HBA-AMW H.B. 3319 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3319
By: Ramsay
Ways & Means
4/16/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, appraisal districts have to appraise the value of the
land for school districts.  This value is used to assess the amount of
money that a school district will receive from the state to compensate for
the lack of local tax money a school district receives.  In addition, the
comptroller of public accounts (comptroller) conducts an annual study or
assessment of the value of land in school districts.  If the comptroller
determines in the annual study that the assessment by the local appraisal
district is not valid, the comptroller's assessment is used.  While most
cases result in the appraisal district's value being used, use of the
comptroller's assessment may be costly to school districts, especially
small, rural districts.  There is concern that these school districts may
lose a large portion of an annual budget because of discrepancies between
the findings of the comptroller and an appraisal district regarding  the
assessment of the value of the land.  House Bill 3319 requires the
comptroller to audit the performance of an appraisal district if the
comptroller determines the district's market value of property is not valid
and sets forth provisions regarding the audit. 

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

House Bill 3319 amends the Government and Tax codes to require the
comptroller of public accounts (comptroller) to audit the performance of an
appraisal district if the comptroller does not determine in the annual
study of the market value of property in a school district that an
appraisal district's market value of property is valid.  The bill amends
the Government Code to remove the provision specifying that if the
comptroller determines that an appraisal district's market value of
property is not valid, then taxable value is the value determined in the
comptroller's annual study. 

The bill amends the Tax Code to authorize the comptroller to conduct a
general audit of the performance of the appraisal district  or to audit
only one or more particular duties, practices, functions, departments, or
other appraisal district matters.  The bill requires the comptroller to
complete such an audit as soon as practicable.  The bill authorizes the
comptroller to order the development of an improvement plan that addresses
the deficiencies found in an audit, submission of the plan to the
comptroller for approval, and implementation of the plan.  If an appraisal
district fails to develop and implement an improvement plan, the bill
authorizes the comptroller to appoint a special master who may exercise
supervision and control over the operations of the district until the plan
is developed and implemented. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.