S.B. No. 1767

AN ACT relating to hearings and protests before appraisal review boards involving ad valorem tax determinations. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 25.25(e), Tax Code, is 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. The property owner is entitled to elect to present the owner’s evidence and argument before, after, or between the cases presented by the chief appraiser and each taxing unit. A property owner who files the motion must comply with the payment requirements of Section 25.26 or forfeit the right to a final determination of the motion. SECTION 2. Section 41.66(b), Tax Code, is amended to read as follows: (b) Hearing procedures to the greatest extent practicable shall be informal. Each party to a hearing is entitled to offer evidence, examine or cross-examine witnesses or other parties, and present argument on the matters subject to the hearing. A property owner who is a party to a protest is entitled to elect to present the owner’s case at a hearing on the protest either before or after the appraisal district presents the district’s case. SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section 25.25, Tax Code, applies only to a motion to correct an appraisal roll filed on or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act to Section 41.66, Tax Code, applies only to a protest for which the notice of protest was filed by a property owner or the designated agent of the owner with the appraisal review board established for an appraisal district on or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 5. This Act takes effect January 1, 2018. ______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate             Speaker of the House I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1767 passed the Senate on April 12, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, one present not voting. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1767 passed the House on May 24, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, two present not voting. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House Approved: ______________________________ Date ______________________________ Governor