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Senate passes revised SB213 after hours of amendment fights over sales‑tax exemptions to balance budget
Summary
After an extended series of floor amendments, the Senate passed second substitute SB213, a package that trims or temporarily restores several sales‑tax exemptions (including vending‑machine, video‑game, manufacturing and other items) to reduce a budget shortfall; the bill passed 17–10 and was sent to the House.
After prolonged debate and dozens of line‑by‑line amendments, the Senate approved second substitute Senate Bill 213, a revenue package that removes or reduces a set of sales‑tax exemptions the body determined could be used to help balance the state budget.
Sponsor Senator Maine framed the proposal as a set of repeals and temporary rollbacks of previously enacted exemptions that were granted when state revenues were healthy. The package targeted many small exemptions that collectively add up to millions of dollars: vending‑machine sales, certain video‑game arcade receipts, seasonal farm produce sales, newspaper sales and subscriptions, coin‑operated amusements, cable and satellite TV,…
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