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Senate advances sales-tax exemption for home medical equipment despite fiscal concerns
Summary
Senate placed House Bill 29 on the third‑reading calendar after a floor debate where sponsors framed it as health reform to help disabled residents remain at home and fiscal conservatives warned of a roughly $320,000 revenue impact in early years; supporters said the bill targets high‑cost items like motorized wheelchairs.
The Utah Senate debated House Bill 29 on Feb. 24, a revenue and taxation measure to exempt home medical equipment from sales tax with the stated goal of helping people with disabilities remain at home.
Senator Shepherd, the bill sponsor on the floor, described HB 29 as a health‑reform measure that would create a tax credit for home medical equipment and supplies "such as beds, hospital beds, wheelchairs, and equipment like that for people who are disabled and need very expensive equipment to be able to stay at home." Shepherd distributed a one‑page flyer summarizing the bill and answered fiscal questions from senators.
Floor discussion included a fiscal note estimate and concerns about who benefits. The floor referenced a projected fiscal loss of about $320,000 initially, with local sales‑tax revenue losses of roughly $80,000 in 1993 and rising in subsequent years as adoption increases; Senator Shepherd noted the bill "could result in a loss of $320,000 during the fund." Senator McAllister said the bill had not been prioritized highly enough in the survey of members to automatically fund that fiscal note and suggested the sponsor let the bill "go on the table with all the money bills" to see how it fares in wider budget balancing.
Senator Oakey cautioned that vendors might raise prices to capture the exemption's value; Shepherd and others acknowledged the risk but argued the exemption is targeted at people with severe need and that some equipment (e.g., advanced motorized wheelchairs) can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The Senate placed HB 29 on the third‑reading calendar (the clerk announced "House bill 29 shows 26 ayes, 1 made, 2 being absent" on the floor record) and later voted to table HB 29 on the third reading calendar as the body considered budget prioritization.
