Utah House approves contested AMAX property-tax package after hours of debate

The Utah House of Representatives passed House Bill 3 97, a major property-tax reform measure commonly called the AMAX bill, on a 61-11 vote following extensive floor debate and multiple failed substitution motions.

Supporters, led by Representative John Valentine, said the bill would establish new valuation methods, define intangible value categories and create an in-lieu fee mechanism intended to stabilize local tax assessments. Opponents argued the measure would shift burdens to locally assessed businesses and urged protections for homeowners.

Representative Frank R. Pignanelli, who advocated for an alternative substitute he called “Plan A,” argued the substitute would limit homeowner increases to an average 0.7% while asking larger, centrally assessed businesses to absorb a greater share of the adjustment. “Plan A...is the most fair plan whatsoever,” Pignanelli said on the floor.

Valentine and other sponsors defended the main bill as a comprehensive effort to resolve long-standing valuation methodology disputes and to define intangible value for taxation. They characterized the substitute as imposing disproportionate costs on central-assessed entities and said the main bill balanced competing interests while preserving homeowner mitigation measures.

The House considered a white-copy substitute and a substitute buff copy; a motion to replace the bill with the substitute copy failed, and the original bill (as amended on the floor, including a technical adjustment to a 29.5% figure) received final passage.

Next steps: HB 3 97 will be forwarded to the Utah Senate for its consideration.