H.B. No. 992

AN ACT
relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of the total
appraised value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse
of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.131(c), Tax Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) The surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who qualified
for an exemption under Subsection (b) when the disabled veteran
died, or of a disabled veteran who would have qualified for an
exemption under that subsection if that subsection had been in
effect on the date the disabled veteran died, is entitled to an
exemption from taxation of the total appraised value of the same
property to which the disabled veteran’s exemption applied, or to
which the disabled veteran’s exemption would have applied if the
exemption had been authorized on the date the disabled veteran
died, if:
(1) the surviving spouse has not remarried since the
death of the disabled veteran; and
(2) the property:
(A) was the residence homestead of the surviving
spouse when the disabled veteran died; and
(B) remains the residence homestead of the
surviving spouse.
SECTION 2. Section 11.131, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed for a tax year beginning on
or after January 1, 2016.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2016, but only
if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 84th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2015, authorizing the legislature to provide for
an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market
value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a 100
percent or totally disabled veteran who died before the law
authorizing a residence homestead exemption for such a veteran took
effect is approved by the voters. If that amendment is not approved
by the voters, this Act has no effect.

______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate               Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 992 was passed by the House on April
23, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 136, Nays 1, 3 present, not
voting.

______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 992 was passed by the Senate on May
24, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 27, Nays 2, 1 present, not
voting
.

______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date

_____________________
Governor