Senate concurs with House amendments and passes gross substitute Senate Bill 6346 after extended floor debate

The state Senate voted to concur in House amendments to gross substitute Senate Bill 6,346 and then passed the measure following several hours of floor debate over the bill's scope, inflation adjustments and programmatic trade-offs.

The question before the chamber was whether to accept changes the House made to the bill the Senate originally passed. Senator Peterson moved that the Senate concur in the House amendments; after a point of order and extended debate, the motion to concur passed by a roll-call vote of 27 ayes, 21 nays and 1 excused. The Senate then took final passage on the amended bill and the presiding officer declared the bill passed; the President signed in open session.

Why it matters: The amended measure would impose a new income tax tied to later tax reductions and other policy changes, while altering implementation details that senators said would materially affect who pays and when. Lawmakers debated the bill's indexing, thresholds and a package of earlier tax changes and targeted exemptions the House inserted.

On the floor,…