Committee on Taxation approves amendment swapping SCR 16-03 for House measure on property valuation

The Committee on Taxation voted to pass SCR 16-03 as amended, replacing the resolution's text with the House committee version of HCR 50-11, a proposed constitutional amendment to change how taxable value is calculated for many property types if approved by voters on Nov. 4, 2025.

Committee staff member Eddie Severs told the committee that the House committee version of HCR 50-11 would put a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4, 2025, ballot that would set a property's taxable value as "the lesser of the fair market value of the property" or "the average of the fair market value as defined by law." Severs said the concurrent resolution did not include a statutory definition of that averaging method; separate trailer legislation would define the average and that bill envisions roughly a six-year average.

Severs said the change, if approved by voters, would take effect in tax year 2027. He said the amendment would apply to residential real estate, mobile homes used as residential property, commercial and industrial real estate, and buildings and improvements on agricultural land.

Representative Hsu said she preferred the averaging approach to the fixed-percentage caps proposed in the Senate but warned of potential unintended incentives for homeowners: "I do think this will create some weird incentives. I think if you own a home and you wanna do a major renovation, you kinda have to do the math on is it worth doing the renovation versus keeping your per current property tax valuation," Hsu said.

The committee first approved a motion to amend SCR 16-03 by deleting its contents and inserting the House committee language of HCR 50-11. The chair moved the amendment, Representative Long seconded and Representative Essex recorded a third. The committee approved the amendment by voice vote. Representative Poe Heisel later moved that the committee pass HCR 16 (SCR 16-03) "favorable as amended," Representative Long seconded, and the committee approved the resolution as amended by voice vote.

The record in the transcript does not list roll-call tallies or additional conditions on implementation. Committee members asked no further procedural questions in the recorded discussion. The proposal still requires voter approval on the 2025 ballot and implementing statutory language in separate legislation to define the averaging method before it would take effect in tax year 2027.