85R8027 SMT-F
By: Uresti S.B. No. 1209
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility of land for appraisal for ad valorem tax
purposes as qualified open-space land on the basis of its use for
wildlife management.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 23.51, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subdivisions (9), (10), and (11) to read as follows:
(9) "Predator control" includes predation management
activities conducted on a landowner's land by a local predation
management organization or by Texas Wildlife Services in
cooperation with the organization. The landowner must:
(A) be a member in good standing of the local
predation management organization and be current in the payment of
the organization's membership dues; and
(B) allow the local predation management
organization or Texas Wildlife Services acting in cooperation with
the organization reasonable access to the land to conduct the
predation management activities.
(10) "Local predation management organization" means
an organization that:
(A) conducts predation management activities in
a defined geographical region; and
(B) expends at least 70 percent of the
organization's annual budget conducting predation management
activities or making contributions to Texas Wildlife Services.
(11) "Texas Wildlife Services" includes any of the
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Wildlife Services Program's
cooperative partners as authorized by Chapter 825, Health and
Safety Code, or any successor program having a substantially
similar predator control purpose.
SECTION 2. Section 23.521, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (e), (f), and (g) to read as follows:
(e) The Parks and Wildlife Department, with the assistance
of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, shall develop a
definition of "predation management activities" for purposes of
Section 23.51.
(f) The Parks and Wildlife Department, with the assistance
of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, shall develop a
membership form and instructions for using the form to be issued by
a local predation management organization to a landowner. A
landowner may present the form to a local appraisal office to prove
membership in the organization. The form shall include a
certification by the organization that the organization is a local
predation management organization.
(g) The comptroller by rule shall adopt the definition
described by Subsection (e) and membership form described by
Subsection (f) and include them among the rules distributed to each
appraisal district as provided by Subsection (a).
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.