HBA-CBW C.S.H.B. 2226 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2226 By: Davis, John Ways & Means 4/30/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, the chief appraiser of each county is required to prepare and certify the tax roll to the assessor of each taxing unit (unit) annually. The chief appraiser is also required to provide other items of information to each unit necessary for the unit to estimate the total taxable value of property in the unit for the purpose of setting an appropriate tax rate. One such item is an estimate of the value of properties under protest that have not been certified. The sum of the value of the noncertified property under protest and the certified tax roll amount, plus other adjustments, accounts for the value of all taxable property in the taxing unit and this total taxable value is necessary to calculate the unit's effective and rollback tax rate. In Harris County, because of the delay in certifying property values caused by the large number of land parcels in the county and the frequency of the sale of these parcels, the chief appraiser has established a category of property that is neither certified nor under protest. Such property is omitted from the total taxable value of property within the unit for the purpose of calculating the unit's effective and rollback tax rate, which results in the unit collecting more than the budgeted property tax revenue while avoiding the necessity for a public hearing on their proposed tax rate. C.S.H.B. 2226 requires the chief appraiser to prepare and certify to the assessor for each unit a list of those properties of which the chief appraiser has knowledge that are reasonably likely to be taxable by the unit but that are not included on the appraisal roll or listing certified by the assessor. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2226 amends the Tax Code to require the chief appraiser to prepare and certify to the assessor for each taxing unit (unit) a list of those properties of which the chief appraiser has knowledge that are reasonably likely to be taxable by the unit but that are not included on the appraisal roll certified to the assessor or included on the listing certified to the assessor. The bill requires the chief appraiser to include on the list for each property the market value, appraised value, and kind and amount of any partial exemptions as determined by the appraisal district for the preceding year and a reasonable estimate of the market value, appraised value, and kind and amount of any partial exemptions for the current year. Until the property is added to the appraisal roll, the bill requires the assessor for the unit to include each property on the list in prescribed calculations and requires the assessor, for that purpose, to use the lower market value, appraised value, or taxable value, as appropriate, included on or computed using the information included on the list for the property. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2002. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2226 differs from the original bill by requiring the chief appraiser to prepare and certify to the assessor for each taxing unit (unit) a list of those properties of which the chief appraiser has knowledge that are reasonably likely to be taxable, rather than properties taxable by that unit, but not on the appraisal roll. The substitute requires the chief appraiser to include on the list for each property the kind and amount of any partial exemptions for the preceding year and the current year as determined by the appraisal district. The substitute provides that the assessor for a unit may use values computed using the information included on the list for the purpose of prescribed calculations.