85R1539 LHC-F
By: Metcalf H.B. No. 455
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a property owner to participate by
telephone at a protest hearing by an appraisal review board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 41.45, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsections (b) and (n) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(b) A [The] property owner initiating a [the] protest is
entitled to [an opportunity to] appear to offer evidence or
argument. A [The] property owner may offer [his] evidence or
argument by affidavit without personally appearing and may appear
by telephone to offer argument. A property owner who appears by
telephone must offer any evidence by affidavit. A property owner
must submit an affidavit described by this subsection [if he
attests to the affidavit before an officer authorized to administer
oaths and submits the affidavit] to the board hearing the protest
before the board [it] begins the hearing on the protest. On receipt
of an affidavit, the board shall notify the chief appraiser. The
chief appraiser may inspect the affidavit and is entitled to a copy
on request. To appear at a hearing by telephone, a property owner
must notify the board that the property owner intends to appear by
telephone in the owner's notice of protest or by written notice
filed with the board not later than the 10th day before the date of
the hearing.
(b-1) If a property owner provides notice to the board that
the property owner intends to appear at a hearing by telephone, the
board shall:
(1) provide a telephone number for the property owner
to call to participate in the hearing; and
(2) hold the hearing in a location equipped with
telephone equipment that allows each board member and the other
parties to the protest who are present at the hearing to hear the
property owner offer argument.
(n) A property owner does not waive the right to appear in
person at a [the] protest hearing by submitting an affidavit to the
appraisal review board or by submitting notice of intent to appear
by telephone. The board may consider an [the] affidavit submitted
under this section only if the property owner does not appear in
person at the [protest] hearing [in person]. For purposes of
scheduling the hearing, the property owner must [shall] state in
the affidavit that the property owner does not intend to appear at
the hearing or that the property owner intends to appear at the
hearing in person or by telephone and that the affidavit may be used
only if the property owner does not appear at the hearing in person.
If the property owner does not state in the affidavit whether the
owner intends to appear at the hearing and has not submitted notice
of the owner's intent to appear by telephone, the board shall
consider the submission of the affidavit as an indication that the
property owner does not intend to appear at the hearing. If the
property owner states in the affidavit that the owner does not
intend to appear at the hearing or does not state in the affidavit
whether the owner intends to appear at the hearing and has not
submitted notice of the owner's intent to appear by telephone, the
[appraisal review] board is not required to consider the affidavit
at the scheduled hearing and may consider the affidavit at a hearing
designated for the specific purpose of processing affidavits.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a protest under Chapter 41, Tax Code, for which a notice of protest
is filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.