisal review board before the
date of the hearing, a property owner who has not designated an
agent under Section 1.111 to represent the owner at the hearing is
entitled to one postponement of the hearing to a later date without
showing cause. In addition and without limitation as to the number
of postponements, the board shall postpone the hearing to a later
date if the property owner or the owner's agent at any time shows
good [reasonable] cause for the postponement or if the chief
appraiser consents to the postponement. The hearing may not be
postponed to a date less than five or more than 30 days after the
date scheduled for the hearing when the postponement is sought
unless the date and time of the hearing as postponed are agreed to
by the chairman of the appraisal review board or the chairman's
representative, the property owner, and the chief appraiser. A
request by a property owner for a postponement under this
subsection may be made in writing, including by facsimile
transmission or electronic mail, by telephone, or in person to the
appraisal review board, a panel of the board, or the chairman of the
board. The chairman or the chairman's representative may take
action on [grant, but may not deny,] a postponement under this
subsection without the necessity of action by the full board if the
hearing for which the postponement is requested is scheduled to
occur before the next regular meeting of the board. The granting by
the appraisal review board, the chairman, or the chairman's
representative of a postponement under this subsection does not
require the delivery of additional written notice to the property
owner.
(e-1) A property owner who has not designated an agent under
Section 1.111 to represent the owner at the hearing and who fails to
appear at the hearing is entitled to a new hearing if the property
owner files, not later than the fourth day after the date the
hearing occurred, a written statement with the appraisal review
board showing good cause for the failure to appear and requesting a
new hearing.
(e-2) For purposes of Subsections (e) and (e-1), "good
cause" means a reason that includes an error or mistake that:
(1) was not intentional or the result of conscious
indifference; and
(2) will not cause undue delay or other injury to the
person authorized to extend the deadline or grant a rescheduling.
SECTION 5. Section 42.29(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) A property owner who prevails in an appeal to the court
under Section 42.25 or 42.26 or in an appeal to the court of a
determination of an appraisal review board on a motion filed under
Section 25.25 may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees. The
amount of the award may not exceed the greater of:
(1) $15,000; or
(2) 20 percent of the total amount by which the
property owner's tax liability is reduced as a result of the appeal.
SECTION 6. (a) As soon as practicable on or after January
1, 2010, the local administrative district judge or the judge's
designee in each county with a population of 3.3 million or more and
in each county with a population of 350,000 or more that is adjacent
to a county with a population of 3.3 million or more, in the manner
provided by Section 6.41, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, shall
appoint the members of the appraisal review board for the appraisal
district established in the county. In making the initial
appointments, the judge or judge's designee shall designate those
members who serve terms of one year as necessary to comply with
Section 6.41(e), Tax Code, as amended by this Act.
(b) The changes made to Section 6.41, Tax Code, as amended
by this Act, apply only to the appointment of appraisal review board
members in a county with a population of 3.3 million or more and in a
county with a population of 350,000 or more that is adjacent to a
county with a population of 3.3 million or more to terms beginning
on or after January 1, 2010. This Act does not affect the term of an
appraisal review board member serving in such a county on December
31, 2009, if the member was appointed before the effective date of
this Act to a term that began prior to December 31, 2009, and
expires December 31, 2010.
SECTION 7. Section 41.415, Tax Code, as added by this Act,
applies only to a tax year that begins on or after the effective
date of this Act.
SECTION 8. Section 41.45, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
applies only to a postponement of a hearing that is requested on or
after the effective date of this Act. A postponement of a hearing
that is requested before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. The change in law made by this Act to Section
42.29, Tax Code, applies only to an appeal under Chapter 42, Tax
Code, of a determination of an appraisal review board that is filed
on or after the effective date of this Act. An appeal under Chapter
42, Tax Code, of a determination of an appraisal review board that
was filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
law in effect on the date the appeal was filed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 10. (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b) and
(c), this Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of
two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by
Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not
receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes
effect September 1, 2009.
(b) Section 6.41, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, takes
effect January 1, 2010.
(c) Section 41.415, Tax Code, as added by this Act, takes
effect January 1, 2010.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1030 was passed by the House on May 5,
2009, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 1030 on May 29, 2009, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 1030 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 145,
Nays 0, 1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1030 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 25, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
1030 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor