Bill Text: TX HB316 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the pilot program authorizing a property owner to appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings regarding certain appraisal review board determinations.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 3)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 1/1/14 [HB316 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB316-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 316

AN ACT
relating to the pilot program authorizing a property owner to
appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings regarding
certain appraisal review board determinations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003,
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER Z. [PILOT PROGRAM:] APPEALS FROM APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD
DETERMINATIONS [IN CERTAIN COUNTIES]
SECTION 2. Section 2003.901, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2003.901. APPEALS FROM APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD
DETERMINATIONS [PILOT PROGRAM]. As [(a) Not later than January 1,
2010, the office shall develop a pilot program under which, as] an
alternative to filing an appeal under Section 42.01, Tax Code, a
property owner may appeal to the office an appraisal review board
order determining a protest concerning the appraised or market
value of property brought under Section 41.41(a)(1) or (2), Tax
Code, if the appraised or market value, as applicable, of the
property that was the subject of the protest, as determined by the
board order, is more than $1 million.
[(b) The pilot program shall be developed and implemented in
conformance with the provisions of this subchapter.
[(c) So as to expeditiously determine the appeals filed with
the office using resources available to the office, the office is
not required to determine more than 3,000 appeals filed under this
subchapter. The office may develop a formula to establish the
number of appeals that may be filed in each county included in the
pilot program based on the total number of lawsuits filed in a
county to which this subchapter applies as a percentage of the total
number of lawsuits filed in all of those counties.]
SECTION 3. Section 2003.902, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2003.902. PARTICIPATING OFFICES AND REMOTE HEARING
SITES [COUNTIES INCLUDED]. The office shall hear appeals filed
under this subchapter only in [pilot program shall be implemented]:
(1) Amarillo; [in Bexar, Cameron, El Paso, Harris,
Tarrant, and Travis Counties for a four-year period beginning with
the ad valorem tax year that begins January 1, 2010; and]
(2) Austin;
(3) Beaumont;
(4) Corpus Christi;
(5) El Paso;
(6) Fort Worth;
(7) Houston;
(8) Lubbock;
(9) Lufkin;
(10) McAllen;
(11) Midland;
(12) San Antonio;
(13) Tyler; and
(14) Wichita Falls [in Collin, Denton, Fort Bend,
Montgomery, and Nueces Counties for a two-year period beginning
with the ad valorem tax year that begins January 1, 2012].
SECTION 4. Section 2003.904, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2003.904. APPLICABILITY TO REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.
This subchapter applies only to an appeal of [The pilot program must
be applicable to] a determination of the appraised or market value
made by an appraisal review board in connection with real or
personal property, other than industrial property [or minerals].
SECTION 5. Section 2003.908, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2003.908. NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS. An appraisal
review board [of an appraisal district established in a county
listed in Section 2003.902 of this code] that delivers notice of
issuance of an order described by Section 2003.901 of this code
pertaining to property described by Section 2003.904 of this code
and a copy of the order to a property owner as required by Section
41.47, Tax Code, shall include with the notice and copy:
(1) a notice of the property owner's rights under this
subchapter; and
(2) a copy of the notice of appeal prescribed by
Section 2003.907.
SECTION 6. The heading to Section 2003.909, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2003.909. DESIGNATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE;
LOCATION OF HEARING.
SECTION 7. Section 2003.909, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b-1) If all or part of the property that is the subject of
the appeal is located in a municipality listed in Section 2003.902,
the administrative law judge shall set the hearing in that
municipality. If no part of the property that is the subject of the
appeal is located in a municipality listed in Section 2003.902, the
administrative law judge shall set the hearing in the listed
municipality that is nearest to the subject property.
(c) The hearing must be held in a building or facility that
is owned or partly or entirely leased by the office [and located in
the county in which the applicable appraisal district is
established], except that if the office does not own or lease a
building or facility in the municipality in which the hearing is
required to be held [county], the hearing may be held in any public
or privately owned building or facility in that municipality
[county], preferably a building or facility in which the office
regularly conducts business. The hearing may not be held in a
building or facility that is owned, leased, or under the control of
an [the] appraisal district.
SECTION 8. Sections 2003.915 and 2003.916, Government Code,
are repealed.
SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an appeal filed under Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003, Government Code,
on or after the effective date of this Act. An appeal filed under
Subchapter Z, Chapter 2003, Government Code, before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the appeal was
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect January 1, 2014.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 316 was passed by the House on May 2,
2013, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 316 was passed by the Senate on May
22, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor