Bill Text: TX SB1227 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the date for ordering or holding an election to ratify the ad valorem tax rate of a school district; making conforming changes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-09 - Left pending in committee [SB1227 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1227-Introduced.html

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86R6221 SMH-D
By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1227

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the date for ordering or holding an election to ratify
the ad valorem tax rate of a school district; making conforming
changes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.4391(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) The chief appraiser shall accept and approve or deny an
application for an exemption for freeport goods under Section
11.251 after the deadline for filing it has passed if it is filed
not later than June 1 [15].
SECTION 2. Sections 22.23(a) and (b), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(a) Rendition statements and property reports must be
delivered to the chief appraiser after January 1 and not later than
April 1 [15], except as provided by Section 22.02.
(b) On written request by the property owner, the chief
appraiser shall extend a deadline for filing a rendition statement
or property report to a date not later than May 1 [15]. The chief
appraiser may further extend the deadline an additional 15 days
upon good cause shown in writing by the property owner.
SECTION 3. Sections 25.19(a) and (g), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(a) By April 15 [1] or as soon thereafter as practicable [if
the property is a single-family residence that qualifies for an
exemption under Section 11.13, or by May 1 or as soon thereafter as
practicable in connection with any other property], the chief
appraiser shall deliver a clear and understandable written notice
to a property owner of the appraised value of the property owner's
property if:
(1) the appraised value of the property is greater
than it was in the preceding year;
(2) the appraised value of the property is greater
than the value rendered by the property owner;
(3) the property was not on the appraisal roll in the
preceding year; or
(4) an exemption or partial exemption approved for the
property for the preceding year was canceled or reduced for the
current year.
(g) By April 15 [1] or as soon thereafter as practicable [if
the property is a single-family residence that qualifies for an
exemption under Section 11.13, or by May 1 or as soon thereafter as
practicable in connection with any other property], the chief
appraiser shall deliver a written notice to the owner of each
property not included in a notice required to be delivered under
Subsection (a), if the property was reappraised in the current tax
year, if the ownership of the property changed during the preceding
year, or if the property owner or the agent of a property owner
authorized under Section 1.111 makes a written request for the
notice. The chief appraiser shall separate real from personal
property and include in the notice for each property:
(1) the appraised value of the property in the
preceding year;
(2) the appraised value of the property for the
current year and the kind of each partial exemption, if any,
approved for the current year;
(3) a detailed explanation of the time and procedure
for protesting the value; and
(4) the date and place the appraisal review board will
begin hearing protests.
SECTION 4. Section 25.22(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) By May 1 [15] or as soon thereafter as practicable, the
chief appraiser shall submit the completed appraisal records to the
appraisal review board for review and determination of protests.
However, the chief appraiser may not submit the records until the
chief appraiser has delivered the notices required by Sections
11.45(d) [Subsection (d) of Section 11.45], 23.44(d) [Subsection
(d) of Section 23.44], 23.57(d) [Subsection (d) of Section 23.57],
23.79(d) [Subsection (d) of Section 23.79], 23.85(d) [Subsection
(d) of Section 23.85], 23.95(d) [Subsection (d) of Section 23.95],
23.9805(d) [Subsection (d) of Section 23.9805], and [Section]
25.19.
SECTION 5. Sections 26.01(a) and (e), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(a) By July 10 [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.
(e) Except as provided by Subsection (f), not later than May
15 [April 30], the chief appraiser shall prepare and certify to the
assessor for each county, municipality, and school district
participating in the appraisal district an estimate of the taxable
value of property in that taxing unit. The chief appraiser shall
assist each county, municipality, and school district in
determining values of property in that taxing unit for the taxing
unit's budgetary purposes.
