Property Tax

H.B. 706 (Farrar/Huffman) - Property Tax Exemption: provides that, once a person claims a property tax exemption for the amount of appraised value of the person’s property that arises from the installation of solar or wind-powered energy device, the exemption need not be claimed in subsequent years. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

H.B. 992 (D. Bonnen/L. Taylor) - Property Tax Exemption: provides a complete residence homestead property tax exemption for the surviving spouse of a 100% or totally disabled veteran who died before the law authorizing a residence homestead exemption for such a veteran took effect, but only if the surviving spouse has not remarried since the death of the disabled veteran. (Effective January 1, 2016, but only if H.J.R. 75, below, is approved by the voters.)

H.B. 994 (Anchia/West) - Property Tax Exemption: makes permanent the property tax exemption for landfill-generated gas conversion facilities and provides that the exemption applies to certain tangible personal property only, and not to real property. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

H.B. 1022 (Moody/Rodriguez) - Property Tax Exemption: provides, for purposes of the residence homestead property tax exemption, that a residence homestead includes a property occupied by an property owner’s surviving spouse who has a life estate in the property. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

H.B. 1463 (Raymond/Uresti) - Property Tax Exemption: requires a chief appraiser to take certain steps prior to cancelling a residence homestead property tax exemption received by an individual over 65 years of age, including: (1) providing written notice to the individual receiving the exemption, which must include a form on which the individual may indicate whether the individual is qualified to receive the exemption; and (2) cancelling the exemption if the chief appraiser doesn’t receive a response to the mailed notice within 60 days, so long as a reasonable effort is made to locate the individual and determine whether the individual is qualified to receive the exemption. (Effective September 1, 2015.)

H.B. 1464 (Raymond/Zaffirini) - Property Tax Exemption: provides that: (1) the comptroller’s application form for land to be appraised based upon agricultural use must include a space for the claimant to state the claimant’s date of birth; and (2) a chief appraiser must take certain steps prior to making a determination that land owned by an individual 65 years of age or older has been diverted to a nonagricultural use, including: (a) providing written notice to the property owner stating that the chief appraiser believes the land may have been diverted to a nonagricultural use, which must include a form on which the owner indicates whether the owner remains entitled to have the land designated for agricultural use; and (b) determining the land has been diverted to a nonagricultural use if the chief appraiser doesn’t receive a response to the mailed notice within 60 days, so long as a reasonable effort is made to locate the individual and determine whether the individual is entitled to have the land designated for agricultural use. (Effective September 1, 2015.)

H.B. 1933 (Darby/Hinojosa) - Property Tax Delinquency: provides, among other things, that: (1) with regard to installment payments of property taxes, if the delinquency date is a date other than February 1: (a) the second of four installments must be paid before the first day of the second month after the delinquency date; (b) the third installment must be paid before the first day of the fourth month after the delinquency date; and (c) the fourth installment must be paid before the first day of the sixth month after the delinquency date; and (2) the notice of property tax delinquency must prompt the taxpayer to contact the tax collector of a taxing unit regarding the right to enter into an installment agreement, instead of the taxing unit itself. (Effective September 1, 2015.)

H.B. 1953 (D. Bonnen/Hinojosa) - Property Tax Notice: allows a city or county to provide the required property tax rate notice not later than the later of September 1 or the 30th day after the first date the taxing unit receives each applicable certified appraisal roll. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

H.B. 2083 (Darby/Hancock) - Property Tax Appraisal: requires the selection of comparable properties and the application of appropriate adjustments for the determination of an appraised value of property to be based upon the application of generally accepted methods and techniques. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

Vetoed H.B. 2282 (Guillen/Uresti) - Property Tax Protests: provides, among other things, that an appraisal review board and chief appraiser must review the evidence or arguments provided by a property owner before a hearing on a protest. (Effective September 1, 2015.)

H.J.R. 75 (D. Bonnen/L.Taylor) - Property Tax Exemption: proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution that will permit the legislature to provide a complete residence homestead property tax exemption for the surviving spouse of a 100% or totally disabled veteran who died before the law authorizing a residence homestead exemption for such a veteran took effect, but only if the surviving spouse has not remarried since the death of the disabled veteran. (Effective if approved at the election on November 3, 2015.)

S.B. 1 (Nelson/D. Bonnen) - Property Tax Exemption: provides, among other things, that a property owner is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a school district of $25,000 of the appraised value of the person’s residence homestead. (Note: SB. 1, a major property tax relief bill, does not directly affect city property tax revenue.) (Effective on the date that S.J.R. 1, below, is approved by the voters.)

S.B. 593 (Watson/Darby) - Property Tax Appraisal: provides, among other things, that: (1) a property owner or appraisal district that is a party to a property tax appeal may request that the parties engage in settlement discussions though an informal settlement conference or alternative dispute resolution; and (2) upon the motion of either party, the court shall enter orders necessary to implement the pretrial settlement discussions. (Effective immediately.)

S.B. 833 (Campbell/S. King) - Property Tax Exemption: provides that a qualified residential structure does not lose its character as a residence homestead for property tax exemption purposes if a person temporarily stops occupying the structure as a principal residence due to the person’s military service inside or outside the United States. (Effective immediately.)

S.B. 918 (Nichols/Otto) - Property Tax Exemption: provides that, once a veterans’ organization or county fair association claims a property tax exemption as authorized by state law, the exemption need not be claimed in subsequent years. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

S.B. 1420 (Hancock/Murphy) - Property Tax Notice: requires the notice of appraised value sent to a property owner by a chief appraiser to include notice that an exemption or partial exemption approved for the property for the preceding year was canceled or reduced for the current year. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

S.B. 1760 (Creighton/D. Bonnen) - Property Tax Procedures: this bill, among other things: (1) requires at least 60% of the members of the governing body of a city to vote in favor of an ordinance setting a property tax rate that exceeds the effective tax rate; (2) requires the governing body of a taxing unit that increases property taxes to provide notice of how the taxing unit proposes to use the increase in total tax revenue; (3) provides that a property owner is not required to apply for a refund of taxes due to a correction of the tax roll in order to receive the refund; (4) provides that for a refund of taxes due upon final determination of an property tax appeal, the taxing unit shall include with the refund interest on the amount refunded calculated at an annual rate of 9.5%; and (5) allows a city or county to provide the required property tax rate notice not later than the later of September 1 or the 30th day after the first date the taxing unit receives each applicable certified appraisal roll. (Effective January 1, 2016.)

S.J.R. 1 (Nelson/D. Bonnen) - Property Tax Exemption: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide, among other things, that a property owner is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a school district of $25,000 of the appraised value of the person’s residence homestead. (Effective if approved at the election on November 3, 2015, and - if approved - would take effect for the tax year beginning January 1, 2015.)

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