Bill Text: TX SB1424 | 2021-2022 | 87th 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) 2021-03-18 - Referred to Local Government [SB1424 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SB1424-Introduced.html

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87R858 SMH-D
By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1424

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 on
or before the later of:
(1) June 1 [15]; or
(2) if applicable, the 60th day after the date on which
the chief appraiser delivers notice to the property owner under
Section 22.22.
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), (a-1), 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.
(a-1) If by July 5 [20] the appraisal review board for an
appraisal district has not approved the appraisal records for the
district as required under Section 41.12, the chief appraiser shall
not later than July 10 [25] prepare and certify to the assessor for
each taxing unit participating in the district an estimate of the
taxable value of property in that 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), (e), and (e-2), 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 the anticipated collection rate as calculated under
Subsections (h), (h-1), and (h-2) 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 [The] designated
officer or employee shall post prominently on the home page of the
taxing unit's Internet website in the form prescribed by the
comptroller:
(1) the no-new-revenue tax rate, the voter-approval
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; and
(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).
(e-2) By July 22 [August 7] or as soon thereafter as
practicable, the chief appraiser of each appraisal district shall
deliver by regular mail or e-mail to each owner of property located
in the appraisal district a notice that the estimated amount of
taxes to be imposed on the owner's property by each taxing unit in
which the property is located may be found in the property tax
database maintained by the appraisal district under Section 26.17.
The notice must include:
(1) a statement directing the property owner to an
Internet website from which the owner may access information
related to the actions taken or proposed to be taken by each taxing
unit in which the property is located that may affect the taxes
imposed on the owner's property;
(2) a statement that the property owner may request
from the county assessor-collector for the county in which the
property is located or, if the county assessor-collector does not
assess taxes for the county, the person who assesses taxes for the
county under Section 6.24(b), contact information for the assessor
for each taxing unit in which the property is located, who must
provide the information described by this subsection to the owner
on request; and
(3) the name, address, and telephone number of the
county assessor-collector for the county in which the property is
located or, if the county assessor-collector does not assess taxes
for the county, the person who assesses taxes for the county under
Section 6.24(b).
SECTION 7. Section 26.05(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The governing body of each 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 voter-approval tax rate before August 15 [not later than the
71st day before the next uniform election date prescribed by
Section 41.001, Election Code, that occurs in November of that
year]. 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 described by 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 26.08, 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 [next] uniform election date prescribed by 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 [after the date of the election order and that allows
sufficient time to comply with the requirements of other law]. At
the election, the ballots shall be prepared to permit voting for or
against the proposition: "Ratifying the ad valorem tax rate of ___
(insert adopted tax rate) in (name of school district) for the
current year, a rate that will result in an increase of _____
(insert percentage increase in maintenance and operations tax
revenue under the adopted tax rate as compared to maintenance and
operations tax revenue in the preceding tax year) percent in
maintenance and operations tax revenue for the district for the
current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an
additional $____ (insert dollar amount of increase in maintenance
and operations tax revenue under the adopted tax rate as compared to
maintenance and operations tax revenue in the preceding tax year)."
(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 9. 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 10. The changes in law made by this Act apply to the
ad valorem tax rate of a taxing unit beginning with the 2022 tax
year.
SECTION 11. 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, 2022.
SECTION 12. (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 13. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, this
Act takes effect January 1, 2022.