Democrats Respond to the Veto Override of House Bill 292
IDAHO CAPITOL – House and Senate Democrats are deeply disappointed that their Republican colleagues are unwilling to fight for meaningful property tax relief that does not have disastrous side effects. Legislators were presented with legislation that provided greater property tax cuts without jeopardizing school and infrastructure funding in the form of HB 198aaS, which was killed by House Republicans on a party-line vote.
“Idahoans asked us to address property taxes and restore education funding,” House Democratic Leader Ilana Rubel said. “The supermajority was only willing to deliver property tax cuts that come at the expense of long-term school facilities and operational funding.”
The Senate delivered a superior property tax bill to HB 292, but political infighting prevailed over Idahoans’ best interests and it was killed by House Republicans.
Every House Democrat voted in favor of concurring with the Senate amendments on HB 198aaS, which largely mirrored HB 292, but with greater benefits for property taxpayers and without the technical errors and collateral damage to schools in HB 292. HB 198aaS had the following features:
- Provided $76 million MORE in property tax reduction over the next five years
- Preserved bonding for transportation projects
- Ensured increased funding for local roads and bridges
- Preserved the March election date that school districts rely on
- Preserved escalating funding for public defense to keep up with the need
- Did not cut needed funding for ambulance, fire, flood control, and water districts
Ideally, schools would receive adequate, reliable state funding and would never need levies and bonds. Sadly, levy reliance has become the norm. Eighty percent of Idaho’s districts require supplemental levies for day-to-day costs like teacher salaries, supplies and utilities. The March election date allows schools to make timely salary offers to retain their staff for the following school year.
There are multiple “trailer bills” in play to try to correct the errors of HB 292, but none address the damage to schools caused by eliminating their March election date. One of those bills, HB 376, will actually reduce the amount of property tax relief for Idahoans, potentially by $6 million in the first year.
Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Wintrow, said “We knew our constituents expected us to enact sensible property tax reform this session. It’s unfortunate that the best, simple solutions, like reindexing the homeowner’s exemption and significantly increasing property tax assistance for seniors, fell by the wayside in favor of an overly complicated approach with harmful side effects.”
After months of wasting time on culture wars and attacks on librarians, the GOP supermajority finally turned its attention to property taxes in the final days of session, only to emerge with a flawed HB 292. The Governor wisely vetoed it due to the threats it posed to highway construction funding and schools’ ability to raise funds without critical March election dates. Unfortunately, rather than seize this opportunity to pass a clean property tax bill that does not contain a poison pill for Idaho schools, Republican legislators overrode his veto and pushed forward with an inferior bill.
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