The Honorable Bob Bullpck Opinion No. H- 894 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

104 L.B.J. State Office Building Re: Tax exemption for 

Austin, Texas 78711 surviving spouses and 

children of disabled 

veterans. 

Dear Mr. Bullock: 

You have requested our opinion concerning the proper 

construction of sections 0 and 9 of,article 7150h, V.T.C.S., 

relating to tax exemptions for surviving spouses and children 

of deceased disabled veterans. Article 7150h was passed by 

the Legislature pursuant to article 8, section 2(b) of the 

Texas Constitution, and grants to disabled veterans with 

service connected disabilities an exemption from all property 

taxes of up to $3,000 of the assessed value of their property. 

Additionally, Section 8 of article 7150h provides: 

The surviving spouse of a deceased 

disabled veteran, who at the time of his 

death was entitled to an exemption under 

Section 3 of this Act, is entitled to 

an exemption equal to the amount the 

deceased disabled veteran was entitled 

to receive at the time of his death, if 

the surviving spouse is unmarried. 

The amount of the exemption to which a deceased disabled 

veteran was entitled to receive at the time of his death 

depends on the extent of his disability. Section 9 provides 

in part: 

P. 3762 
The Honorable Bob Bullock - page 2 (H-894) 

. . c 

(a) This section applies only if there 

is no person receiving an exemption under 

Section 8 of this Act. 

(b) Each qualified child of a deceased 

disabled veteran who was entitled to an 

exemtion under Section 3 of this Act at 

the time of his death is entitled to an 

exemption from property taxes in an amount 

determined under Subsection (c) of this 

section. 

(c) The amount of the exemption allowable 

under Subsection (b) of this section is 

determined by dividing the amount of the 

exemption to which the deceased disabled 

veteran was entitled at the time of his 

death by the number of qualified children. 

. . . 

You ask whether sections 8 and 9 grant an exemption only to 

survivors of those deceased disabled veterans who were actually 

eligible to receive an exemption at the time of their death, 

or if those sections should be read to provide an exemption 

also to survivors of those disabled veterans who died prior 

to the enactment of article 7150h. 

If the language "an exemption equal to the amount the 

deceased disabled veteran was entitled to receive at the 

time of his death" is construed to mean that the veteran 

must have been legally entitled to the exemption when he 

died, the relief afforded by sections 8 and 9 would go 

only to survivors of those disabled veterans dying after 

January 1, 1976. This was clearly not the intention of the 

Legislature. Section 1 of article 7150h exempts from all 

property taxes 

the value of assessed property owned by 

a disabled veteran or b the surviving: - 

fpouse or children of a deceased veteran 

in the amounts orovzea in this Act. 

(Emphasis addedj. 

To restrict the statutory exemption of sections 8 and 9 only 

to survivors of those disabled veterans who have died since 

January 1, 1976, would give sections 8 and 9 negligible 

immediate effect, and would render the benefits of article 

7150h meaningless to the many survivors of disabled veterans 

P. 3763 
The Honorable Bob Bullock - page 3 (H-894) 

who died before January 1, 1976. We find it inconceivable 

that the Legislature intended such a negligible immediate 

application of article 7150h to the survivors of disabled 

veterans. We believe it sufficiently clear that the Legislature did not intend that result, but merely intended 

sections 8 and 9 to require the amount of exemption to which 

a surviving spouse or child is entitled to be determined by 

the percentage of service connected disability suffered by 

the deceased at the time of death. 

SUMMARY 

The grant to the surviving spouse and 

children of a deceased disabled veteran 

of an exemption from all property taxes 

in an amount equal to that the deceased 

disabled veteran was entitled tom receive 

at the time of his death applies both to 

survivors of those disabled veterans who 

died before the effective date of article 

7150h, V.T.C.S., and to survivors of those 

disabled veterans who died thereafter. 

Sections 8 and 9 of article 7150h, V.T.C.S., 

require that the amount of the exemption be 

determined by the percentage of service 

connected disability suffered by the 

deceased at the time of death. 

-Very truly yours, 

// 

Attorney General of Texas 

Opinion Committee 

jwb P. 3764