2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB1399

HB1399 exempts the appraised value of qualifying animal feed owned and held for retail sale from property taxation.

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Official caption: Relating to an exemption from ad valorem taxation of tangible personal property consisting of animal feed held by the owner of the property for sale at retail.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Harris. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

HB1399 exempts the appraised value of qualifying animal feed owned and held for retail sale from property taxation.
The act made its January 1, 2026 effective date conditional on voters approving the constitutional authority proposed in HJR99.
This adds a property-tax exemption for the inventory owner; it does not create a new sales-tax exemption at the checkout.

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What does it do?

HB1399 exempts the appraised value of qualifying animal feed owned and held for retail sale from property taxation. The feed must already fall within the sales-and-use-tax exemptions for feed for farm and ranch animals or feed for animals held for sale in the regular course of business. It is not an exemption for every kind of pet food, all business inventory, store buildings or equipment. Final law · Tax Code 151.316(a)(3)–(4)

The act made its January 1, 2026 effective date conditional on voters approving the constitutional authority proposed in HJR99. The official Texas Constitution now records that authority in Article VIII, Section 1-s, added November 4, 2025, satisfying the condition. The exemption applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, not a refund of earlier years’ taxes. HJR99 · Adopted constitutional provision

This adds a property-tax exemption for the inventory owner; it does not create a new sales-tax exemption at the checkout. The existing sales-tax categories identify which feed qualifies, while ownership and holding the feed for retail sale are separate requirements under HB1399.

What changed along the way?

All five indexed versions—introduced, House committee, engrossed, Senate committee and enrolled—have identical operative provisions. The official amendment index expressly reports no amendments. Governor Abbott signed HB1399 May 24, 2025. It passed the House 125–10, with one present but not voting, and the Senate 30–1; the later constitutional approval was a separate required step. History · Introduced · House committee · Engrossed · Senate committee · Versions · Amendment index

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Retailers owning eligible feed inventory may owe less property tax on that inventory. Whether any saving reaches customers through lower prices is a business outcome, not a requirement in the law. School districts and other local taxing units lose taxable value; depending on tax-rate decisions, some revenue loss may instead be shifted toward owners of nonexempt property.

Both Legislative Budget Board notes anticipate no significant state fiscal impact, while explaining that lower school-district taxable value can increase state school-finance costs. For other local governments, revenue falls if rates are not increased; higher permissible/adopted rates could offset the loss and shift part of the burden. The notes provide no dollar estimate, two-year/five-year total or guaranteed saving per retailer. Their voter-approval condition has since been resolved by the adopted constitutional provision cited above. Introduced fiscal note · Engrossed fiscal note

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.