SECTION 6. Sections 26.04(b) and (e), 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 July 15 [August 1] or as
soon thereafter as practicable. By July 15 [August 1] or as soon
thereafter as practicable, the taxing unit's collector shall
certify [an estimate of] the anticipated collection rate 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 July 22 [August 7] or as soon thereafter as
practicable, the designated officer or employee shall submit the
rates to the governing body. By July 27, the designated officer or
employee [He] shall deliver by mail to each property owner in the
taxing unit or publish in a newspaper in the form prescribed by the
comptroller:
(1) the effective tax rate, the rollback 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;
(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);
(4) the amount of additional sales and use tax revenue
anticipated in calculations under Section 26.041;
(5) a statement that the adoption of a tax rate equal
to the effective tax rate would result in an increase or decrease,
as applicable, in the amount of taxes imposed by the taxing unit as
compared to last year's levy, and the amount of the increase or
decrease;
(6) in the year that a taxing unit calculates an
adjustment under Subsection (i) or (j), a schedule that includes
the following elements:
(A) the name of the taxing unit discontinuing the
department, function, or activity;
(B) the amount of property tax revenue spent by
the taxing unit listed under Paragraph (A) to operate the
discontinued department, function, or activity in the 12 months
preceding the month in which the calculations required by this
chapter are made; and
(C) the name of the taxing unit that operates a
distinct department, function, or activity in all or a majority of
the territory of a taxing unit that has discontinued operating the
distinct department, function, or activity; and
(7) in the year following the year in which a taxing
unit raised its rollback tax rate as required by Subsection (j), a
schedule that includes the following elements:
(A) the amount of property tax revenue spent by
the taxing unit to operate the department, function, or activity
for which the taxing unit raised the rollback tax rate as required
by Subsection (j) for the 12 months preceding the month in which the
calculations required by this chapter are made; and
(B) the amount published by the taxing unit in
the preceding tax year under Subdivision (6)(B).
SECTION 7. Section 26.05(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The governing body of each taxing unit[, before the
later of September 30 or the 60th day after the date the certified
appraisal roll is received by the 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 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 rollback tax rate before August 15. 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 published under 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 8. Section 26.06(e), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(e) The meeting to vote on the tax increase may not be
earlier than the third day or later than the seventh [14th] day
after the date of the second public hearing. The meeting must be
held inside the boundaries of the taxing unit in a publicly owned
building or, if a suitable publicly owned building is not
available, in a suitable building to which the public normally has
access. If the governing body does not adopt a tax rate that
exceeds the lower of the rollback tax rate or the effective tax rate
by the seventh [14th] day, it must give a new notice under
Subsection (d) before it may adopt a rate that exceeds the lower of
the rollback tax rate or the effective tax rate.
SECTION 9. Section 26.08, Tax Code, is amended by amending
Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (b-1), the [The]
governing body shall order that the election be held in the school
district on the uniform election date prescribed by [a date not less
than 30 or more than 90 days after the day on which it adopted the
tax rate.] Section 41.001, Election Code, that occurs in November
of the applicable tax year. The order calling the election may not
be issued later than August 15 [does not apply to the election
unless a date specified by that section falls within the time
permitted by this section]. At the election, the ballots shall be
prepared to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $_____ per $100
valuation in (name of school district) for the current year, a rate
that is $_____ higher per $100 valuation than the school district
rollback tax rate, for the purpose of (description of purpose of
increase)." The ballot proposition must include the adopted tax
rate and the difference between that rate and the rollback tax rate
in the appropriate places.
(b-1) Notwithstanding Section 41.0011(a), Election Code, an
emergency election under Section 41.0011 of that code at which a
proposition described by Subsection (b) of this section is
submitted to the voters shall be held on any uniform election date.
SECTION 10. Section 41.12(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) By July 5 [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.
SECTION 11. Section 22.23(c), Tax Code, is repealed.
SECTION 12. The changes in law made by this Act apply to the
ad valorem tax rate of a taxing unit beginning with the 2020 tax
year.
SECTION 13. Sections 11.4391(a) and 22.23(a) and (b), Tax
Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to ad valorem taxes imposed
for a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2020.
SECTION 14. (a) Not later than the 30th day after the date
this section takes effect, the comptroller of public accounts shall
mail a written notice to each appraisal district and the assessor
for each taxing unit in this state of any change made by this Act to
the deadline for complying with a requirement, duty, or function of
an appraisal district or taxing unit.
(b) This section takes effect immediately if this Act
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this section takes effect on the 91st day after the last day
of the legislative session.
SECTION 15. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, this
Act takes effect January 1, 2020.