88S30066 TJB-D
By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 43
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to expedited appeals of appraisal review board orders in
certain appraisal districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 22.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (h-2) to read as follows:
(h-2) In addition to the rules adopted under Subsections (h)
and (h-1), the supreme court shall adopt rules to promote the
prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of civil actions
authorized by district courts to be expedited under Section 42.222,
Tax Code. The rules must require that the final determination of a
civil action authorized by a district court to be expedited under
that section, including all appeals subsequent to the district
court's determination in that action, be made on or before July 25
of the year following the year in which the petition for the civil
action is filed, and shall prescribe deadlines to ensure the final
determination is made by that date. The rules shall balance the
need for prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of these
actions against the complexity of and discovery needs in these
actions. The supreme court may not adopt rules under this
subsection that conflict with other statutory law.
SECTION 2. Section 41.47(e), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(e) The notice of the issuance of the order must contain a
prominently printed statement in upper-case bold lettering
informing the property owner in clear and concise language of the
property owner's right to appeal the order of the board to district
court. The statement must describe the deadline prescribed by
Section 42.06(a) for filing a written notice of appeal and the
applicable deadline prescribed by Section 42.21(a) or (a-1) for
filing the petition for review with the district court.
SECTION 3. Section 42.21, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsections (a), (c), (e), (g), and (h) and adding Subsections
(a-1) and (a-2) to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] party who
appeals as provided by this chapter must file a petition for review
with the district court within 60 days after the party received
notice that a final order has been entered from which an appeal may
be had or at any time after the hearing but before the 60-day
deadline.
(a-1) This subsection applies only to an appeal described by
Section 42.222(b). A party who appeals as provided by this chapter
must file a petition for review with the district court within 30
days after the party received notice that a final order has been
entered from which an appeal may be had or at any time after the
hearing but before the 30-day deadline.
(a-2) Failure to timely file a petition as prescribed by
Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, bars any appeal under this
chapter.
(c) If an appeal under this chapter is pending when the
appraisal review board issues an order in a subsequent year under a
protest by the same property owner and that protest relates to the
same property that is involved in the pending appeal, the property
owner may appeal the subsequent appraisal review board order by
amending the original petition for the pending appeal to include
the grounds for appealing the subsequent order. The amended
petition must be filed with the court in the period provided by
Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
review of the subsequent order. A property owner may appeal the
subsequent appraisal review board order under this subsection or
may appeal the order independently of the pending appeal as
otherwise provided by this section, but may not do both. A property
owner may change the election of remedies provided by this
subsection at any time before the end of the period provided by
Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
review.
(e) A petition that is timely filed under Subsection (a) or
(a-1), as applicable, or amended under Subsection (c) may be
subsequently amended to:
(1) correct or change the name of a party; or
(2) not later than the 120th day before the date of
trial, identify or describe the property originally involved in the
appeal.
(g) A petition filed by an owner or lessee of property may be
amended to include additional properties in the same county that
are owned or leased by the same person, are of a similar type as the
property originally involved in the appeal or are part of the same
economic unit as the property originally involved in the appeal and
would typically sell as a single property, and are the subject of an
appraisal review board order issued in the same year as the order
that is the subject of the original appeal. The amendment must be
filed within the period during which a petition for review of the
appraisal review board order pertaining to the additional
properties would be required to be filed under Subsection (a) or
(a-1), as applicable.
(h) The court has jurisdiction over an appeal under this
chapter brought on behalf of a property owner or lessee and the
owner or lessee is considered to have exhausted the owner's or
lessee's administrative remedies regardless of whether the
petition correctly identifies the plaintiff as the owner or lessee
of the property or correctly describes the property so long as the
property was the subject of an appraisal review board order, the
petition was filed within the period required by Subsection (a) or
(a-1), as applicable, and the petition provides sufficient
information to identify the property that is the subject of the
petition. Whether the plaintiff is the proper party to bring the
petition or whether the property needs to be further identified or
described must be addressed by means of a special exception and
correction of the petition by amendment as authorized by Subsection
(e) and may not be the subject of a plea to the jurisdiction or a
claim that the plaintiff has failed to exhaust the plaintiff's
administrative remedies. If the petition is amended to add a
plaintiff, the court on motion shall enter a docket control order to
provide proper deadlines in response to the addition of the
plaintiff.
SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Tax Code, is amended by
adding Section 42.222 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.222. EXPEDITED APPEAL. (a) In this section:
(1) "Affected appraisal district" means an appraisal
district:
(A) established for a county that has a
population of less than 500,000 and is located on the Gulf of
Mexico; and
(B) in which one or more parcels of property are
located that are included as part of anticipated substantial
litigation.
(2) "Anticipated substantial litigation" means one or
more appeals filed or intended to be filed under this chapter for a
tax year by a single property owner or by one or more associated
business entities of a single property owner of one or more orders
of an appraisal review board determining one or more protests by the
owner or entities of the taxable value of one or more parcels of
property located in an affected appraisal district that have an
aggregate contested taxable value of more than $1 billion.
(3) "Associated business entity" means a subsidiary or
other associated business entity of a property owner.
(4) "Contested taxable value" means the portion of the
taxable value of property that is in dispute.
(b) This section applies only to an appeal authorized by
this chapter of a protest to an appraisal review board for an
affected appraisal district.
(c) On motion of a party to an appeal or a taxing unit
authorized to intervene in the appeal as provided by Subsection
(d), the court in which the appeal is filed may expedite the appeal
under rules adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2),
Government Code, if the court finds that one or more taxing units
will be substantially affected by not expediting the appeal.
(d) The court in which an appeal subject to this section is
filed may authorize a taxing unit entitled to tax property subject
to the appeal to intervene in the appeal for the sole purpose of
bringing a motion to expedite the proceedings.
(e) Notwithstanding Section 22.004, Government Code, the
supreme court may not amend or adopt rules in conflict with this
section.
SECTION 5. Section 42.28, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 42.28. APPEAL OF DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT. (a) A party
may appeal the final judgment of the district court as provided by
law for appeal of civil suits generally, except that an appeal bond
is not required of the chief appraiser, the county, the
comptroller, or the commissioners court.
(b) An appeal to a court of appeals or the supreme court
involving the final judgment of a district court under an expedited
appeal authorized by Section 42.222 shall be conducted under rules
adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2), Government
Code.
SECTION 6. Not later than March 1, 2024, the Supreme Court
of Texas shall adopt rules required by Section 22.004(h-2),
Government Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 7. Section 41.47, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
applies only to notice of issuance of an appraisal review board
order delivered on or after March 1, 2024.
SECTION 8. Section 42.21, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
and Section 42.222, Tax Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an
appeal filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, on or after March 1, 2024.
SECTION 9. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect March 1, 2024.
(b) Sections 1 and 6 of this Act take effect immediately if
this Act receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to
each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
those sections to have immediate effect, those sections take effect
on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.