88S20038 DRS-D
By: Bell of Montgomery H.B. No. 53
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a requirement that an appraisal review board rely on an
appraisal of residential real property prepared by an appraiser and
submitted to the board by the property owner to determine a protest
regarding the value of the property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 41.43, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsections (a) and (a-2) and adding Subsection (a-6) to read as
follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsections (a-1), (a-3), (a-6),
and (d), in a protest authorized by Section 41.41(a)(1) or (2), the
appraisal district has the burden of establishing the value of the
property by a preponderance of the evidence presented at the
hearing. If the appraisal district fails to meet that standard, the
protest shall be determined in favor of the property owner.
(a-2) To be valid, an appraisal filed under Subsection (a-1)
or (a-6) must be attested to before an officer authorized to
administer oaths and include:
(1) the name and business address of the certified
appraiser;
(2) a description of the property that was the subject
of the appraisal;
(3) a statement that the appraised or market value of
the property:
(A) was, as applicable, the appraised or market
value of the property as of January 1 of the current tax year; and
(B) was determined using a method of appraisal
authorized or required by Chapter 23; and
(4) a statement that the appraisal was performed in
accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal
Practice.
(a-6) Notwithstanding Subsection (a-1), if in the protest
relating to a parcel of residential real property the property
owner files with the appraisal review board and, not later than the
14th day before the date of the first day of the hearing, delivers
to the chief appraiser a copy of an appraisal of the property
performed not later than the 180th day before the date of the first
day of the hearing by an appraiser certified under Chapter 1103,
Occupations Code, that supports the appraised or market value of
the property asserted by the property owner, the appraisal review
board shall:
(1) determine the protest in favor of the property
owner; and
(2) issue an order changing the property's appraised
or market value in the appraisal records to the value determined by
the appraisal of the property filed by the property owner.
SECTION 2. Section 37.10(c)(4), Penal Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(4) An offense under this section is a Class B
misdemeanor if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
governmental record is a written appraisal filed with an appraisal
review board under Section 41.43(a-1) or (a-6), Tax Code, that was
performed by a person who had a contingency interest in the outcome
of the appraisal review board hearing.
SECTION 3. 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 4. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.