Ways and Means Committee advances a package of bills in March 3 voting session

The Ways and Means Committee on Monday, March 3, advanced a series of House bills in a voting session, approving measures on special elections and ballot handling, school funding and program changes, property tax credits for child care facilities, affordable-housing unit requirements, a family literacy pilot in correctional facilities, library automated external defibrillator (AED) rules, and other measures.

The committee’s actions moved a set of bills “favorably as amended” or “favorably” for consideration by the full House. Several measures were amended on the floor of the committee for technical fixes or to restore existing funding levels; one group of bills was withdrawn at the sponsor’s request.

House Bill 75 (election law — special elections) passed favorably as amended. The bill clarifies when a county may hold a special election for county executive or county council vacancies and clarifies procedures for special elections conducted by mail; the committee adopted an amendment that removed a provision allowing a county to cancel a special primary election.

House Bill 296 (State Department of Assessments and Taxation documentation requirement) passed favorably as amended. Committee discussion clarified that the amendment is technical in nature: it removes duplicative language elsewhere in the code and does not change the underlying exemption for persons with $20,000 or less in personal property. A staff member, Stan, explained the amendment was to repeal identical language elsewhere in statute to carry out the bill’s purpose; committee members asked whether less-than-$20,000 taxpayers would remain exempt and were told they would.

House Bill 389 (local option property tax credits for child care facilities) passed favorably. The bill expands eligibility for existing local-option…