84R10513 LEH-F
By: Hancock S.B. No. 1394
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to protests before appraisal review boards.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 41.413, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(c) A person bringing a protest under this section is
considered the owner of the property for purposes of the protest.
The appraisal review board shall deliver a copy of any notice
relating to the protest and of the order determining the protest to
the owner of the property and to either the person bringing the
protest or the person designated as the agent of the person if a
designation has been made by the person under Subsection (e).
(e) A person bringing a protest under this section may
designate another person to act as the agent of the person for any
purpose under this section. The comptroller shall prescribe forms
and adopt rules to facilitate compliance with this subsection.
SECTION 2. Section 41.45, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsection (h) and adding Subsection (o) to read as follows:
(h) Before the hearing on a protest or immediately after the
hearing begins, the chief appraiser and the property owner or the
owner's agent shall each provide the other with a copy of any
written material or material preserved on any portable device
designed to maintain an electronic, magnetic, or digital
reproduction of a document or image that the person intends to offer
or submit to the appraisal review board at the hearing.
(o) The appraisal office shall provide audiovisual
equipment at each hearing on a protest for use during the hearing by
the property owner or the property owner's agent. The audiovisual
equipment must be of the same general type, kind, and character as
the equipment used by the chief appraiser at a protest hearing.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2016.