83R4587 TJB-D
By: Van de Putte S.J.R. No. 30
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature
under certain limitations to specify the amount of the exemption
from ad valorem taxation to which certain disabled veterans and the
surviving spouses and children of certain veterans are entitled.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 2(b), Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The legislature by general law [Legislature] may[, by
general law,] exempt property owned by a disabled veteran or by the
surviving spouse and surviving minor children of a disabled
veteran. A disabled veteran is a veteran of the armed services of
the United States who is classified as disabled by the United States
Department of Veterans Affairs [Veterans' Administration] or by a
successor to that agency or by the military service in which the
veteran served. The legislature shall base the amount of an
exemption for the property of a disabled veteran on the disability
rating of the veteran. The legislature shall establish groupings of
disability ratings and shall provide an exemption amount for each
grouping. A veteran who is certified as having a disability of less
than 10 percent is not entitled to an exemption. [A veteran having a
disability rating of not less than 10 percent but less than 30
percent may be granted an exemption from taxation for property
valued at up to $5,000. A veteran having a disability rating of not
less than 30 percent but less than 50 percent may be granted an
exemption from taxation for property valued at up to $7,500. A
veteran having a disability rating of not less than 50 percent but
less than 70 percent may be granted an exemption from taxation for
property valued at up to $10,000.] A veteran [who has a disability
rating of 70 percent or more, or a veteran] who has a disability
rating of not less than 10 percent and has attained the age of 65, or
a disabled veteran whose disability consists of the loss or loss of
use of one or more limbs, total blindness in one or both eyes, or
paraplegia, may be granted an exemption from taxation for property
in the same amount as provided by the legislature [valued at up to
$12,000]. The spouse and children of any member of the United
States Armed Forces who dies while on active duty may be granted an
exemption from taxation for property in an amount provided by the
legislature [valued at up to $5,000]. A deceased disabled
veteran's surviving spouse and children may be granted an exemption
which in the aggregate is equal to the exemption to which the
veteran was entitled when the veteran died.
SECTION 2. Section 2(d), Article VIII, Texas Constitution,
is repealed.
SECTION 3. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) This temporary provision applies
to the constitutional amendment proposed by the 83rd Legislature,
Regular Session, 2013, authorizing the legislature under certain
limitations to specify the amount of the exemption from ad valorem
taxation to which certain disabled veterans and the surviving
spouses and children of certain veterans are entitled.
(b) The amendment to Section 2(b), Article VIII, of this
constitution and the repeal of Section 2(d), Article VIII, of this
constitution take effect beginning with the tax year that begins
January 1, 2014.
(c) This temporary provision expires January 1, 2015.
SECTION 4. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 5, 2013.
The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the
legislature under certain limitations to specify the amount of the
exemption from ad valorem taxation to which certain disabled
veterans and the surviving spouses and children of certain veterans
are entitled."