85R3944 SMH-F
By: Howard H.B. No. 390
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to school district ad valorem tax rates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 26.08, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (q) and (r) to read as follows:
(q) This subsection applies only to a school district
described by Subsection (n) whose adopted tax rate was approved at
an election under this section in the 2006 tax year or any
subsequent tax year. Notwithstanding Subsection (n), for purposes
of this section, the rollback tax rate of the school district is the
higher of:
(1) the amount computed under Subsection (n); or
(2) the sum of the following:
(A) the highest maintenance and operations tax
rate adopted by the district for the 2007 tax year or any subsequent
tax year in which the adopted tax rate of the district was approved
at an election under this section; and
(B) the district's current debt rate.
(r) Subsection (q) applies to a school district only if the
district has adopted a tax rate equal to or higher than the rate
provided by that subsection for any tax year in the preceding 10 tax
years.
SECTION 2. (a) The comptroller of public accounts shall
conduct a study to determine:
(1) the number of school districts that adopt an ad
valorem tax rate for the tax year in which this Act takes effect
that is lower than the district's ad valorem tax rate for the tax
year preceding that tax year and then, for the tax year following
the tax year in which this Act takes effect, adopt an ad valorem tax
rate that is higher than the district's ad valorem tax rate for the
tax year in which this Act takes effect; and
(2) the number of school districts that adopted an ad
valorem tax rate for the second tax year preceding the tax year in
which this Act takes effect that was lower than the district's ad
valorem tax rate for the tax year preceding that tax year and then,
for the tax year preceding the tax year in which this Act takes
effect, adopted an ad valorem tax rate that was higher than the
district's ad valorem tax rate for the second tax year preceding the
tax year in which this Act takes effect.
(b) The comptroller of public accounts shall report the
results of the study conducted under this section to each member of
the legislature not later than December 1, 2019.
SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies to
the ad valorem tax rate of a school district beginning with the 2017
tax year, except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section.
(b) If the governing body of a school district adopted an ad
valorem tax rate for the school district for the 2017 tax year
before the effective date of this Act, the change in law made by
this Act applies to the ad valorem tax rate of that school district
beginning with the 2018 tax year, and the law in effect when the tax
rate was adopted applies to the 2017 tax year with respect to that
school district.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.