House committee hears bill to broaden property-tax exemption for church housing, limit set at six units

Senate Bill 291, which would expand property-tax exemptions for church-owned housing used for religious purposes, was the subject of an extended public hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee on May 1. The bill, introduced to the committee by Sen. Tim Lang (R‑District 2) on behalf of Sen. Abbas, would clarify that housing owned by a house of worship and used to advance its religious mission can be tax exempt even when occupied by designated church employees or used for small congregate residential programs.

Supporters said the measure addresses a change in practice: clergy increasingly live in privately owned homes while church-owned parsonages remain on church lots and sometimes are repurposed. "The intent was not to allow, for lack of a better phrase, a commercial rental unit, but to allow the church to continue its works," Sen. Tim Lang said. He described uses such as placing a part‑time staff member in a parsonage or operating a small congregate program for people recovering from addiction as examples of activities that advance a church's mission.

The bill would explicitly allow up to six residential or congregate housing units on church lots to be treated as exempt when those units are used for religious purposes. It also adds language that such land and structures remain subject to "objective…