Conference committee delays final action on HB1176 amid disagreement over homestead credit and school gap funding

The conference committee on House Bill 1176 recessed until 3:30 p.m. after legislators failed to reach agreement on whether to expand the homestead property tax credit eligibility, set the credit at $16.50, and where to place roughly $30 million in school gap funding.

The dispute centered on two approaches: the House proposal that would increase the credit amount to $16.50 (which supporters say would zero out most remaining property tax obligations for many seniors) and the Senate approach to expand eligibility categories, which the Senate says is funded through the tax commissioner’s budget rather than by moving large additional sums into HB1176. "The budget for the expansion of the homestead tax credit is in 01/00/2006 currently," said Sherry Anderson, chief fiscal officer, Office of the State Tax Commissioner.

Why it matters: the package ties together the homestead credit, allocations from the legacy earnings fund to a newly created…