Bill Text: TX SB43 | 2023 | 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced

Texas Senate Bill 43 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to expedited appeals of appraisal review board orders in certain appraisal districts.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-10-12 - Co-author authorized [SB43 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB43-Introduced.html

	88S30066 TJB-D

	By: Hinojosa	S.B. No. 43



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to expedited appeals of appraisal review board orders in
	certain appraisal districts.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 22.004, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (h-2) to read as follows:
	(h-2) In addition to the rules adopted under Subsections (h)
	and (h-1), the supreme court shall adopt rules to promote the
	prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of civil actions
	authorized by district courts to be expedited under Section 42.222,
	Tax Code. The rules must require that the final determination of a
	civil action authorized by a district court to be expedited under
	that section, including all appeals subsequent to the district
	court's determination in that action, be made on or before July 25
	of the year following the year in which the petition for the civil
	action is filed, and shall prescribe deadlines to ensure the final
	determination is made by that date. The rules shall balance the
	need for prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of these
	actions against the complexity of and discovery needs in these
	actions. The supreme court may not adopt rules under this
	subsection that conflict with other statutory law.
	SECTION 2. Section 41.47(e), Tax Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	(e) The notice of the issuance of the order must contain a
	prominently printed statement in upper-case bold lettering
	informing the property owner in clear and concise language of the
	property owner's right to appeal the order of the board to district
	court. The statement must describe the deadline prescribed by
	Section 42.06(a) for filing a written notice of appeal and the
	applicable deadline prescribed by Section 42.21(a) or (a-1) for
	filing the petition for review with the district court.
	SECTION 3. Section 42.21, Tax Code, is amended by amending
	Subsections (a), (c), (e), (g), and (h) and adding Subsections
	(a-1) and (a-2) to read as follows:
	(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] party who
	appeals as provided by this chapter must file a petition for review
	with the district court within 60 days after the party received
	notice that a final order has been entered from which an appeal may
	be had or at any time after the hearing but before the 60-day
	deadline.
	(a-1) This subsection applies only to an appeal described by
	Section 42.222(b). A party who appeals as provided by this chapter
	must file a petition for review with the district court within 30
	days after the party received notice that a final order has been
	entered from which an appeal may be had or at any time after the
	hearing but before the 30-day deadline.
	(a-2) Failure to timely file a petition as prescribed by
	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, bars any appeal under this
	chapter.
	(c) If an appeal under this chapter is pending when the
	appraisal review board issues an order in a subsequent year under a
	protest by the same property owner and that protest relates to the
	same property that is involved in the pending appeal, the property
	owner may appeal the subsequent appraisal review board order by
	amending the original petition for the pending appeal to include
	the grounds for appealing the subsequent order. The amended
	petition must be filed with the court in the period provided by
	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
	review of the subsequent order. A property owner may appeal the
	subsequent appraisal review board order under this subsection or
	may appeal the order independently of the pending appeal as
	otherwise provided by this section, but may not do both. A property
	owner may change the election of remedies provided by this
	subsection at any time before the end of the period provided by
	Subsection (a) or (a-1), as applicable, for filing a petition for
	review.
	(e) A petition that is timely filed under Subsection (a) or
	(a-1), as applicable, or amended under Subsection (c) may be
	subsequently amended to:
	(1) correct or change the name of a party; or
	(2) not later than the 120th day before the date of
	trial, identify or describe the property originally involved in the
	appeal.
	(g) A petition filed by an owner or lessee of property may be
	amended to include additional properties in the same county that
	are owned or leased by the same person, are of a similar type as the
	property originally involved in the appeal or are part of the same
	economic unit as the property originally involved in the appeal and
	would typically sell as a single property, and are the subject of an
	appraisal review board order issued in the same year as the order
	that is the subject of the original appeal. The amendment must be
