89R3427 LHC-D
By: Tepper H.B. No. 416
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the deadlines for performing various functions in
connection with the ad valorem tax system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 26.01(a) and (a-1), Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) By August [July] 25, the chief appraiser shall prepare
and certify to the assessor for each taxing unit participating in
the district that part of the appraisal roll for the district that
lists the property taxable by the taxing unit. The part certified
to the assessor is the appraisal roll for the taxing unit. The
chief appraiser shall consult with the assessor for each taxing
unit and notify each taxing unit in writing by April 1 of the form in
which the roll will be provided to each taxing unit.
(a-1) If by August [July] 20 the appraisal review board for
an appraisal district has not approved the appraisal records for
the district as required under Section 41.12, the chief appraiser
shall not later than August [July] 25 prepare and certify to the
assessor for each taxing unit participating in the district an
estimate of the taxable value of property in that taxing unit.
SECTION 2. Sections 26.04(b), (e), and (e-6), Tax Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) The assessor shall submit the appraisal roll for the
taxing unit showing the total appraised, assessed, and taxable
values of all property and the total taxable value of new property
to the governing body of the taxing unit by September [August] 1 or
as soon thereafter as practicable. By September [August] 1 or as
soon thereafter as practicable, the taxing unit's collector shall
certify the anticipated collection rate as calculated under
Subsections (h), (h-1), and (h-2) for the current year to the
governing body. If the collector certified an anticipated
collection rate in the preceding year and the actual collection
rate in that year exceeded the anticipated rate, the collector
shall also certify the amount of debt taxes collected in excess of
the anticipated amount in the preceding year.
(e) By September [August] 7 or as soon thereafter as
practicable, the designated officer or employee shall submit the
rates to the governing body. The designated officer or employee
shall post prominently on the home page of the taxing unit's
Internet website in the form prescribed by the comptroller:
(1) the no-new-revenue tax rate, the voter-approval
tax rate, and an explanation of how they were calculated;
(2) the estimated amount of interest and sinking fund
balances and the estimated amount of maintenance and operation or
general fund balances remaining at the end of the current fiscal
year that are not encumbered with or by corresponding existing debt
obligation; and
(3) a schedule of the taxing unit's debt obligations
showing:
(A) the amount of principal and interest that
will be paid to service the taxing unit's debts in the next year
from property tax revenue, including payments of lawfully incurred
contractual obligations providing security for the payment of the
principal of and interest on bonds and other evidences of
indebtedness issued on behalf of the taxing unit by another
political subdivision and, if the taxing unit is created under
Section 52, Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
Constitution, payments on debts that the taxing unit anticipates to
incur in the next calendar year;
(B) the amount by which taxes imposed for debt
are to be increased because of the taxing unit's anticipated
collection rate; and
(C) the total of the amounts listed in Paragraphs
(A)-(B), less any amount collected in excess of the previous year's
anticipated collections certified as provided in Subsection (b).
(e-6) By September [August] 7 or as soon thereafter as
practicable, the chief appraiser of each appraisal district shall
publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for
which the appraisal district is established the notice required by
Subsection (e-2). If there is no newspaper of general circulation
in the county for which the appraisal district is established, the
notice shall be posted at the appraisal office for the district.
SECTION 3. Section 26.05(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The governing body of each taxing unit shall adopt a tax
rate for the current tax year and shall notify the assessor for the
taxing unit of the rate adopted. The governing body must adopt a
tax rate before the later of September 30 or the 30th [60th] day
after the date the certified appraisal roll is received by the
taxing unit, except that the governing body must adopt a tax rate
that exceeds the voter-approval tax rate not later than the 71st day
before the next uniform election date prescribed by Section 41.001,
Election Code, that occurs in November of that year. The tax rate
consists of two components, each of which must be approved
separately. The components are:
(1) for a taxing unit other than a school district, the
rate that, if applied to the total taxable value, will impose the
total amount described by Section 26.04(e)(3)(C), less any amount
of additional sales and use tax revenue that will be used to pay
debt service, or, for a school district, the rate calculated under
Section 44.004(c)(5)(A)(ii)(b), Education Code; and
(2) the rate that, if applied to the total taxable
value, will impose the amount of taxes needed to fund maintenance
and operation expenditures of the taxing unit for the next year.
