bill pushing back summer property tax deadlines a month

The text as introduced · 1,781 words

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.