Senate adopts amendment to restore $500 primary-residence tax credit for homes held in trust

Senators adopted a floor amendment to Senate Bill 2201 to correct an oversight that had excluded primary residences held in trust from a $500 property tax credit. The amendment, adopted by voice vote, restores eligibility for homeowners whose primary residence is title-held in trust and includes retroactive and emergency clauses aimed at making the credit available for both 2024 and 2025 property taxes.

Senator Doug Weber (Senator Weber) said the change resolves an unintended omission from a prior law. He told the Senate that the Tax Commissioner's Office estimated about 2,500 applications were denied because homes were held in trust, and that another roughly 1,500 homeowners did not apply after hearing they might be ineligible. The bill originally attempted to include other ownership forms such as cooperatives; committee drafting removed that broader language after finding the issues more complex than anticipated.

Senator Lee noted the related ownership issue involved cooperatives rather than corporations and said cooperative ownership can complicate parcel-level tax-credit administration because a single tax bill may cover an entire building. Senator Lueck asked whether mismatches between deed and tax-filer names (for example, where spouses have title in different names) were addressed; Senator Weber responded that the specific situation was being discussed elsewhere in the building and could not be fully answered on the floor.

The amendment was adopted and Senate Bill 2201 was re-referred to the Appropriations Committee for its fiscal note. The committee had voted in favor of the amendment in prior committee work.