SECTION 4. Section 26.16(d-2), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(d-2) By September [August] 7 or as soon thereafter as
practicable, the county assessor-collector shall post on the
website the tax rate calculation forms described by Subsection
(d-1)(1) for the current tax year.
SECTION 5. Section 31.01(h), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(h) An assessor who assesses taxes for more than one taxing
unit may prepare and deliver separate bills for the taxes of a
taxing unit that does not adopt a tax rate for the year before the
30th [60th] day after the date the chief appraiser certifies the
appraisal roll for the taxing unit under Section 26.01 [of this
code] or, if the taxing unit participates in more than one appraisal
district, before the 30th [60th] day after the date it receives a
certified appraisal roll from any of the appraisal districts in
which it participates. If separate tax bills are prepared and
delivered under this subsection, the taxing unit or taxing units
that failed to adopt the tax rate before the prescribed deadline
must pay the additional costs incurred in preparing and mailing the
separate bills in addition to any other compensation required or
agreed to be paid for the appraisal services rendered.
SECTION 6. Sections 41.12(a) and (c), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(a) By August [July] 20, the appraisal review board shall:
(1) hear and determine all or substantially all timely
filed protests;
(2) determine all timely filed challenges;
(3) submit a list of its approved changes in the
records to the chief appraiser; and
(4) approve the records.
(c) The board of directors of an appraisal district
established for a county with a population of at least one million
by resolution may:
(1) postpone the deadline established by Subsection
(a) for the performance of the functions listed in that subsection
to a date not later than September 15 [August 30]; or
(2) provide that the appraisal review board may
approve the appraisal records if the sum of the appraised values, as
determined by the chief appraiser, of all properties on which a
protest has been filed but not determined does not exceed 10 percent
of the total appraised value of all other taxable properties.
SECTION 7. Section 41.44(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsections (b), (c), (c-1), and
(c-2), to be entitled to a hearing and determination of a protest,
the property owner initiating the protest must file a written
notice of the protest with the appraisal review board having
authority to hear the matter protested:
(1) not later than May 15 or the 60th [30th] day after
the date that notice to the property owner was delivered to the
property owner as provided by Section 25.19, whichever is later;
(2) in the case of a protest of a change in the
appraisal records ordered as provided by Subchapter A of this
chapter or by Chapter 25, not later than the 30th day after the date
notice of the change is delivered to the property owner;
(3) in the case of a determination that a change in the
use of land appraised under Subchapter C, D, E, or H, Chapter 23,
has occurred, not later than the 30th day after the date the notice
of the determination is delivered to the property owner;
(4) in the case of a determination of eligibility for a
refund under Section 23.1243, not later than the 30th day after the
date the notice of the determination is delivered to the property
owner; or
(5) in the case of a protest of the modification or
denial of an application for an exemption under Section 11.35, or
the determination of an appropriate damage assessment rating for an
item of qualified property under that section, not later than the
30th day after the date the property owner receives the notice
required under Section 11.45(e).
SECTION 8. Section 41.45(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) On the filing of a notice as required by Section 41.44,
the appraisal review board shall schedule a hearing on the protest.
The appraisal review board shall schedule the hearing to be held as
soon as practicable but not later than the 60th [90th] day after the
date the board approves the appraisal records as provided by
Section 41.12. If more than one protest is filed relating to the
same property, the appraisal review board shall schedule a single
hearing on all timely filed protests relating to the property. A
hearing for a property that is owned in undivided or fractional
interests, including separate interests in a mineral in place,
shall be scheduled to provide for participation by all owners who
have timely filed a protest.
SECTION 9. This Act applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed
for a tax year beginning on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect January 1, 2026.