By: Bettencourt, et al. S.B. No. 1007
(In the Senate - Filed February 22, 2019; March 1, 2019,
read first time and referred to Committee on Property Tax;
April 15, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
Nays 0; April 15, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prepayment of ad valorem taxes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 31.072(a), (c), and (d), Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) At the request of a property owner, the [The] collector
for a taxing unit shall [may] enter a contract with the [a] property
owner under which the property owner deposits money in an escrow
account maintained by the collector to provide for the payment of
property taxes collected by the collector on any property the
person owns.
(c) A contract under this section must allow [require] the
property owner to make [monthly] deposits to the escrow account at
any time until the earlier of the following occurs:
(1) the estimated amount of taxes as provided [set] in
the contract under Subsection (d) [of this section] accrues in the
account; or
(2) [until] the tax bill for the property is
prepared[, whichever occurs earlier].
(d) On request by a property owner to establish an escrow
account under this section, the collector shall estimate the amount
of taxes to be imposed on the property by the affected taxing units
in that year and include that amount in the contract to establish
the escrow account. The contract must also include an estimate of
the amount of money the property owner would need to deposit to the
escrow account each month in order to[. A contract to establish an
escrow account must provide for deposits that would] provide, as of
the date the collector estimates the tax bill for the property will
be prepared, a total deposit to the escrow account that is not less
than the amount of taxes estimated by the collector or the amount of
taxes imposed on the property by the affected taxing units in the
preceding year, whichever is less. The contract may not require the
property owner to comply with a schedule of deposits or prescribe a
minimum amount that must be deposited to the escrow account. The
collector may agree to a deposit of a greater amount on the property
owner's request.
SECTION 2. Sections 31.072(h) and (i), Tax Code, are
repealed.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a contract under Section 31.072, Tax Code, that is entered into
on or after the effective date of this Act. A contract under
Section 31.072, Tax Code, that is entered into before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the contract
was entered into, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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