HCSHB119--TAXLEVIESBYPOLITICALSUBDIVISIONS
SPONSOR: Murphy
COMMITTEEACTION:Voted"DoPasswithHCS"bytheStanding
CommitteeonGovernmentEfficiencybyavoteof14to1with1
votingpresent.
ThefollowingisasummaryoftheHouseCommitteeSubstituteforHB
119.
Thisbillrequiresthattheelectionauthorityforapolitical
subdivisionorspecialdistrictlabeltaxation-relatedballot
measuresnumericallyoralphabetically intheorderinwhichthey
aresubmittedtothevoters.Ballotmeasureswillnotbelabeled
inanyotherdescriptivemanner.Electionauthoritiesmay
coordinatewitheachother,orwiththeSecretaryofState,to
maintainadatabasetofacilitatenumericoralphabeticassignment.
Thebillrequiresthatanyballotmeasurethatseeksapprovalto
add,change,ormodifyataxonrealpropertyuselanguageto
expresstheeffectoftheproposedchangeintermsofrealdollars
owedper$100,000ofaproperty'smarketvaluation.
Thisbillrequiresthatifvotersinapoliticalsubdivision
approvealevyincreasepriortotheexpirationofapreviously
approvedtemporarylevyincrease,thenewtaxrateceilingwill
remainineffectonlyuntilthetemporarylevyincreaseexpires
underthetermsoriginallyapprovedbyvoters.Atthattime,the
taxrateceilingwillbedecreasedbytheamountofthetemporary
levyincreaseunlessvotersofthepoliticalsubdivisionareasked
toapproveanadditionalpermanentincreaseandsuchincreaseis
approved.
Thebillrequiresthatwhenvotersinapoliticalsubdivisionpass
ataxrateincrease,thepoliticalsubdivisionshallusethe
currenttaxrateceilingandtheincreaseapprovedbythevotersin
establishingtheratesoflevyforthetaxyearimmediately
followingtheelection. Iftheassessedvaluationofrealproperty
inapoliticalsubdivisionseesareductioninvalueinthetax
yearimmediatelyfollowingtheelection,thepoliticalsubdivision
mayraiseitstaxratessothattherevenuereceivedfromthelocal
realpropertytaxratesequalstheamountthepoliticalsubdivision
wouldhavereceivedfromtheincreasedratesoflevyhadtherebeen
noreductionintheassessedvaluationofrealpropertyinthe
politicalsubdivision. Intheeventofanincreasedtaxrate
ceiling,suchrateshallberevenueneutralasrequiredinArticle
X,Section22oftheConstitutionofMissouri. ThisbillissimilartoHCSHB1517(2024).
Thefollowingisasummaryofthepublictestimonyfromthe
committeehearing. Thetestimonywasbasedontheintroduced
versionofthebill.
PROPONENTS: Supporterssaythatthiswillprovidetransparencyto
theprocessfortax-relatedballotprovisionsandthattoooften
thenamesofsuchballotprovisionsarepoliticaloranattemptto
distractfromthefactthatthevoteistoincreasetaxes.
TestifyinginpersonforthebillwasRepresentative Murphy.
Writtentestimonyhasbeensubmittedforthisbill.Thefull
writtentestimonyandwitnessestestifyingonlinecanbefound
underTestimonyonthebillpageontheHousewebsite.