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Committee appoints conferees after concerns raised about childcare employer tax credit amendment
Summary
The committee appointed conferees for Senate Bill 22‑82 after members said the house amendment raising an employer childcare tax credit to 50% introduced cross‑border, residency and payment‑method problems that require conference negotiation.
The Finance and Taxation Committee appointed three conferees for Senate Bill 22‑82 after members expressed concerns about amendments made in the other chamber.
Senate Bill 22‑82 originally offered an income tax credit to employers that pay for employee childcare; committee discussion indicated the prior version provided a 30% credit. Members said the House amended that rate to 50%, and questions arose about low utilization of the credit under earlier law, which some members said meant raising the credit might be intended to increase employer participation.
Committee members raised three substantive issues with the house amendment: a 10‑mile rule that would include providers within 10 miles of the state border (intended to capture cross‑border providers near Fargo and Grand Forks), a residency requirement that would require the child or employee to be a state resident, and a change allowing payments to be made as reimbursement to an employee rather than paid directly to a provider. Senator Grama said the 10‑mile clause and the resident requirement could disqualify many workers who live across the border but work in-state, and asked how the tax department would administratively determine the 10‑mile boundary; another senator asked whether reimbursement paid to an employee would be a taxable benefit.
Committee members agreed the bill could not be accepted in its amended form and appointed conferees to work the issues in conference. The chair asked who had carried the bill; Senator Marshall confirmed he was the original carrier. The committee appointed Senators Marshall, Rummel and Powers as conferees. The chair noted conference committee rules require conferees to meet within two days of formal assignment once the leadership signs off, and leadership had not yet released formal assignments at the time of the meeting.
Members said the 50% amendment may have been intended to boost employer take‑up because earlier utilization of a 30% credit had been low. The committee did not take a final vote on the bill itself in this session; it instead approved the set of conferees to address open issues in conference negotiations.