	filed within the period during which a petition for review of the
	appraisal review board order pertaining to the additional
	properties would be required to be filed under Subsection (a) or
	(a-1), as applicable.
	(h) The court has jurisdiction over an appeal under this
	chapter brought on behalf of a property owner or lessee and the
	owner or lessee is considered to have exhausted the owner's or
	lessee's administrative remedies regardless of whether the
	petition correctly identifies the plaintiff as the owner or lessee
	of the property or correctly describes the property so long as the
	property was the subject of an appraisal review board order, the
	petition was filed within the period required by Subsection (a) or
	(a-1), as applicable, and the petition provides sufficient
	information to identify the property that is the subject of the
	petition. Whether the plaintiff is the proper party to bring the
	petition or whether the property needs to be further identified or
	described must be addressed by means of a special exception and
	correction of the petition by amendment as authorized by Subsection
	(e) and may not be the subject of a plea to the jurisdiction or a
	claim that the plaintiff has failed to exhaust the plaintiff's
	administrative remedies. If the petition is amended to add a
	plaintiff, the court on motion shall enter a docket control order to
	provide proper deadlines in response to the addition of the
	plaintiff.
	SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Tax Code, is amended by
	adding Section 42.222 to read as follows:
	Sec. 42.222. EXPEDITED APPEAL. (a) In this section:
	(1) "Affected appraisal district" means an appraisal
	district:
	(A) established for a county that has a
	population of less than 500,000 and is located on the Gulf of
	Mexico; and
	(B) in which one or more parcels of property are
	located that are included as part of anticipated substantial
	litigation.
	(2) "Anticipated substantial litigation" means one or
	more appeals filed or intended to be filed under this chapter for a
	tax year by a single property owner or by one or more associated
	business entities of a single property owner of one or more orders
	of an appraisal review board determining one or more protests by the
	owner or entities of the taxable value of one or more parcels of
	property located in an affected appraisal district that have an
	aggregate contested taxable value of more than $1 billion.
	(3) "Associated business entity" means a subsidiary or
	other associated business entity of a property owner.
	(4) "Contested taxable value" means the portion of the
	taxable value of property that is in dispute.
	(b) This section applies only to an appeal authorized by
	this chapter of a protest to an appraisal review board for an
	affected appraisal district.
	(c) On motion of a party to an appeal or a taxing unit
	authorized to intervene in the appeal as provided by Subsection
	(d), the court in which the appeal is filed may expedite the appeal
	under rules adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2),
	Government Code, if the court finds that one or more taxing units
	will be substantially affected by not expediting the appeal.
	(d) The court in which an appeal subject to this section is
	filed may authorize a taxing unit entitled to tax property subject
	to the appeal to intervene in the appeal for the sole purpose of
	bringing a motion to expedite the proceedings.
	(e) Notwithstanding Section 22.004, Government Code, the
	supreme court may not amend or adopt rules in conflict with this
	section.
	SECTION 5. Section 42.28, Tax Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 42.28. APPEAL OF DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT. (a) A party
	may appeal the final judgment of the district court as provided by
	law for appeal of civil suits generally, except that an appeal bond
	is not required of the chief appraiser, the county, the
	comptroller, or the commissioners court.
	(b) An appeal to a court of appeals or the supreme court
	involving the final judgment of a district court under an expedited
	appeal authorized by Section 42.222 shall be conducted under rules
	adopted by the supreme court under Section 22.004(h-2), Government
	Code.
	SECTION 6. Not later than March 1, 2024, the Supreme Court
	of Texas shall adopt rules required by Section 22.004(h-2),
	Government Code, as added by this Act.
	SECTION 7. Section 41.47, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
	applies only to notice of issuance of an appraisal review board
	order delivered on or after March 1, 2024.
	SECTION 8. Section 42.21, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
	and Section 42.222, Tax Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an
	appeal filed under Chapter 42, Tax Code, on or after March 1, 2024.
	SECTION 9. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
	section, this Act takes effect March 1, 2024.
	(b) Sections 1 and 6 of this Act take 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
	those sections to have immediate effect, those sections take effect
	on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.