Committee advances RS 32201 to create property‑tax exemption for families declining state education funds

The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee voted to send RS 32201 to print, a bill introduced by Senator Ben Toews that would amend Section 60‑3602 to exempt from education‑related property tax levies primary residents of families with a school‑age child who do not accept any state education funds.

Toews, identifying himself as Senator Ben Toews of District 4, told the committee the measure is aimed chiefly at families who educate their children outside of public schools. “This usually it's gonna be, I'd say, like a homeschooling family,” he said, and estimated that a household with four children might forgo roughly $32,000 in state education funding and could see “maybe 400, 5 hundred dollars per year” in reduced property tax, depending on county.

The sponsor described the proposal as a targeted property tax reduction intended to help offset families’ out‑of‑pocket education costs. Committee staff and the chair noted the item was presented as an RS (research statement) and the sponsor and staff agreed to pursue a print hearing rather than a full hearing at this time.

A motion to send RS 32201 to print was offered by Senator Adams and seconded by Senator Dan Hartog; the motion carried by voice vote with no recorded roll call.

Because committee members agreed to a print hearing rather than a full evidentiary hearing, no committee action beyond the motion to print was taken today. The printed bill will be prepared and stakeholders will have an opportunity to submit input and testify at subsequent hearings.

The measure would amend statutory language in Section 60‑3602, as described by the sponsor; the scope and fiscal impact will be detailed in the printed bill and any future fiscal notes and hearings.