Subcommittee advances bill to codify food-manufacturing equipment sales-tax exemption

The Ways and Means Subcommittee gave a favorable report to House Bill H 3,869 on a 3-0 vote, advancing the measure to the full committee. H 3,869 would codify a sales-tax exemption for food-manufacturing equipment that had previously been included in the state budget as a proviso.

The subcommittee chair noted the item had been considered in the subcommittee the previous year and explained the bill responds to a gubernatorial veto of a budget proviso. "This bill may seem like a flashback but we actually took this up last year in this subcommittee and passed it out of the house," the chair said. The chair said the governor vetoed the proviso and requested the change be codified in statute rather than included as a budget proviso; H 3,869 would enact that codification.

A motion to pass the bill was made and seconded on the subcommittee floor; a roll call showed Representatives Newton, Hosey and Taylor voting aye while Representatives Stavrunakis and Crawford were excused. The clerk recorded a 3-0 favorable report. No public witnesses were signed up for this item at the subcommittee meeting, and no amendments were adopted at the subcommittee level.

H 3,869 will proceed to the full committee for further action. The subcommittee discussion focused on the procedural history of the proviso and the governor’s veto message; no fiscal details or revenue estimates were provided in the hearing record.