Opinion ID: 1723051
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Delinquent CED taxes

Text: The Commissioner's rule required the governing board of each CED to designate a successor-in-interest to the assets, liabilities, and records of the CED. 19 TEX.ADMIN.CODE § 16.1001(a). The successor-in-interest is charged with collecting all delinquent taxes of the CED, including any accrued but unpaid penalties and interest, and distributing the amounts collected in the same manner provided for excess CED funds. Id. § 16.1001(c). The Somerset districts argue that these rule provisions are inconsistent with, or contrary to, the policy and standards of Senate Bill 7. Alternatively, the Somerset districts argue that the provisions were promulgated pursuant to a delegation of legislative authority that provided constitutionally insufficient standards for rulemaking. The terms of section 4.15 do give the Commissioner broad discretion in adopting a rule. That discretion is limited, however, by other provisions concerning state policy with regard to school finance. In particular, the State points to the following statutory language, which was reenacted by Senate Bill 7: The public school finance system of the State of Texas shall adhere to a standard of neutrality which provides for substantially equal access to similar revenue per student at similar tax effort, considering all state and local tax revenues of districts after acknowledging all legitimate student and district cost differences. TEX.EDUC.CODE § 16.001(b). The Commissioner's action in adopting the rule is consistent with the policy set out in this section. By easing the transition to Senate Bill 7, the Commissioner's rule promotes the goal of substantially equal access to similar revenue per student at similar tax effort. We hold, therefore, that the Commissioner's rule regarding delinquent taxes is not inconsistent with, or contrary to, the policy and standards of Senate Bill 7. We likewise hold that section 4.15 does not represent an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. Section 16.001 establishes a reasonable standard to guide the Commissioner, and thus sufficiently limits the Commissioner's discretion. See Railroad Comm'n v. Lone Star Gas Co., 844 S.W.2d 679, 689 (Tex.1992).