Texas 2023 - 88th 3rd C.S.

Texas Senate Bill SB43 Compare Versions

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1	1	88S30066 TJB-D
2	2	By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 43
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to expedited appeals of appraisal review board orders in
8	8	certain appraisal districts.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 22.004, Government Code, is amended by
11	11	adding Subsection (h-2) to read as follows:
12	12	(h-2) In addition to the rules adopted under Subsections (h)
13	13	and (h-1), the supreme court shall adopt rules to promote the
14	14	prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of civil actions
15	15	authorized by district courts to be expedited under Section 42.222,
16	16	Tax Code. The rules must require that the final determination of a
17	17	civil action authorized by a district court to be expedited under
18	18	that section, including all appeals subsequent to the district
19	19	court's determination in that action, be made on or before July 25
20	20	of the year following the year in which the petition for the civil
21	21	action is filed, and shall prescribe deadlines to ensure the final
22	22	determination is made by that date. The rules shall balance the
23	23	need for prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of these
24	24	actions against the complexity of and discovery needs in these
25	25	actions. The supreme court may not adopt rules under this
26	26	subsection that conflict with other statutory law.
27	27	SECTION 2. Section 41.47(e), Tax Code, is amended to read as
28	28	follows:
29	29	(e) The notice of the issuance of the order must contain a
30	30	prominently printed statement in upper-case bold lettering
31	31	informing the property owner in clear and concise language of the
32	32	property owner's right to appeal the order of the board to district
33	33	court. The statement must describe the deadline prescribed by
34	34	Section 42.06(a) for filing a written notice of appeal and the
35	35	applicable deadline prescribed by Section 42.21(a) or (a-1) for
36	36	filing the petition for review with the district court.
37	37	SECTION 3. Section 42.21, Tax Code, is amended by amending
38	38	Subsections (a), (c), (e), (g), and (h) and adding Subsections
39	39	(a-1) and (a-2) to read as follows:
40	40	(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] party who
41	41	appeals as provided by this chapter must file a petition for review
42	42	with the district court within 60 days after the party received
43	43	notice that a final order has been entered from which an appeal may
44	44	be had or at any time after the hearing but before the 60-day
45	45	deadline.
46	46	(a-1) This subsection applies only to an appeal described by
47	47	Section 42.222(b). A party who appeals as provided by this chapter
48	48	must file a petition for review with the district court within 30
49	49	days after the party received notice that a final order has been
50	50	entered from which an appeal may be had or at any time after the
51	51	hearing but before the 30-day deadline.
52	52	(a-2) Failure to timely file a petition as prescribed by
53	53	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, bars any appeal under this
54	54	chapter.
55	55	(c) If an appeal under this chapter is pending when the
56	56	appraisal review board issues an order in a subsequent year under a
57	57	protest by the same property owner and that protest relates to the
58	58	same property that is involved in the pending appeal, the property
59	59	owner may appeal the subsequent appraisal review board order by
60	60	amending the original petition for the pending appeal to include
61	61	the grounds for appealing the subsequent order. The amended
62	62	petition must be filed with the court in the period provided by
63	63	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
64	64	review of the subsequent order. A property owner may appeal the
65	65	subsequent appraisal review board order under this subsection or
66	66	may appeal the order independently of the pending appeal as
67	67	otherwise provided by this section, but may not do both. A property
68	68	owner may change the election of remedies provided by this
69	69	subsection at any time before the end of the period provided by
70	70	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
71	71	review.
72	72	(e) A petition that is timely filed under Subsection (a) or
73	73	(a-1), as applicable, or amended under Subsection (c) may be
74	74	subsequently amended to:
75	75	(1) correct or change the name of a party; or
76	76	(2) not later than the 120th day before the date of
77	77	trial, identify or describe the property originally involved in the
78	78	appeal.
79	79	(g) A petition filed by an owner or lessee of property may be
80	80	amended to include additional properties in the same county that
81	81	are owned or leased by the same person, are of a similar type as the
82	82	property originally involved in the appeal or are part of the same
83	83	economic unit as the property originally involved in the appeal and
84	84	would typically sell as a single property, and are the subject of an
85	85	appraisal review board order issued in the same year as the order
86	86	that is the subject of the original appeal. The amendment must be
87	87	filed within the period during which a petition for review of the
88	88	appraisal review board order pertaining to the additional
89	89	properties would be required to be filed under Subsection (a) or
90	90	(a-1), as applicable.
