Bill Text: TX HB2220 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled

---

Bill Title: Relating to the requirement to prepay ad valorem taxes as a prerequisite to determining certain motions or protests and the authority of an appraisal review board to determine compliance with the requirement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective immediately [HB2220 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB2220-Enrolled.html

---

H.B. No. 2220

AN ACT
relating to the requirement to prepay ad valorem taxes as a
prerequisite to determining certain motions or protests and the
authority of an appraisal review board to determine compliance with
the requirement.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 25.25(e) and (g), Tax Code, are amended
to read as follows:
(e) If the chief appraiser and the property owner do not
agree to the correction before the 15th day after the date the
motion is filed, a party bringing a motion under Subsection (c) or
(d) is entitled on request to a hearing on and a determination of
the motion by the appraisal review board. A party bringing a motion
under this section must describe the error or errors that the motion
is seeking to correct. Not later than 15 days before the date of the
hearing, the board shall deliver written notice of the date, time,
and place of the hearing to the chief appraiser, the property owner,
and the presiding officer of the governing body of each taxing unit
in which the property is located. The chief appraiser, the property
owner, and each taxing unit are entitled to present evidence and
argument at the hearing and to receive written notice of the board's
determination of the motion. A property owner who files the motion
must comply with the payment requirements of Section 25.26 [42.08]
or forfeit the right to a final determination of the motion.
(g) Within 45 days after receiving notice of the appraisal
review board's determination of a motion under this section or of a
determination of the appraisal review board that the property owner
has forfeited the right to a final determination of a motion under
this section for failing to comply with the prepayment requirements
of Section 25.26, the property owner or the chief appraiser may file
suit to compel the board to order a change in the appraisal roll as
required by this section.
SECTION 2. Chapter 25, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Section 25.26 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.26. FORFEITURE OF REMEDY FOR NONPAYMENT OF TAXES.
(a) The pendency of a motion filed under Section 25.25 does not
affect the delinquency date for the taxes on the property that is
the subject of the motion. However, that delinquency date applies
only to the amount of taxes required to be paid under Subsection
(b). If the property owner complies with Subsection (b), the
delinquency date for any additional amount of taxes due on the
property is determined in the manner provided by Section 42.42(c)
for the determination of the delinquency date for additional taxes
finally determined to be due in an appeal under Chapter 42, and that
additional amount is not delinquent before that date.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a property owner
who files a motion under Section 25.25 must pay the amount of taxes
due on the portion of the taxable value of the property that is the
subject of the motion that is not in dispute before the delinquency
date or the property owner forfeits the right to proceed to a final
determination of the motion.
(c) A property owner who pays an amount of taxes greater
than that required by Subsection (b) does not forfeit the property
owner's right to a final determination of the motion by making the
payment. If the property owner files a timely motion under Section
25.25, taxes paid on the property are considered paid under
protest, even if paid before the motion is filed.
(d) After filing an oath of inability to pay the taxes at
issue, a property owner may be excused from the requirement of
prepayment of tax as a prerequisite to the determination of a motion
if the appraisal review board, after notice and hearing, finds that
such prepayment would constitute an unreasonable restraint on the
property owner's right of access to the board. On the motion of a
party, the board shall determine compliance with this section in
the same manner and by the same procedure as provided by Section
41.4115(d) and may set such terms and conditions on any grant of
relief as may be reasonably required by the circumstances.
SECTION 3. Section 41.411(c), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) A property owner who protests as provided by this
section must comply with the payment requirements of Section
41.4115 [42.08] or the property owner forfeits the property owner's
right to a final determination of the protest. [The delinquency
date for purposes of Section 42.08(b) for the taxes on the property
subject to a protest under this section is postponed to the 125th
day after the date that one or more taxing units first delivered
written notice of the taxes due on the property, as determined by
the appraisal review board at a hearing under Section 41.44(c-3).]
SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 41, Tax Code, is amended by
adding Section 41.4115 to read as follows:
Sec. 41.4115. FORFEITURE OF REMEDY FOR NONPAYMENT OF TAXES.
(a) The pendency of a protest under Section 41.411 does not affect
the delinquency date for the taxes on the property subject to the
protest. However, that delinquency date applies only to the amount
of taxes required to be paid under Subsection (b) and, for purposes
of Subsection (b), that delinquency date is postponed to the 125th
day after the date one or more taxing units first delivered written
notice of the taxes due on the property, as determined by the
appraisal review board at a hearing under Section 41.44(c-3). If
the property owner complies with Subsection (b), the delinquency
date for any additional amount of taxes due on the property is
determined in the manner provided by Section 42.42(c) for the
determination of the delinquency date for additional taxes finally
determined to be due in an appeal under Chapter 42, and that
additional amount is not delinquent before that date.
(b) Except as provided in Subsection (d), a property owner
who files a protest under Section 41.411 must pay the amount of
taxes due on the portion of the taxable value of the property
subject to the protest that is not in dispute before the delinquency
date or the property owner forfeits the right to proceed to a final
determination of the protest.
(c) A property owner who pays an amount of taxes greater
than that required by Subsection (b) does not forfeit the property
owner's right to a final determination of the protest by making the
payment. If the property owner files a timely protest under Section
41.411, taxes paid on the property are considered paid under
protest, even if paid before the protest is filed.
(d) After filing an oath of inability to pay the taxes at
issue, a property owner may be excused from the requirement of
prepayment of tax as a prerequisite to the determination of a
protest if the appraisal review board, after notice and hearing,
finds that such prepayment would constitute an unreasonable
restraint on the property owner's right of access to the board. On
the motion of a party, the board shall hold a hearing to review and
determine compliance with this section, and the reviewing board may
set such terms and conditions on any grant of relief as may be
reasonably required by the circumstances. If the board determines
that the property owner has not substantially complied with this
section, the board shall dismiss the pending protest. If the board
determines that the property owner has substantially but not fully
complied with this section, the board shall dismiss the pending
protest unless the property owner fully complies with the board's
determination within 30 days of the determination.
SECTION 5. Section 42.01, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 42.01. RIGHT OF APPEAL BY PROPERTY OWNER. (a) A
property owner is entitled to appeal:
(1) an order of the appraisal review board
determining:
(A) a protest by the property owner as provided
by Subchapter C of Chapter 41; [or]
(B) a determination of an appraisal review board
on a motion filed under Section 25.25; or
(C) a determination of an appraisal review board
that the property owner has forfeited the right to a final
determination of a motion filed under Section 25.25 or of a protest
under Section 41.411 for failing to comply with the prepayment
requirements of Section 25.26 or 41.4115, as applicable; or
(2) an order of the comptroller issued as provided by
Subchapter B, Chapter 24, apportioning among the counties the
appraised value of railroad rolling stock owned by the property
owner.
(b) A property owner who establishes that the owner did not
forfeit the right to a final determination of a motion or of a
protest in an appeal under Subsection (a)(1)(C) is entitled to a
final determination of the court, as applicable:
(1) of the motion filed under Section 25.25; or
(2) of the protest under Section 41.411 of the failure
of the chief appraiser or appraisal review board to provide or
deliver a notice to which the property owner is entitled, and, if
failure to provide or deliver the notice is established, of a
protest made by the property owner on any other grounds of protest
authorized by this title relating to the property to which the
notice applies.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a motion to correct an appraisal roll or a protest filed on or after
the effective date of this Act. A motion to correct an appraisal
roll or a protest filed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the motion or protest was
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it 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
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2220 was passed by the House on May 5,
2011, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 4, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2220 was passed by the Senate on May
25, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0
.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor