Monitoring the Session

SB 1163

agents get one free appraisal hearing postponement too

Did not pass

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review
Sen. Bryan HughesRSenate 1

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to the circumstances under which an appraisal review board is required to postpone a protest hearing.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

No reason needed. Same deal owners already had.

The bill lets a property owner's designated agent, not just an owner representing themselves, get one free postponement of an appraisal protest hearing without giving a reason. It also says that if an owner or agent misses a hearing because they were stuck before a different panel of the same appraisal review board, that counts as good cause for a new hearing. Property owners who hire tax agents get the same postponement right as owners who show up alone, starting September 1, 2025.

Labels

Labels: ZOMBIE BILL. Died 2 times: 88R SB 899 (Died in committee) and this bill (Did not pass). Checked against 88R only.BACK FROM THE DEAD. Same text as a bill filed before that died: 88R SB 899 (Died in committee). Filed in 2 sessions, counting this one. Checked against 88R only.TRY NO. 2. Filed in 2 sessions: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.GOT HALFWAY. Passed the Senate on May 13, 2025. Died in the House: voted out of the Ways & Means committee 9-0, no floor vote.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-SB1163 · 2025-02-07

SOLD BY

+ 1 coauthor

ITEM

relating to the circumstances under which an appraisal review board is required to postpone a protest hearing.

WHAT IT DOES

No reason needed. Same deal owners already had.

The bill lets a property owner's designated agent, not just an owner representing themselves, get one free postponement of an appraisal protest hearing without giving a reason. It also says that if an owner or agent misses a hearing because they were stuck before a different panel of the same appraisal review board, that counts as good cause for a new hearing. Property owners who hire tax agents get the same postponement right as owners who show up alone, starting September 1, 2025.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 20, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

HISTORY

  1. Received by the Secretary of the Senate
  2. Filed
  3. Read first time
  4. Referred to Local Government
  5. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  6. Considered in public hearing
  7. Left pending in committee
  8. Considered in public hearing
  9. Vote taken in committee
  10. Reported favorably w/o amendments
  11. Committee report printed and distributed
  12. Placed on intent calendar
  13. Not again placed on intent calendar
  14. Co-author authorized
  15. Placed on intent calendar
  16. Rules suspended-Regular order of business
  17. Vote recorded in Journal
  18. Read 2nd time
  19. Amendment(s) offered FA1 Cook
  20. Amended
  21. Vote recorded in Journal
  22. Passed to engrossment as amended
  23. Vote recorded in Journal
  24. Three day rule suspended
  25. Record vote
  26. Read 3rd time
  27. Passed
  28. Record vote
  29. Reported engrossed
  30. Received from the Senate
  31. Read first time
  32. Referred to Ways & Means
  33. Considered in formal meeting
  34. Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
  35. Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
  36. Committee report distributed
  37. Committee report sent to Calendars
  38. Considered in Calendars
  39. Placed on General State Calendar
FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

SIGNED FOR BY

Senate · 30 yea · 1 nay

Sources

Senate: Final passage · May 13, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

All floor motions and other positions below.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Donors

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Jul 1, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

GOPAC Election Fund$250,000.00

GOPAC Election Fund

$250,000.00

Cash
$250,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$250,000.00

Also funds 2 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 17, 2025 to Oct 15, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Jul 17, 2025 to Oct 15, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101028838, 101071548.

CRAFTPAC (Court Reform Action for Texas Families)$100,000.00

CRAFTPAC (Court Reform Action for Texas Families)

$100,000.00

Cash
$100,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$100,000.00

Also funds 0 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · on Sep 4, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Sep 4, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101067724.

Court Reform Action for Families Texas PAC$100,000.00

Court Reform Action for Families Texas PAC

$100,000.00

Cash
$100,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$100,000.00

Also funds 32 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Feb 20, 2026 to Oct 14, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Oct 13, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101071548.

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

×

GOPAC Election Fund

$250,000.00

Cash
$250,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$250,000.00

Also funds 2 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 17, 2025 to Oct 15, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Jul 17, 2025 to Oct 15, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101028838, 101071548.

×

CRAFTPAC (Court Reform Action for Texas Families)

$100,000.00

Cash
$100,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$100,000.00

Also funds 0 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · on Sep 4, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Sep 4, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101067724.

