DAN MORALES 

ATTORNEYCmwlAL 

Honorable Bill IWitT 

Chair 

Education Committee 

Texas State Senate 

P.O. Box 12068 

Austin, Texas 78711 

QBffice of tfie !Wornep @Benerd 

Mate of ZEexae 

December 12,1994 

Opinion No. DM-3 12 

Re: Whether a homestead exemption under 

section 11.13(n) of the Tax Code may be 

adopted by public election pursuant to voter 

petition in the taxing unit (RQ-693) 

Dear Representative Ratliff: 

You ask whether “subsection (n) of section 11.13 of the Texas [Tax] Code 

require[s] that a governing body of a taxing unit call an election upon the petition of at 

least 20 percent of the qualified voters who voted in the taxing unit’s Last election.” 

Section 11.13 provides for various homestead exemptions from property taxation. 

Subsection (n) as first added in 1983 provided for an additional homestead 

exemption under section 11.13 The exemption was to be adopted by the governing body 

of a taxing unit. There was no provision for a public election on the issue or for a petition 

therefor. Subsection (n), as added in 1983, read in pertinent part as follows: 

In addition to any other exemptions provided by the section, an 

individual is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a taxing unit 

of a percentage of the appraised value of his residence homestead if 

the exemption is adopted by the governing body of the taxing 

unit. If the percentage set by the taxing unit produces an 

exemption in a tax year of less than $5,000 when applied to a 

particular residence homestead, the individual is entitled to an 

exemption of $5,000 of the appraised value. 

Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 851, $6, at 4822. The subsection also limited the percentage of 

appraised value of homesteads that could be exempted by the governing body of a taxing 

unit. 

In a 1991 amendment, in the same bill that created the county education district 

(“CED”) scheme of school finance, the legislature added provisions under subsection (n) 

of Tax Code section 11.13 for homestead exemptions with regard to CEDs specifically. 

The amendment added the language “other than a county education district” after “taxing 

unit” in the first sentence of the pm-existing portion of section 11.13(n), quoted above, 

deleted obsolete limitations on the percentage of exemption that could be allowed in the 

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Honorable Bill Batliff - Page 2 (DM-312) 

years 1982 and afler, and also added the following language to the end of the subsection: 

In addition to any other exemptions provided by this section, an 

individual is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a county 

education district of a percentage of the appraised value of his 

residence homestead if the exemption is adopted by the voters of the 

district at an election held in the district for that purpose under 

Section 20.946, Education Code. If the percentage set by voters 

produces an exemption in a tax year of less than SS,OOO when applied 

to a particuhtr residence homestead, the individual is entitled to an 

exemption of S5,OOO of the appraised value. The percentage adopted 

by the voters may not exceed 20 percent. 

Acts 1991,72d Leg., ch. 20,s 19,413 (Vernon’s Sess. Law Serv.) 

Thus, as amended in 1991, subsection (n) of section 11.13, provided for the 

adoption of CED homestead exemptions by public election. The referenced section 

20.946 of the Education Code, added in the same 1991 bill amending subsection (n), 

provided for CEDs’ ordering an election on the adoption of such exemption, and in the 

event that the exemption was not adopted at such election, for holding later elections on 

that issue upon the receipt of petitions signed by the required number of voters. Id. 4 2, at 

407. In our opinion, however, with respect to taxing units “other than a county education 

district,” there was still no provision for a homestead exemption under the subsection 

being effected by an election. Such exemptions were still to be “adopted by the governing 

body.” 

In 1993, the legislature abolished CEDs. Acts 1993, 73d Leg., ch. 347, 5 4.14, 

Vernon’s Sess. Law Serv. 1481, 1528. The same bill generally deleted references in state 

law to CEDs, including the above-quoted sentence added to subsection (n) of Tax Code 

section 11.13 in 1991, and reading: “In addition to any other exemptions provided by this 

section, an individual is entitled to an exemption from taxation by a county education 

district if the exemption is adopted by the voters of the district.” Id. at 1527. The bill 

also deleted Education Code section 20.946, discussed above, providing for CEDs’ 

adoption of the homestead exemption by election. Id. 5 4.13, at 1528. However, the last 

two sentences of subsection (n), which had been added in the 1991 amendment, although 

they had been part of the 1991 addition pertaining to CEDs, were not deleted, and appear 

in both the 1993 session laws and Vernon’s 1994 supplement as current law. 

Although the last two sentences of subsection (n) remain on the books, we do not 

think they operate to provide for an election on a homestead exemption under the 

subsection for taxing units other than CEDs. We find nothing in the series of amendments 

outlined above or in their legislative history, which indicates that the last two sentences of 

subsection (n), adopted to apply to the now abolished CEDs, have come to apply to the 

adoption of homestead exemptions by other taxing units. In our opinion, there has never 

been and is not now any provision authorizing taxing units other than the now abolished 

CEDs to have an election on the adoption of the subsection (n) homestead exemption. 

p. 1663 
Honorable Bill Ratliff - Page 3 (DM-312) 

SUMMARY 

There is no provision for the adoption of homestead exemptions 

under section 11.13(n), Tax Code, by public election in a taxing unit. 

Said exemptions are adopted by action of the taxing unit’s governing 

body. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

JORGE VEGA 

Fii Assistant Attorney General 

DREW T. DURHAM 

Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice 

JAVIBR AGUILAR 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICKS 

State Solicitor 

SARAH J. SHIRLEY 

Chair, Opiion Committee 

Prepared by William M. Walker 

Assistant Attorney General 

p. 1664