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Senate advances audits, transient‑room tax options and financial‑institution amendments
Summary
The Senate approved or placed several revenue and finance bills on the third‑reading calendar: SB 127 clarifying audits of state land leases, SB 95 allowing counties to collect transient‑room taxes locally, and SB 189 with amendments on financial‑institution governance including a quarterly board‑meeting requirement.
Senators moved several revenue and finance measures forward, adopting committee reports and agreeing to amendments that alter administrative and collection processes.
Senator Steele described SB 127, a short bill clarifying the division’s authority to perform audits of state land leases and permits. He told the chamber that audits of more than 7,200 leases since 1981 had identified "over $20,000,000 in assessments ... of which 3 and a half million dollars has been collected," and that committee amendments narrow audit focus to larger commercial interests to avoid burdening small permittees.
On SB 95 (transient room tax collections), Senator Hitter said an amendment gives counties the option to collect the tax locally from hoteliers, rather than routing collections through the state tax commission and paying a 2.5% service charge; counties that elect local collection would assume auditing responsibility.
SB 189, reported out with multiple amendments, deals with financial‑institution rules. Senator Peterson offered and won an amendment that would require boards of financial institutions to meet at least quarterly (changing proposed language that removed a meeting requirement), a change supporters said was a reasonable governance floor. The clerk later announced SB 189 passed with 28 ayes and one absent and would be sent to the House for further action.
Each of these measures was placed on the third‑reading calendar or passed and referred to the House, moving administrative and taxation changes closer to final action.
