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Conference committee clarifies bonding language in House Bill 2043
Summary
Members of the tax conference committee clarified that House Bill 2043 does not impose a date limitation on bonded indebtedness after staff said a missing comma was reinstated to confine a date reference to the Public Building Commission and lease payments.
The tax conference committee convened to consider House Bill 2043 and confirmed that the bill's bonding provisions were intended to exempt general bonded indebtedness, not to impose a cutoff date.
A committee member raised concerns that the bill "doesn't say bonds prior to 07/01/2026" and said he had received emails saying the language could be read to limit bonding. The committee member said the public had interpreted the text as exempting or restricting certain bond issuances and sought clarification.
A staff member responded that language in the original House version had been drawn from an older section of law that had since been repealed and that a comma had been inadvertently removed during drafting. "That comma has been put back in, which I believe secures the concern of potentially affecting bonding with the date," the staff member said, adding that the date in the provision applies only to the Public Building Commission and lease payments.
Majority Leader Blasey and other members said the restored punctuation matches the committee's prior agreement and that the change preserves the committee's intended treatment of bonding for other purposes. The chair closed the meeting after members confirmed there were no further questions.
No formal votes were recorded at the session; members indicated the clarification reflected the terms agreed to in a prior meeting.
