By: Orr, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Patrick) H.B. No. 645 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 7, 2011; April 20, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental Relations; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.) A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the information required to be included on a form for an application for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of property owned by a charitable organization. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 11.43(f), Tax Code, is amended to read as follows: (f) The comptroller, in prescribing the contents of the application form for each kind of exemption, shall ensure that the form requires an applicant to furnish the information necessary to determine the validity of the exemption claim. The form must require an applicant to provide the applicant's name and driver's license number, personal identification certificate number, or social security account number. If the applicant is a charitable organization with a federal tax identification number, the form must allow the applicant to provide the organization's federal tax identification number in lieu of a driver's license number, personal identification certificate number, or social security account number. The comptroller shall include on the forms a notice of the penalties prescribed by Section 37.10, Penal Code, for making or filing an application containing a false statement. The comptroller shall include, on application forms for exemptions that do not have to be claimed annually, a statement explaining that the application need not be made annually and that if the exemption is allowed, the applicant has a duty to notify the chief appraiser when the applicant's entitlement to the exemption ends. In this subsection: (1) "Driver's license" has the meaning assigned that term by Section 521.001, Transportation Code. (2) "Personal identification certificate" means a certificate issued by the Department of Public Safety under Subchapter E, Chapter 521, Transportation Code. SECTION 2. Section 11.43, Tax Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to an application for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of property owned by a charitable organization filed with a chief appraiser on or after September 1, 2011. An application for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of property owned by a charitable organization filed with a chief appraiser before September 1, 2011, is governed by the law in effect when the application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. * * * * *