91	91	(h) The court has jurisdiction over an appeal under this
92	92	chapter brought on behalf of a property owner or lessee and the
93	93	owner or lessee is considered to have exhausted the owner's or
94	94	lessee's administrative remedies regardless of whether the
95	95	petition correctly identifies the plaintiff as the owner or lessee
96	96	of the property or correctly describes the property so long as the
97	97	property was the subject of an appraisal review board order, the
98	98	petition was filed within the period required by Subsection (a) or
99	99	(a-1), as applicable, and the petition provides sufficient
100	100	information to identify the property that is the subject of the
101	101	petition. Whether the plaintiff is the proper party to bring the
102	102	petition or whether the property needs to be further identified or
103	103	described must be addressed by means of a special exception and
104	104	correction of the petition by amendment as authorized by Subsection
105	105	(e) and may not be the subject of a plea to the jurisdiction or a
106	106	claim that the plaintiff has failed to exhaust the plaintiff's
107	107	administrative remedies. If the petition is amended to add a
108	108	plaintiff, the court on motion shall enter a docket control order to
109	109	provide proper deadlines in response to the addition of the
110	110	plaintiff.
111	111	SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Tax Code, is amended by
112	112	adding Section 42.222 to read as follows:
113	113	Sec. 42.222. EXPEDITED APPEAL. (a) In this section:
114	114	(1) "Affected appraisal district" means an appraisal
115	115	district:
116	116	(A) established for a county that has a
117	117	population of less than 500,000 and is located on the Gulf of
118	118	Mexico; and
119	119	(B) in which one or more parcels of property are
120	120	located that are included as part of anticipated substantial
121	121	litigation.
122	122	(2) "Anticipated substantial litigation" means one or
123	123	more appeals filed or intended to be filed under this chapter for a
124	124	tax year by a single property owner or by one or more associated
125	125	business entities of a single property owner of one or more orders
126	126	of an appraisal review board determining one or more protests by the
127	127	owner or entities of the taxable value of one or more parcels of
128	128	property located in an affected appraisal district that have an
129	129	aggregate contested taxable value of more than $1 billion.
130	130	(3) "Associated business entity" means a subsidiary or
131	131	other associated business entity of a property owner.
132	132	(4) "Contested taxable value" means the portion of the
133	133	taxable value of property that is in dispute.
134	134	(b) This section applies only to an appeal authorized by
135	135	this chapter of a protest to an appraisal review board for an
136	136	affected appraisal district.
137	137	(c) On motion of a party to an appeal or a taxing unit
138	138	authorized to intervene in the appeal as provided by Subsection
139	139	(d), the court in which the appeal is filed may expedite the appeal
140	140	under rules adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2),
141	141	Government Code, if the court finds that one or more taxing units
142	142	will be substantially affected by not expediting the appeal.
143	143	(d) The court in which an appeal subject to this section is
144	144	filed may authorize a taxing unit entitled to tax property subject
145	145	to the appeal to intervene in the appeal for the sole purpose of
146	146	bringing a motion to expedite the proceedings.
147	147	(e) Notwithstanding Section 22.004, Government Code, the
148	148	supreme court may not amend or adopt rules in conflict with this
149	149	section.
150	150	SECTION 5. Section 42.28, Tax Code, is amended to read as
151	151	follows:
152	152	Sec. 42.28. APPEAL OF DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT. (a) A party
153	153	may appeal the final judgment of the district court as provided by
154	154	law for appeal of civil suits generally, except that an appeal bond
155	155	is not required of the chief appraiser, the county, the
156	156	comptroller, or the commissioners court.
157	157	(b) An appeal to a court of appeals or the supreme court
158	158	involving the final judgment of a district court under an expedited
159	159	appeal authorized by Section 42.222 shall be conducted under rules
160	160	adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2), Government
161	161	Code.
162	162	SECTION 6. Not later than March 1, 2024, the Supreme Court
163	163	of Texas shall adopt rules required by Section 22.004(h-2),
164	164	Government Code, as added by this Act.
165	165	SECTION 7. Section 41.47, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
166	166	applies only to notice of issuance of an appraisal review board
167	167	order delivered on or after March 1, 2024.
168	168	SECTION 8. Section 42.21, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
169	169	and Section 42.222, Tax Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an
170	170	appeal filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, on or after March 1, 2024.
171	171	SECTION 9. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
172	172	section, this Act takes effect March 1, 2024.
173	173	(b) Sections 1 and 6 of this Act take effect immediately if
174	174	this Act receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to
175	175	each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
176	176	Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
177	177	those sections to have immediate effect, those sections take effect
178	178	on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.