2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB851
HB851 requires chief appraisers and the state comptroller to report how many residence homesteads use three existing property-tax protections.
Official caption: Relating to the determination and reporting of the number of residence homesteads of certain property owners for which the owner is receiving certain ad valorem tax benefits.
Official report lists House author(s): Schofield. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
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.
- HB851 requires chief appraisers and the state comptroller to report how many residence homesteads use three existing property-tax protections.
- The distinction between current-year tax-limit counts and prior-year deferral/abatement counts is deliberate.
- Chief appraisers report the counts to the comptroller when submitting the county-tax appraisal roll to the county assessor-collector under the existing roll-submission procedure.
- Both levels of reporting—the chief appraiser's submission and the comptroller's legislative report—must omit property owners' personally identifying information.
What does it do?
HB851 requires chief appraisers and the state comptroller to report how many residence homesteads use three existing property-tax protections. It is a reporting law, not a new exemption, tax cut or cancellation of unpaid taxes. Final law
For each school district within an appraisal district, the chief appraiser must count:
- Homesteads subject to the school-tax limitation under Tax Code 11.26 in the current tax year. That existing provision addresses qualifying older or disabled homeowners’ school taxes.
- Homesteads using Section 33.06’s tax-collection deferral, delinquent-tax-suit abatement or foreclosure-sale abatement during any part of the preceding tax year. That existing provision covers qualifying older people, people with disabilities and disabled veterans.
- Homesteads using Section 33.065’s deferral or abatement of delinquent-tax suits for appreciating homesteads during any part of the preceding tax year.
The distinction between current-year tax-limit counts and prior-year deferral/abatement counts is deliberate. Deferral postpones collection; the underlying statutes retain tax liens and interest rather than simply forgiving the tax. HB851 does not change those benefit rules. School-tax limitation · Existing deferral provisions
Chief appraisers report the counts to the comptroller when submitting the county-tax appraisal roll to the county assessor-collector under the existing roll-submission procedure. By November 1 each tax year, the comptroller must report statewide totals to the lieutenant governor, House speaker and every legislator. The reports must include each school district’s counts or a reference showing where to access them. Roll-submission procedure
Both levels of reporting—the chief appraiser’s submission and the comptroller’s legislative report—must omit property owners’ personally identifying information. The law took effect January 1, 2026, applying to determination and reporting during tax years beginning on or after that date. For example, the prior-year categories in a 2026 report concern use during 2025; the effective date does not convert them into current-year counts. Official history
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill, House committee version and engrossed bill required appraisers to report by September 1 in the comptroller’s prescribed form. The Senate committee substitute instead tied reporting to the county appraisal-roll submission. The comptroller’s November 1 deadline stayed intact.
The Senate then adopted Bettencourt’s amendment, adding the prohibition on personally identifying information to both reporting stages in all three categories. The amendment index lists that single adopted floor amendment. The House concurred May 28 and the governor signed June 20. There was no conference rewrite.
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?
Lawmakers gain consistent counts for assessing how frequently existing homestead protections are used. Property owners gain explicit protection against identifying details appearing in these new reports, although HB851 does not make all underlying appraisal records confidential.
Appraisal districts must identify and aggregate the applicable homesteads, and the comptroller must compile the results. Homeowners do not receive a new benefit automatically from being counted, and the act does not impose a new homeowner reporting form.
The latest fiscal note anticipated no significant fiscal impact to state or local governments. It does not quantify tax savings because the act adds reporting rather than changing tax entitlements or rates.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.