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Ways & Means approves replacement amendment to S-51 to fix drafting errors, clarify military income exclusions
Summary
The Ways & Means committee on May 1 voted to replace its committee amendment to S-51 with draft 1.3, making technical drafting corrections and clarifying that taxpayers eligible for multiple military-related exclusions must elect only one; staff and counsel said the changes do not alter substantive administration of the law.
The Ways & Means committee on May 1 approved replacing its committee amendment to S-51 with draft 1.3 to correct technical drafting errors and clarify treatment of military-related income exclusions.
Kirby King, legislative counsel, told the committee the changes are technical and aimed at removing ambiguous punctuation and simplifying subdivision language. "There are two technical changes that were made," King said, and he explained that the rewrite renumbers subdivisions and moves language so that the rule applying to "taxpayers in any filing status" is clear. King added, "There's no substantive changes" to the administration of the law between draft 1.2 and draft 1.3.
The revised text simplifies the election rule for multiple exclusions. Under the amended subsection E1, "a taxpayer of the state who is eligible during the taxable year for more than one of the exclusions under subsections A, B, and C of this section shall elect only one of the exclusions for which the taxpayer is eligible," language King said is intended to be "succinct" and to replace a previously complex structure. King also said subsection D, which addresses military retirement pay and survivors' pensions, remains available "regardless of whether an exclusion was taken under A, B, or C." King credited Will Baker at the Department of Taxes for suggesting the clearer structure.
Representative Odey moved to replace draft 1.2 with draft 1.3 of the committee amendment to S-51. The clerk called the roll and recorded the motion as favorable by voice and roll call; the clerk announced the result as "draft 1.3 favorable, ten-zero." Members recorded as voting yes in the roll call included Representative Brannigan, Representative Feltes, Representative Higley, Representative Volcom, Representative Kimball, Representative Odey, Representative Wozozak, Representative Canfield, and Representative Kornheiser; the committee noted Representative Maslow was absent.
The committee directed staff to transmit the replacement amendment to the clerk's office. Committee leadership then paused the agenda pending the arrival of Michael O'Grady.
Discussion vs. decision: the committee's deliberations were limited to clarification of statutory drafting and internal numbering; counsel and staff characterized the changes as non-substantive. The formal decision was the committee vote to replace the earlier draft with the clarified draft 1.3.
