February 24 was the cutoff date for finance bills to pass out of fiscal committees (except for bills related to the budget).
In addition to HB 1670, the property tax cap fix, several bills AWC is tracking have moved out of committee and on to the next step in the process:
- HB 1267extending authority for the rural county economic development sales tax credit (.09 sales tax) to 2054 passed
out of the Finance Committee and moved out of the Rules Committee on February 22. Cities support this authority and often partner with counties on local development projects using these funds.
- HB 1648, the TSWIFT consumer protection act, which imposes new protections on event ticket sales and violations for bypassing ticket
sales security technology, passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on February 24. Amendments to the bill addressed local concerns. It no longer includes the section that preempted local government regulation and potentially impacted
to city and PFD admissions tax authority.
- SB 5158, requiring the Department of Revenue to establish an online database of state and local tax rates and require local governments
to report rate information to DOR, passed out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee on February 7.
Bills that did not pass out of committees include:
- HB 1446/SB 5361 which would allow cities to impose a new 0.1% sales tax, credited against the state sales tax, to fund police hiring and criminal justice activities and would have eliminated the 25% local match for basic law enforcement training costs.
- HB 1476/SB 5289,which
would give cities the authority to charge impact fees for law enforcement facilities.
- HB 1644/SB 5482 which would replace the state’s B&O tax with a margin tax and was a recommendation from the State Tax Structure Work Group.
- SB 5387 and SJR 8204,
which would establish a homestead exemption on the first $250,000 of residential property.
- SB 5495 and SJR 8206,
a similar proposal to establish a $250,000 homestead property tax exemption and to repeal the uniformity clause for property tax in the state constitution.
- SB 5509, creating a state infrastructure bank. The bill passed out of the Senate Business, Financial Services, Gaming
& Trade Committee on February 16, but was not scheduled for a hearing in Senate Ways & Means.
While some finance bills did not meet the committee deadline, it is unclear at this point which proposals might be related to the state budget and could see further action.
As the focus for legislation now turns to floor action, it is also a good time to share AWC’s budget priorities with your legislators. Budget negotiations will be taking place in fiscal committees ahead of the March 20 state revenue forecast. The House and Senate usually release their state budget proposals shortly after the forecast is finalized.