By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 2521
(In the Senate - Filed March 13, 2025; April 3, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Local Government;
April 30, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
Nays 0; April 30, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to notification of the chief appraiser of an appraisal
district of the death of a resident of the county in which the
district is located and the determination by the chief appraiser of
the effect of the decedent's death on the continued eligibility of
any property in the county previously owned by the decedent for any
exemption allowed for the property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 193.003, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) The local registrar shall:
(1) prepare an abstract of each death certificate
filed with the local registrar during a month for a decedent 18
years of age or older at the time of death; and
(2) not later than the last day of the following month,
file each abstract described by Subdivision (1) with the chief
appraiser of the appraisal district for the decedent's county of
residence.
SECTION 2. Section 11.43, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (h-2) to read as follows:
(h-2) The chief appraiser shall review each death
certificate abstract received from the local registrar under
Section 193.003(c), Health and Safety Code, and investigate to
determine whether the decedent was allowed an exemption on property
that no longer qualifies for the exemption due to the decedent's
death and whether an individual qualifies for an exemption on the
property as the surviving spouse or a surviving child of the
decedent. Subject to Subsection (q), if the chief appraiser
determines that the property should not be exempt, the chief
appraiser shall cancel the exemption and enter notice of the
cancellation in the appraisal record pertaining to the property not
later than the fifth day after the date the exemption is canceled.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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