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ADMINISTRATIVE
LAW |
| Ray,
Wood & Bonilla is uniquely qualified to represent your interests
before Texas state government agencies. Two of our partners,
Randall Buck Wood and Ray
Bonilla, have served at the highest levels of major Texas
state agencies, including the Comptroller of Public Accounts
and the Office of the Secretary of State. Our attorneys are
intimately familiar with the legal, political, and public policy
dynamics that influence decisions made
by administrative agencies charged with implementing important
state laws. In private practice, our attorneys have extensive
experience appearing before a wide range of Texas state agencies,
including: the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Texas Council
on Environmental Quality (formerly the Texas Natural Resources
Conservation Commission), the Texas Real Estate Commission,
the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Texas Ethics Commission,
and the Texas Lottery Commission. |
| We offer our clients legal support on a full range of administrative
law matters, including: |
- Contested case hearings.
- Appeals of professional license suspensions
or denials.
- Rulemaking and challenges to proposed administrative
rules.
- Procurement issues, including protests
of contract awards.
- Open records and open meetings rulings.
- Ethics filings and enforcement proceedings.
- Trial and appellate court challenges of
agency actions.
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COLLECTIONS |
| Ray, Wood, & Bonilla has developed
a world-class debt collection practice, lead by Doug
W. Ray, and Ray Bonilla. Our clients include the
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, the Arizona Higher
Education Authority, Bank One and Lease Comm, a national equipment
leasing company, and numerous Texas cities, counties and
school districts. To support our collection practice, we have
invested in a state-of-the-art computerized collections and
litigation system, which is maintained by an in-house programmer
and systems administrator. Our highly experienced professionals
stand ready to help your organization reach its collection goals. |
| Our collection practice covers a wide range of areas including: |
- Student loan collections
- Commercial collections
- Delinquent court costs, fines and fees
- Delinquent property tax collections
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DELINQUENT
PROPERTY TAX COLLECTIONS |
| Ray, Wood &
Bonilla collects delinquent property taxes for school districts,
towns, and counties across Texas. To meet our clients' needs, we
maintain three regional offices, which are staffed with highly
trained professionals who work hard to maximize collections for
our clients-while providing personalized service. We offer our
delinquent property tax services at no cost to our clients since
Texas law creates a statutory penalty for delinquent taxpayers
to cover associated collection costs. |
| Dylan Wood,
an associate with the firm, takes a lead role in the area of
delinquent property tax collections. |
| Property Tax Collection-Click here for a
brief overview of the process used by Ray, Wood, & Bonilla to
collect delinquent property taxes. |
| Property Tax Sales-Click here for
a listing of current sales.
DELINQUENT COURT COSTS, FINES AND FEES
Ray, Wood & Bonilla collects delinquent court costs, fines and
fees for numerous cities and counties in Texas. We have a
comprehensive collections program that includes mass mailings,
targeted mailings and automated telephone collections supported
by our custom software application. In most cases, our services
are provided at no cost to our client since Texas law also
creates a statutory collection fee to cover the costs of
collecting these court-ordered debts. |
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SCHOOL FINANCE |
| For over a decade, Ray, Wood
& Bonilla has successfully represented over 100 school districts
in the administrative process leading up to the State Comptroller's
Property Tax Division's (PTD) final determination of estimated
property values. We offer our school
district clients an unparalleled combination of legal, professional
and technical expertise in the area of property value studies-and
we get results. Our property value study team is managed by
Jim Shear, Director of Client Services
and Ray Bonilla, a partner
with the firm. We help school districts maximize their state
aid or minimize their local tax revenue recapture through our
Local Tax Roll Quality Assurance Program.
We also offer our school districts comprehensive administrative,
and if necessary, judicial appeal representation. |
| For the past 20 years, managing partner Randall
Buck Wood and Director of Client Services Jim
Shear have been actively involved in all facets of the legal
and legislative issues surrounding the state's school finance
system. Mr. Wood has served as general counsel to the Equity
Center-an association of more than 500 school districts throughout
the state dedicated to enhancing both the equity and adequacy
of funding for all Texas public schools. As general counsel
of the Texas State Comptroller's Office and as a member of the
firm since 1998, Ray Bonilla
has also developed significant expertise in this important area
of the law. |
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GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS |
| Ray, Wood & Bonilla offers our
clients an "insider's" perspective on the Texas legislative
process and the inner-workings of Texas government agencies.
