By: Ellis S.B. No. 1687
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of property
owned by charitable organizations that engage in or support the
planting, growing, cultivation, or maintenance of trees in public
areas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.18(d), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(d) A charitable organization must be organized exclusively to
perform religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or
educational purposes and, except as permitted by Subsections (h)
and (l), engage exclusively in performing one or more of the
following charitable functions:
(1) providing medical care without regard to the beneficiaries'
ability to pay, which in the case of a nonprofit hospital or
hospital system means providing charity care and community benefits
in accordance with Section 11.1801;
(2) providing support or relief to orphans, delinquent,
dependent, or handicapped children in need of residential care,
abused or battered spouses or children in need of temporary
shelter, the impoverished, or victims of natural disaster without
regard to the beneficiaries' ability to pay;
(3) providing support without regard to the beneficiaries'
ability to pay to:
(A) elderly persons, including the provision of:
(i) recreational or social activities; and
(ii) facilities designed to address the special needs of elderly
persons; or
(B) the handicapped, including training and employment:
(i) in the production of commodities; or
(ii) in the provision of services under 41 U.S.C. Sections 46-48c;
(4) preserving a historical landmark or site;
(5) promoting or operating a museum, zoo, library, theater of the
dramatic or performing arts, or symphony orchestra or choir;
(6) promoting or providing humane treatment of animals;
(7) acquiring, storing, transporting, selling, or distributing
water for public use;
(8) answering fire alarms and extinguishing fires with no
compensation or only nominal compensation to the members of the
organization;
(9) promoting the athletic development of boys or girls under the
age of 18 years;
(10) preserving or conserving wildlife;
(11) promoting educational development through loans or
scholarships to students;
(12) providing halfway house services pursuant to a certification
as a halfway house by the parole division of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice;
(13) providing permanent housing and related social, health care,
and educational facilities for persons who are 62 years of age or
older without regard to the residents' ability to pay;
(14) promoting or operating an art gallery, museum, or collection,
in a permanent location or on tour, that is open to the public;
(15) providing for the organized solicitation and collection for
distributions through gifts, grants, and agreements to nonprofit
charitable, education, religious, and youth organizations that
provide direct human, health, and welfare services;
(16) performing biomedical or scientific research or biomedical
or scientific education for the benefit of the public;
(17) operating a television station that produces or broadcasts
educational, cultural, or other public interest programming and
that receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
under 47 U.S.C. Section 396, as amended;
(18) providing housing for low-income and moderate-income
families, for unmarried individuals 62 years of age or older, for
handicapped individuals, and for families displaced by urban
renewal, through the use of trust assets that are irrevocably and,
pursuant to a contract entered into before December 31, 1972,
contractually dedicated on the sale or disposition of the housing
to a charitable organization that performs charitable functions
described by Subdivision (9);
(19) providing housing and related services to persons who are 62
years of age or older in a retirement community, if the retirement
community provides independent living services, assisted living
services, and nursing services to its residents on a single campus:
(A) without regard to the residents' ability to pay; or
(B) in which at least four percent of the retirement community's
combined net resident revenue is provided in charitable care to its
residents;
(20) providing housing on a cooperative basis to students of an
institution of higher education if:
(A) the organization is exempt from federal income taxation under
Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, by being
listed as an exempt entity under Section 501(c)(3) of that code;
(B) membership in the organization is open to all students
enrolled in the institution and is not limited to those chosen by
current members of the organization;
(C) the organization is governed by its members; and
(D) the members of the organization share the responsibility for
managing the housing;
(21) acquiring, holding, and transferring unimproved real
property under an urban land bank demonstration program established
under Chapter 379C, Local Government Code, as or on behalf of a land
bank;
(22) acquiring, holding, and transferring unimproved real
property under an urban land bank program established under Chapter
379E, Local Government Code, as or on behalf of a land bank;
(23) providing housing and related services to individuals who:
(A) are unaccompanied and homeless and have a disabling condition;
and
(B) have been continuously homeless for a year or more or have had
at least four episodes of homelessness in the preceding three
years; [or]
(24) operating a radio station that broadcasts educational,
cultural, or other public interest programming, including
classical music, and that in the preceding five years has received
or been selected to receive one or more grants from the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting under 47 U.S.C. Section 396, as amended; or
(25) planting, growing, transplanting, cultivating and
maintaining trees that are located or to be located exclusively on
public rights-of-way, in public easements, on public school
grounds, in public parks, or on other public lands or neighborhood
common areas or other areas available for the use and enjoyment of
the public.
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed for a
tax year beginning on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.