21-02-2025
House amends Senate property tax bill back to a statewide 50% cut
CHEYENNE – After more than seven hours of debate, members of the House Freedom Caucus moved a major property tax bill back closer to the Senate's version than representatives left it last week.
The House debated 21 amendments to Senate File 69, 'Homeowner property tax exemption,' on third reading Wednesday. Three major amendments removed a county-by-county basis take on tax relief, returning the bill to a statewide, 50% assessment reduction for residential structures up to $1 million in value.
When the House voted 42-19 in favor of SF 69 on Wednesday, the bill included that 50% exemption for up to $1 million of the fair market value for residential structure for two years, but not a Senate-approved exemption for associated land. The House also added a backfill of about $200 million that the Senate did not approve.
A third amendment very different from the Senate's version of SF 69 passed; it was brought by Freedom Caucus-endorsed freshman legislator Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper. That amendment would include a permanent 25% property tax cut from the tax year 2027 on. The Senate's version of the bill included a two-year sunset, or no property tax cut after 2027.
Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, who is backed by the Freedom Caucus and brought the first of the three approved amendments, said early in the day, while considering other amendments, that there were better amendments to come that he had crafted with other lawmakers' input.
Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said he was disappointed his fellow representatives were voting to take the bill back to its earlier state, and that the county-by-county approach approved on second reading would be removed.
Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper (2025)
Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper
'Remember last Thursday night, when there was a sense of freshness, opportunity, the light came on,' Washut said. 'Now here we are a few days later, ready to jettison that little ray of sunshine and go back to the original.'
Other representatives expressed dismay that nearly every other amendment failed in something close to a two-thirds vote, and questioned whether decisions were made at private meetings between second reading last Thursday and Wednesday's third reading.
Proper names of organizations are not allowed on the House floor, so no one referenced the Freedom Caucus PAC by name.
'We had a debate last week, we thought we were being productive. We thought we had come together for a consensus of something good, and I am disappointed with the direction we are going,' Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, said.
Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs (2025)
Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs
'Folks at home, this is what happens when you're bringing politics into the decisions that are going to shape our children's' future. This is what happens when you make a decision in a meeting room somewhere not on this floor,' Wylie continued.
Minority floor leader Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, said later in debate that if anything, 21 amendments to the bill meant it was not ready to become law. Further, he said that the decision to amend was not made in the seven hours of debate on the House floor Wednesday.
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson (2025)
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson
'We had the conversations in public, but those conversations weren't the real conversations. The decision had already been made,' Yin said.
In one heated exchange between two Casper Republican representatives, Rep. Julie Jarvis said that, as amended, SF 69 was a 'political bill.' Rep. Tony Locke, who has been endorsed by the Freedom Caucus, pushed back angrily.
Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper (2025)
Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper
'If people are going to get up and disparage people's reason for voting in this room, that's the wrong answer,' Locke said. 'You don't walk into this room and say, 'Something's fishy and we were all set up'.'
Jarvis responded that she simply did not believe the bill was about helping the people of Wyoming.
Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper (2025)
Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper
'The amendments that were created and decided ahead of time — I am ashamed that I would be part of this,' Jarvis said.
Other amendments
Four amendments that would have adjusted a county-by-county procedure for calculating property tax relief — brought by Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, on second reading last week — failed. Others had to do with the percentage of tax cuts under SF 69, and whether those should be applied at 25% or 50%. Another was whether a change in the state's sales tax mechanism could be used to mitigate the property tax cuts. All were voted down.
'Do we have a strong vision on where we want to see property tax relief go? I would argue that frankly, we don't,' Yin said in the middle of debate on the eighth amendment.
Another failed amendment proposed by Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, would have assessed residential property at 8.3%, a change allowed by Constitutional Amendment A, passed in November's general election. Harshman said that including the amendment in SF 69 would ensure that the voters' will be done.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, former Freedom Caucus chair, and Majority Floor Leader Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, both argued Harshman's amendment was unnecessary, as Senate File 153, 'Residential real property-taxable value,' is making its way to the House floor and addresses the same issue. Harshman's amendment failed.
The House's version of SF 69 must now be reconciled with the Senate's version before either could be sent to Gov. Mark Gordon's desk.