×

Court Reform Action for Families Texas PAC

$100,000.00

Cash
$100,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$100,000.00

Also funds 32 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Feb 20, 2026 to Oct 14, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Oct 13, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101071548.

Votes3

Senate May 13, 2025

Yea
30
Nay
1
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

Senate journal

Names were not printed for yea. Only the named positions are included in member records.

Sources

The bill was read third time and was passed by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1. (Same as previous roll call)

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 30 (published)
  • Nay: 1 (published)
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate May 13, 2025

Yea
30
Nay
1
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

Senate journal

Names were not printed for yea. Only the named positions are included in member records.

Sources

Senator Hughes moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that SB 1163 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 30 (published)
  • Nay: 1 (published)
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate May 13, 2025

Yea
Not printed
Nay
Not printed
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

Senate journal

Names were not printed for yea. Only the named positions are included in member records.

Voice vote. No numeric tally or individual yeas are inferred.

Sources

SB 1163 as amended was passed to engrossment by a viva voce vote.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: Not printed
  • Nay: Not printed
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Witnesses1
For
1
Against
0
On
0
Names

For

  • Texas REALTORS1 registration
Sources

1 parsed registrations across the loaded witness lists.

Derived stock of witness registrations. Repeated appearances count separately. Organizations and self-representation appear as printed.

Senate witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Fiscal

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 20, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

FILED BEFORE

Filed 2 times: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.

88R SB 899

by Sen. Hughes, same lead author · Died in committee · same text

Introduced text

Last action, Mar 1, 2023: Referred to Local Government

Relating to the circumstances under which an appraisal review board is required to postpone a protest hearing.

Caption, 88R bill history

Sources

Texas Senate · Filed Feb 7, 2025

05/27/2025 H Placed on General State Calendar

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced · Senate Committee Report · Engrossed · House Committee Report

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

Coauthors
Sponsors

House committee · Ways & Means · Committee vote 9 aye, 0 nay, 4 absent · Out of committee

Senate committee · Local Government · Committee vote 5 aye, 0 nay, 2 absent · Out of committee

Subjects

Taxation--Property-Appeal of Tax Decisions

Taxation--Property-Appraisals & Appraisal Districts

Text

The text as introduced · 483 words

89R5599 LHC-D

By: Hughes
S.B. No. 1163

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the circumstances under which an appraisal review board

is required to postpone a protest hearing.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 41.45(e) and (e-1), Tax Code, are

amended to read as follows:

(e) On request made to the appraisal review board before the

date of the hearing, a property owner or a person [ who has not ]

designated by the property owner as the owner's [ an ] agent under

Section 1.111 to represent the owner at the hearing is entitled to

one postponement of the hearing to a later date without showing

cause. In addition and without limitation as to the number of

postponements, the board shall postpone the hearing to a later date

if the property owner or the owner's agent at any time shows good

cause for the postponement or if the chief appraiser consents to the

postponement. The hearing may not be postponed to a date less than

five or more than 30 days after the date scheduled for the hearing

when the postponement is sought unless the date and time of the

hearing as postponed are agreed to by the chairman of the appraisal

review board or the chairman's representative, the property owner,

and the chief appraiser. A request by a property owner for a

postponement under this subsection may be made in writing,

including by facsimile transmission or electronic mail, by

telephone, or in person to the appraisal review board, a panel of

the board, or the chairman of the board. The chairman or the

chairman's representative may take action on a postponement under

this subsection without the necessity of action by the full board if

the hearing for which the postponement is requested is scheduled to

occur before the next regular meeting of the board. The granting by

the appraisal review board, the chairman, or the chairman's

representative of a postponement under this subsection does not

require the delivery of additional written notice to the property

owner.

(e-1) A property owner or a person designated by the

property owner as the owner's agent to represent the owner at the

hearing who fails to appear at the hearing is entitled to a new

hearing if the property owner or the owner's agent files, not later

than the fourth day after the date the hearing occurred, a written

statement with the appraisal review board showing good cause for

the failure to appear and requesting a new hearing. For purposes of

this subsection, "good cause" includes that the property owner or

the owner's agent was unable to attend the scheduled hearing

because the owner or agent was appearing before a different panel of

the same appraisal review board at the time of the scheduled

hearing.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.