Legislative Update - Follow-up

Posted May 13, 2015 in Legislative briefs

As previously reported, the four property tax freeze amendments were heard yesterday in the House Revenue Committee and all four were passed onto the House floor by votes of 8-0-3.

These bills are highly political as all 8 yes votes came from Democrats, many of whom said they would likely be no votes on the floor but wanted to give the Governor's proposals a chance to be heard. All 3 present votes were from Republicans who criticized the moving of these amendments without the express approval of the Governor, whose staff is said to be preparing their own property tax freeze language.

There were some questions about how TIF, new property built on vacate land, and consolidations would be treated if these amendments were to become law. After speaking with staff, it appears the intent would be to not change how those would currently operate under existing PTELL law; however, more work may be needed to clarify that point.

At this time we do not have a clear indication about when these bills might be called for a floor vote. Although it is always difficult to determine what the Speaker’s intentions, these proposals should be taken very seriously. A rumor circulating is that at least one of the measures has the votes to be passed over to the Senate.

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