House adopts amendment to delay effective date of uniform-fees bill, circles measure pending fiscal note

The Utah House debated House Bill 5,001 on Dec. 1, 2006, a measure to standardize fees and assessments for personal property including boats and ATVs, and adopted an amendment to move the bill—s effective date to Dec. 30 to align with the Tax Commission—s software vendor contract. Lawmakers then circled the bill pending receipt of a formal fiscal note and recessed to caucus and lunch.

Representative Patrick Painter, the bill sponsor, said the measure extends the state—s earlier uniform-fee approach for cars and trucks to other types of tangible personal property and fixes classification problems that produced mismatched assessments. "We—d get a gentleman with a 15 foot canoe that would get the same assessed valuation tax notice as a guy with a same length cabin cruiser," Painter said, arguing the bill establishes different…