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Committee sends utility usage-tax bill to the floor aiming to replace property valuation disputes
Summary
House Bill 329 would replace property tax on centrally assessed utilities with a usage-based tax (kilowatt-hour or therm) designed to produce roughly the same statewide revenue and avoid valuation litigation under the federal 4R Act; the committee approved a due-pass recommendation to the floor.
The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee on voice vote sent House Bill 329 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after the sponsor described the bill as a negotiated replacement tax intended to avoid litigation over utility property valuations.
Representative Jeff Ehlers, District 21 (Meridian), told the committee the measure responds to court rulings that applied the federal Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (the “4R Act”) to centrally assessed utility property. That litigation, he said, reduced the property valuations used in local…
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