By: Murr H.B. No. 4209
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the valuation of appraised value of qualified
open-space land.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 23.51, Subchapter D, Chapter 23, Texas
Tax Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 23.51. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Qualified open-space land" means land that is
currently devoted principally to agricultural use to the degree of
intensity generally accepted in the area and that has been devoted
principally to agricultural use or to production of timber or
forest products for five of the preceding seven years or land that
is used principally as an ecological laboratory by a public or
private college or university and that has been used principally in
that manner by a college or university for five of the preceding
seven years. Qualified open-space land includes all appurtenances
to the land. For the purposes of this subdivision, appurtenances to
the land means private roads, dams, reservoirs, water wells,
canals, ditches, terraces, and other reshapings of the soil,
fences, and riparian water rights. Notwithstanding the other
provisions of this subdivision, land that is currently devoted
principally to wildlife management as defined by Subdivision (7)(B)
or (C) to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area
qualifies for appraisal as qualified open-space land under this
subchapter regardless of the manner in which the land was used in
any preceding year.
(2) "Agricultural use" includes but is not limited to
the following activities: cultivating the soil, producing crops for
human food, animal feed, or planting seed or for the production of
fibers; floriculture, viticulture, and horticulture; raising or
keeping livestock; raising or keeping exotic animals for the
production of human food or of fiber, leather, pelts, or other
tangible products having a commercial value; planting cover crops
or leaving land idle for the purpose of participating in a
governmental program, provided the land is not used for residential
purposes or a purpose inconsistent with agricultural use; and
planting cover crops or leaving land idle in conjunction with
normal crop or livestock rotation procedure. The term also
includes the use of land to produce or harvest logs and posts for
the use in constructing or repairing fences, pens, barns, or other
agricultural improvements on adjacent qualified open-space land
having the same owner and devoted to a different agricultural use.
The term also includes the use of land for wildlife management. The
term also includes the use of land to raise or keep bees for
pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible
products having a commercial value, provided that the land used is
not less than 5 or more than 20 acres.
(3) "Category" means the value classification of land
considering the agricultural use to which the land is principally
devoted. The chief appraiser shall determine the categories into
which land in the appraisal district is classified. In classifying
land according to categories, the chief appraiser shall distinguish
between irrigated cropland, dry cropland, improved pasture, native
pasture, orchard, and waste. The chief appraiser may establish
additional categories. The chief appraiser shall further divide
each category according to soil type, soil capability, irrigation,
general topography, geographical factors, and other factors that
influence the productive capacity of the category. The chief
appraiser shall obtain information from the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service of
the United States Department of Agriculture, and other recognized
agricultural sources for the purposes of determining the categories
of land existing in the appraisal district.
(4) "Net to land" means the average annual net income
derived from the use of open-space land that would have been earned
from the land during the five-year period preceding the year before
the appraisal by an owner using ordinary prudence in the management
of the land and the farm crops or livestock produced or supported on
the land. [and, in addition, any income received from hunting or
recreational leases]. The chief appraiser shall calculate net to
land by considering the income that would be due to the owner of the
land under cash lease, share lease, or whatever lease arrangement
is typical in that area for that category of land, and all expenses
directly attributable to the agricultural use of the land by the
owner shall be subtracted from this owner income and the results
shall be used in income capitalization. In calculating net to land,
a reasonable deduction shall be made for any depletion that occurs
of underground water used in the agricultural operation. For land
that qualifies under Subdivision (7) for appraisal under this
subchapter, the chief appraiser may not consider in the calculation
of net to land the income that would be due to the owner under a
hunting or recreational lease of the land.
(5) "Income capitalization" means the process of
dividing net to land by the capitalization rate to determine the
appraised value.
(6) "Exotic animal" means a species of game not
indigenous to this state, including axis deer, nilga antelope, red
sheep, other cloven-hoofed ruminant mammals, or exotic fowl as
defined by Section 142.001, Agriculture Code.
(7) "Wildlife management" means:
(A) actively using land that at the time the
wildlife-management use began was appraised as qualified
open-space land under this subchapter or as qualified timber land
under Subchapter E in at least three of the following ways to
propagate a sustaining breeding, migrating, or wintering
population of indigenous wild animals for human use, including
food, medicine, or recreation:
(i) habitat control;
(ii) erosion control;
(iii) predator control;
(iv) providing supplemental supplies of
water;
(v) providing supplemental supplies of
food;
(vi) providing shelters; and
(vii) making of census counts to determine
population;
(B) actively using land to protect federally
listed endangered species under a federal permit if the land is:
(i) included in a habitat preserve and is
subject to a conservation easement created under Chapter 183,
Natural Resources Code; or
(ii) part of a conservation development
under a federally approved habitat conservation plan that restricts
the use of the land to protect federally listed endangered species;
or
(C) actively using land for a conservation or
restoration project to provide compensation for natural resource
damages pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Section 9601 et
seq.), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. Section 2701 et
seq.), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section
1251 et seq.), or Chapter 40, Natural Resources Code.
(8) "Endangered species," "federal permit," and
"habitat preserve" have the meanings assigned by Section 83.011,
Parks and Wildlife
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.