Revenue Committee advances HB 282 after amendment narrowing residential acquisition-value language

At a meeting of the Senate Revenue Committee, members voted 3-2 to advance House Bill 282, the acquisition-value property tax measure, after adopting an amendment that narrows the bill’s residential definition and removes a fixed 35-acre "associated land" provision.

The amendment replaced a four‑family cap with a three‑family cap for qualifying dwellings and deleted language tying acquisition-value treatment to “up to 35 acres” of associated residential land. Committee members and Department of Revenue officials engaged in extended discussion about how acquisition value would be administered for parcels that include outbuildings, agricultural land and mixed uses. Representative Locke, the bill sponsor, and Brenda Henson, director of the Department of Revenue, described the amendment as an effort to provide consistent language for assessors; several senators raised constitutional and administrative concerns.

Representative Locke, the bill sponsor, said the amendment was intended "to bring that residential property definition more consistent with what the department has recommended" and to focus the bill…