Committee adopts technical amendment and substitute, advances House Bill 2,923 over assessor objections

The Committee on Tax Reform adopted a technical amendment to House Bill 2,923, then incorporated that amendment into a committee substitute and voted 5-3 to advance the substitute on April 13.

The sponsor moved amendment 0.01h, described during debate as a simple, technical insertion of the word "on" after the word "based" in a specified line of the bill. The chair said the amendment was intended as a technical fix and moved for its adoption; the committee voted to adopt the amendment.

A committee member who opposed the bill argued it would create a "paperwork and definitional nightmare" for county assessors, describing the proposal as an unfunded multi-year administrative program that could introduce subjectivity and complicate mass appraisal systems. That speaker said they would vote no despite supporting property tax relief in principle.

Ranking Member Strickler said he supported the technical amendment and encouraged members to vote for it, but reiterated broader concerns about the bill’s administrative impact and the need for further assessor input if the bill advanced.

After adopting the amendment and rolling it into a new substitute, the committee voted the House committee’s substitute "do pass" by a 5-3 roll call. The chair announced the result and adjourned the meeting. Committee members discussed possible refinements, including combining certain maintenance categories (driveways, windows) into a smaller set of covered maintenance tasks to reduce complexity.

The transcript records no statutory citations, dollar figures, or a fiscal note presented aloud; the committee referenced external assessor testimony in submitted materials but did not read those documents into the record during this session.