Two of our partners, Randall Buck
Wood and Ray Bonilla
have held high-level management positions in Texas state government,
and have interacted extensively with Texas lawmakers. Not only
do we know the legislative process-we understand and can clearly
communicate the complex public policy issues that matter to
our clients, particularly in the area of tax policy. |
| Ray, Wood, & Bonilla governmental relations services, include: |
- Legislative strategy development.
- Preparation and delivery of testimony before
legislative committees.
- Bill analysis.
- Drafting of legislation and amendments.
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ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY |
| Ray, Wood & Bonilla represent
and advise a number of judges, lawyers, and public officials
in Texas on ethics and professional responsibility issues. Randall
Buck Wood, one of our firm's founding partners, takes the
lead in this practice area. |
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ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE
LAW |
| Ray, Wood &
Bonilla offers our clients unparalleled experience and expertise
in the area of election and campaign finance law. Prior to forming
the firm, Randall Buck Wood
enforced the state's election laws while serving as Director
of the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's Office.
Mr. Wood is a nationally recognized authority on election laws,
and currently represents a number of elected officials, including
members of the Texas House of Representatives and Senate and
several prominent state judges. In addition to providing representation
and advice on election law, Mr. Wood advises several clients
on campaign finance matters. |
| Doug Ray,
also a partner with the firm, handles litigation involving disputed
elections and the Voting Rights Act. Ray
Bonilla also has significant expertise in this area. He
has served as legal counsel to several state and local candidates
and regularly advises clients on campaign finance laws and Texas
Ethics Commission matters. |
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GAMING LAW |
| Building upon our expertise in
civil litigation and administrative law, Ray, Wood & Bonilla
has developed a strong practice in gaming law, lead by Ray
Bonilla, a partner with the firm. We have successfully represented
the interests of our gaming industry clients in the rulemaking
process, on open records and open meetings issues, and in administrative
matters before the Texas Lottery Commission. Our firm's extensive
experience representing clients before Texas state agencies,
coupled with years of litigating in Travis County combine to
help Ray, Wood, & Bonilla. achieve positive results for our
gaming industry clients. |
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STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION |
| Ray, Wood, &
Bonilla offers corporations, partnerships, nonprofit entities
and individuals an insider's perspective on the administration
of the full range of Texas tax laws. Ray, Wood, & Bonilla is
committed to ensuring that our clients pay only the amount of
taxes due to the State of Texas-not a penny more. We represent
our clients aggressively, but professionally, and can structure
fee arrangements that meet your needs. |
| Ray, Wood, & Bonilla helps our clients with
sales and use, franchise, insurance, motor fuel, motor vehicle,
alcoholic beverage, and unclaimed property taxation. Before
joining the firm, two of our partners, Randall
Buck Wood and Ray Bonilla
served as General Counsel of the Texas Comptrollers Office,
gaining invaluable expertise and insight regarding the administration
of Texas tax laws. Our partners have worked at the highest levels
of the Texas Comptrollers Office on major tax issues, and are
familiar with both the agency's decision-making process and
its decision-makers. |
| We offer our clients the following services: |
- Audit assistance.
- Pursuit of refund claims.
- Representation in administrative and judicial
hearings.
- Pursuit of favorable rulemaking and legislation.
- Resource testimony before Texas legislative
committees.
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| Ray, Wood, &
Bonilla offers our clients top-notch courtroom skills and extensive
experience. We have tried cases in virtually every area of law
and have a proven track record of litigating complex cases. |
| Doug Ray,
a partner with the firm, leads our business litigation practice
and regularly tries cases involving breach of contract, employment
claims, and deceptive trade practices. Doug has represented
our clients in diverse venues, including state and federal district
courts, the Texas Court of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court,
and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. |
| Ray, Wood, & Bonilla also handles collection
and tax litigation for our clients, as well as appeals before
state and federal courts. |
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