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Committee advances statewide permanent homestead-registration form; parish backup retained
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Summary
Senators moved SB 340 forward to require assessors statewide to provide a permanent homestead-exemption registration form, aiming to reduce annual mailings and save local costs; a parish-specific backup bill (SB 89) was also advanced and retained as a fallback.
Senate Bill 340 would require each parish assessor to provide property owners a form for permanent registration of the homestead exemption, eliminating the need for annual mailings in parishes that currently require repeated filings.
Senator Kathy, the bills sponsor, said she reviewed a list of parishes and chose to make the permanent-registration requirement statewide so assessors would not have to mail forms annually. "This just also puts less words in government," the sponsor said, and cited Saint Charles Parishs estimate of about $14,000 in annual savings from switching to permanent registration.
Representative Billings asked whether assessors would face software or other new obligations. The sponsor replied assessors she spoke with welcomed the change and had not indicated additional costs; she said Saint Charles Parish estimated savings from ending mailings.
Senator Miller brought a parish-specific bill (SB 89) that would require the Saint Charles assessor to provide the permanent-registration form; he said he would hold SB 89 in reserve if the statewide SB 340 passes, and the committee advanced both bills favorably. Committee members asked few substantive questions and there were no opposing public comments recorded.
Why this matters: Making registration permanent reduces administrative burden for assessors and taxpayers, and sponsors say it may lower costs associated with annual mailings.
Both SB 340 and SB 89 were moved forward favorably by the committee without recorded roll-call tallies in committee.
