Judges: GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 8/1/2011
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
The Honorable Veronica Gonzales Chair, Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs Texas House of Representatives Post Office Box 2910 Austin, Texas 78768-2910
Re: Whether the expanded definition of "disability" under federal law affects a taxpayer's qualification for the real property tax freeze on existing homesteads under Texas law (RQ-0939-GA)
Dear Representative Gonzales:
You ask whether "the expansion of the definition of a disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 "also means that more Texas homeowners now qualify for property tax freezes on their principal homesteads and for any other property tax exemptions."1
Article VTA, section 1-b of the Texas Constitution allows certain local governing bodies to provide to "a person who is disabled" tax exemptions in various circumstances. Article VIE, section l-b(h) provides that "the total amount of ad valorem taxes imposed on that homestead . . . may not be increased while it remains the residence homestead of that person or that person's spouse." TEX. Const, art. Vm, § l-b(h); see also id.
art. VIH, § l-b(d) (providing a similar exemption for taxes imposed for public school purposes); TEX. TAX CODE ANN. §
You note that in 2008, Congress enacted amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), expanding the definition of "disability" and thereby increasing the number of individuals qualifying as disabled under that Act.2 Request Letter at 1. This change to the federal ADA, *Page 2
however, does not impact the definition of "disabled" for purposes of Texas Constitution article VHI, section 1-b and the statutes that implement it. The tax exemptions authorized by article VTA, section l-b(b) are expressly available for "residence homesteads of persons . . . who are under a disability for purposes of payment of disability insurance benefits under Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance," otherwise known as the Social Security Act ("SSA"). Tex. Const, art. "VTA, § l-b(b). The tax freezes authorized in subsection l-b(h) apply to "a person who is disabled," without reference to the SSA. Id. § l-b(h). However, because "disabled" has, in the same section, already been described pursuant to the SSA, we construe the term in a conforming manner when used in subsequent subsections. See Lewis v. Funderburk,
The SSA and ADA define "disability" in different terms. "Disability," under the SSA, means the "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment."
Very truly yours,
GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
DANIEL T. HODGE First Assistant Attorney General
DAVID J. SCHENCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel
JASON BOATRIGHT Chair, Opinion Committee
Virginia K. Hoelscher Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee