Senate Bill 2, the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, by Sen. Bettencourt, was signed by the governor on June 12, 2019. However, most of the provisions of the bill will become effective over a staggered schedule starting in January 2020. The bill makes substantial changes to the property tax and appraisal systems amending the Education, Local Government, Health and Safety, Government, Special District, and Tax Codes. The changes result in compressing existing timeframes and altering procedures for counties preparing their 2021 budgets and introduces some new terms and formulas.
There are resources to help understand the bill and how it will impact county and local governments. TAC drafted a bill summary, in the 2019 Legislative Analysis Report, which provides a high level overview of the 148-page bill, a budget time table, and identifies some related news clips. For a more information on SB 2, TAC created a short document discussing those provisions which will have the greatest impact on counties in the Senate Bill 2 Explanatory Q&A document. The Q&A document provides answers to some of the most asked questions and provides both statutory references and references to the discussed sections of the bill. In addition TAC developed a 2020 Budget Timeline that outlines how SB 2 will impact the county budget process in 2020.
TAC will continue to develop resources and provide assistance to counties as you prepare to implement the changes incorporated within SB 2. Please don't hesitate to contact TAC with any specific questions or concerns.