|  |  |  |  |  | 
| | The Senate Finance Committee will meet on April 14, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in | 
 | 
| | room E1.036 of the Capitol Extension.  The Committee will hear invited and | 
 | 
| | public testimony regarding the Committee's interim charge to: | 
 | 
| | Identify and evaluate potential improvements to the property tax system. | 
 | 
| | Consider and make recommendations relating to the following: | 
 | 
| | Methods to increase public participation in the tax rate-setting process | 
 | 
| | and ensure fairness in appraisal protests and appeals; | 
 | 
| | Requirement that property appraisal values may not increase by more than | 
 | 
| | inflation and/or population growth, or another amount to be determined by | 
 | 
| | local taxing authorities, with a maximum cap of 10 percent; | 
 | 
| | Exemptions provided to community housing development organizations to | 
 | 
| | determine if changes are needed to ensure that the public benefits | 
 | 
| | outweigh the revenue loss; | 
 | 
| | Methods and procedures for determining a real property interest in oil or | 
 | 
| | gas in place, as contained in Texas Tax Code Sec. 23.175, including how | 
 | 
| | market-based data and market-based methodology could possibly be used to | 
 | 
| | ensure fair, reliable, and equitable price forecasts of oil and gas | 
 | 
| | interests. Analyze the need for the creation of an Oil and Gas Valuation | 
 | 
| | Advisory Committee to assist in forecasting current calendar year | 
 | 
| | statewide average prices for oil and gas; and | 
 | 
| | the constitutional constraints and fiscal implications of exempting real | 
 | 
| | property, leased to a school, as defined by Section 11.21 of the Tax Code, | 
 | 
| | from ad valorem taxation. | 
 | 
|  | 
| | Those wishing to give public testimony, please limit prepared remarks to 3 | 
 | 
| | minutes.  If submitting written testimony, please provide 25 copies, with | 
 | 
| | your name on each copy, to the Committee during the hearing. | 
 |