House tax chair splits omnibus property-tax bill; HB 2780 to cover levies, abatements and commercial protections
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Summary
Chair Taylor told the House Tax Committee she will split the previous omnibus property-tax package into two bills: House Bill 2780 will include a levy-by-subclass approach, abatements language and commercial protections; a companion bill will handle ballot language, election timing and SB 190/SB 3 clarifications. Members debated mechanics but took no votes.
Chair Taylor opened a working session of the House Tax Committee and said she will separate the previously combined property-tax package into two distinct bills, returning members to “square one” in order to simplify final floor work and reduce confusion for members and local officials.
Taylor said House Bill 2780 (her bill) will carry a set of provisions she enumerated: Representative Murphy’s Hancock-related fix, levy-by-subclass provisions, commercial-protection language the floor recently debated (including a 15% physical-inspection trigger cited in discussion), and the section on abatements. A companion bill, she said, will house clear ballot-language requirements, a “no tax increase” ballot provision and clarifications to Senate Bill 190 and a narrow SB 3 fix.
“So the 2 bills that were strung together are now separated into their own entity again,” Chair Taylor said, explaining the move is intended to make the work more digestible for members who did not participate in the months-long drafting process. She said the committee will not accept public testimony at this working session and asked members to review the proposed scope over the weekend.
Representative Murphy described one of the concrete fixes to remain in HB 2780: a clarification to Hancock-related rollback language that would set a starting calculation point of $2.75 per $100 (rather than automatically pushing some districts to a lower levy). Murphy said that change is intended to protect two identified districts that otherwise could have lost roughly $6,000,000 under the earlier text.
Members pressed for technical clarifications about which districts would be affected, how rollbacks would function if assessments rise, and whether other items (for example, November-election wording) belong in Taylor’s bill or in the companion measure. Representative Keith Lee said his companion bill will include ballot-transparency items (alphabetical/numeric language and a $100,000 tax-impact definition) and related clarifications to SB 190 and debt-service definitions.
Several members encouraged using committee hearings and fiscal notes for any complicated additions and cautioned against adding unvetted floor amendments; no motions or votes were taken. Chair Taylor adjourned the meeting and said the committee will resume work next week after members have had time to review the split bills.
The committee did not adopt any formal action during the session; members asked staff to circulate text and, where necessary, to refer provisions for fiscal analysis before final floor amendments.