It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows

SECTION 1. Sections 44-5-15 and 44-5-26 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-5 entitled 'Levy and Assessment of Local Taxes' are hereby amended to read as follows:

44-5-15. Notice of assessors' meeting -- Notice by taxpayer of intent to bring in account. -- Before assessing any valuations, the assessors shall cause printed notices of the time and place of their meeting to be posted in three (3) public places in the town, for three (3) weeks next preceding the time of their meeting, and shall advertise in some newspaper published in the town, if any there be, at least once a week for the same space of time. The notices shall require every person and body corporate liable to taxation to bring in to the assessors at such time as they may prescribe a true and exact account of all the ratable estate owned or possessed by that person or that body, describing and specifying the value of every parcel of the real and personal estate, together with such additional information as may be prescribed by the assessors relative to the ratable estate as may be contained in any corporation or inheritance tax return filed with the state by the person within the year preceding the date of assessment next prior to the bringing in of the account; provided, however, that if any person or body corporate liable to taxation shall file with the assessors, on or before January 31 next following the date of assessment, a written notice of that person's or that body's intention to bring in an account, the person or body corporate may bring in to the assessors the account at any time between March 1 and March 15 next following the date of assessment. The notice of intention to bring in an account shall be deemed to have been filed with the assessors if the notice shall be sent to them by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, postmarked before 12:00 A.M. midnight of the last day on which the notice may be filed. The account shall be deemed to be brought in to the assessors if the account shall be sent to them by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, postmarked before 12:00 A.M. midnight of the last day on which accounts may be brought in pursuant to the provisions hereof; provided, however, in case any person or body corporate shall fail to file any intention, that person or that body shall be deemed to have waived that person's or that body's rights to file the account. {ADD All matters contained within the account filing shall be available for review only by assessment related personnel. ADD}

44-5-26. Petition in superior court for relief from assessment. -- (a) Any person aggrieved on any ground whatsoever by any assessment of taxes against him or her in any city or town, {DEL may within three (3) months after the last day appointed for the payment without penalty of the tax, or the first installment thereof, if the tax be payable in installments, file an appeal with the local assessor and within thirty (30) days after a final decision of any local administrative appeal where such person has appealed timely the assessment to the local authority, DEL} {ADD or any tenant or group of tenants, of real estate paying rent therefrom, and under obligation to pay more than one-half of the taxes thereon, may within thirty (30) days from the date the first tax payment is due, file an appeal to the local assessor provided, however, if the person to whom a tax on real estate is assessed chooses to file an appeal, the appeal filed by a tenant or group of tenants will be void. For the purposes of this section, the tenant(s) has the burden of proving financial responsibility to pay more than one-half of the taxes. The assessor has forty-five (45) days to review and render a decision. The taxpayer if still aggrieved may appeal to the local tax board of review within ninety (90) from the date the first tax payment is due. The local tax board of review shall, within ninety (90) days of the day the appeal was filed, hear the appeal and must render a decision within thirty (30) days of the date the hearing was held provided however, a city or town may request and receive extension from the director of the department of administration. Any person still aggrieved on any ground whatsoever by an assessment of taxes against him or her in any city or town may, within thirty (30) days of the tax board of review decision notice, ADD} file a petition in the superior court for the county in which the city or town lies for relief from the assessment, to which petition the assessors of taxes of the city or town in office at the time the petition is filed shall be made parties respondent, and the clerk shall thereupon issue a citation substantially in the following form:

     To the sheriffs of our several counties, or to their                       
deputies, Greetings:                                                            
     We command you to summon the assessors of taxes of the town                
of         : to wit,          of          (if to be found in your               
precinct) to answer the complaint of          of          on the                
return day hereof (said return day being the          day of                    
         A.D. 19    ) in the superior court to be holden at the                 
county courthouse in          as by petition filed in court is                  
fully set forth; and to show cause why said petition should not                 
be granted.                                                                     
     Hereof fail not, and make true return of this writ with your               
doings thereon.                                                                 
                                                                                 
     Witness, the seal of our superior court, at          this                  
         day of          in the year                                            
                                                         , Clerk.           

(b) Provided, however, that in case the person has not filed an account, {ADD or filed an appeal first within the local tax board of review, ADD} that person shall not have the benefit of the remedy provided in this section and in sections 44-5-27 -- 44-5-31, unless (1) that person's real estate has been assessed at a value in excess of the value at which it was assessed on the last preceding assessment day, whether then owned by that person or not, and has been assessed, if assessment has been made at full and fair cash value, at a value in excess of its full and fair cash value, or, if assessment has purportedly been made at a uniform percentage of full and fair cash value, at a percentage in excess of the uniform percentage, or (2) the tax assessed is illegal in whole or in part; and that person's remedy shall be limited to a review of the assessment on the real estate or to relief with respect to the illegal tax, as the case may be.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 1998.