82R3995 TJB-F
By: Howard of Fort Bend H.B. No. 1088
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to appraisal review board members.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 6.41, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsections (c), (d), (d-2), (d-3), (e), (f), and (g) and adding
Subsection (i) to read as follows:
(c) To be eligible to serve on the board, an individual
must:
(1) be a citizen of the United States;
(2) be a resident of the district; and
(3) [must] have resided in the district for at least
two years.
(d) Members [Except as provided by Subsection (d-1),
members] of the board are appointed by the local administrative
district judge in the county in which the appraisal district is
established [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-2) A local administrative district judge [making
appointments under Subsection (d-1)] may make [such] appointments
under Subsection (d) 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 district judge [making
appointments under Subsection (d-1)] shall cause the proper officer
to notify the [such] appointees of their [such] appointment, and
when and where they are to appear.
(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) ineligibility, including a violation of Section
6.412 or [,] 6.413;
(2) a violation of Section [,] 41.66(f)[,] or 41.69;
or
(3) [(2)] good cause relating to the attendance of
members at called meetings or hearings of the board as established
by written policy adopted by a majority of the appraisal district
board of directors.
(g) Subsection (a) does not preclude the boards of directors
of two or more adjoining appraisal districts from providing for the
operation of a consolidated appraisal review board by interlocal
contract. Members of a consolidated appraisal review board are
appointed jointly by the local administrative district judges in
the counties in which the appraisal districts that are parties to
the contract are established.
(i) Service on a board does not constitute employment for
the purposes of Chapter 201, Labor Code.
SECTION 2. Section 411.1296, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 411.1296. ACCESS TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD
INFORMATION: EMPLOYMENT BY APPRAISAL DISTRICT AND APPOINTMENT TO
APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b),
an appraisal district established by Section 6.01, Tax Code, and a
local administrative district judge acting under Section 6.41, Tax
Code, are [is] entitled to obtain from the department criminal
history record information maintained by the department that
relates to a person who is an applicant for employment by the
appraisal district or appointment to the appraisal review board for
the district, as applicable.
(b) An appraisal district and a local administrative
district judge are [is] not entitled to obtain under this section
any information about a person if the appraisal district or local
administrative district judge, as applicable, is entitled to obtain
under another section of this subchapter any criminal history
record information about the person.
SECTION 3. Section 6.41(d-1), Tax Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. (a) As soon as practicable on or after January
1, 2012, the local administrative district judge or the judge's
designee in each county, 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 to terms beginning on or after January 1, 2012. This Act
does not affect the term of an appraisal review board member serving
on December 31, 2011, if the member was appointed before the
effective date of this Act to a term that began before December 31,
2011, and expires December 31, 2012.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect January 1, 2012.