Latest news with #HB231
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Property tax relief package clears Montana Legislature
The Montana state capitol pictured after a late-night Senate vote on Jan. 9, 2025. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) The final priority for the 69th Montana Legislature — one many lawmakers campaigned on — passed both chambers on the final day of the session. Property tax relief for residential payers has been top of mind for legislators following historic increases in property values during the last few years, with more anticipated this year, according to Department of Revenue estimates. According to one representative, lawmakers debated at least 47 different bills related to property taxes this session. On Wednesday, the House took the final votes on a major property tax bills — House Bill 231 — passing it on a bipartisan basis with 69 representatives voting 'aye.' The Senate on Tuesday passed HB 231, and a coordinated bill, Senate Bill 542, 28-22 and 29-21, respectively, with one Democrat opposing both bills and the GOP split. Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, sponsored HB 231 and was largely seen as the architect behind both bills' final forms, as well as the state budget, working closely with the governor's office and coalitions of lawmakers to push the massive pieces of legislation through. 'I came here to have residential, owner dwellings get a tax cut. This bill, in conjunction with 542, does that.' Llew on the floor, adding that he anticipated around 30,000 to 40,000 small businesses would also get a cut. But many hard-line Republicans, especially in the Senate, decried the property tax bills as complicated and burdensome, and the Legislature still had time to come up with a better plan. 'It's unfair. It's complicated. It's expensive to implement,' said Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray of the two bills. 'I'm all for providing property tax relief for residential taxpayers, but not with this bill. As I've said, this bill's unconstitutional, it's violated our rules,' Sen. Greg Hertz echoed. 'There's better ways to do this, and we can. I'm fine if you just kill this thing and Senate Bill 542, and come back in a special session. We need to get it right, and we're not getting this right.' A major sticking point for many detractors was that the bills don't reduce overall property tax collection in the state, but merely shift the burden between different types of properties, an outcome supporters said is only realistic. The relief package contains a homestead exemption — championed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, that taxes second homes at a higher rate than owner-occupied homes. To prioritize residential homeowners, other shifts would result in higher taxes for some large businesses and utilities, and the bills were heavily opposed by the Montana Chamber of Commerce and energy and utility companies. But Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, said the outrage at the shift in taxes was hypocritical. He said that before the 2023 session, lawmakers received a memo from the Department of Revenue warning them that residential property taxes would increase if they didn't take action. 'We did nothing. There was a tax shift,' Flowers said. 'In some cases — in my case — my taxes doubled in Gallatin County. Doubled. Where was the outrage on that shift? So there's outrage now, because apparently the oil refinery is going to pay slightly higher taxes. But what about the shift that occurred in 2023 when our residents saw their taxes jack up? Where was the outrage?' '…(Our constituents) didn't ask us to maintain exactly the same taxes on oil refineries.' In the House, Jones echoed the same sentiment, asking where the'scream of anguish' had been when taxes shifted towards residential payers. Jones said that when residential properties saw tax spikes upwards of 40%, centrally-assessed properties, like refineries and utilities, saw tens of millions of dollars of decrease. Meanwhile, the average reduction for a median home value in Montana — $360,000 according to DOR revenue Jones cited — would see a $719 decrease in taxes from the previous year. 'I think that's significant,' Jones said. After the new bills are implemented, those types of properties, and business properties, will still be lower than they were four years ago, Jones said. The two final property tax bills saw many changes during the last weeks of the session, including last-minute amendments made to HB 231 on Tuesday morning. Jones described the final changes as necessary to coordinate the two bills and ease implementation for the Department of Revenue, preventing delays in seeing results for homeowners. Another change also attempts to address an issue with city charters — namely in Sunburst and Billings — that have fixed mills and could potentially see large increases in property taxes. The latter issue united many lawmakers from the Billings area — including one Democrat — against the bills, saying they're 'bad bills' for the Yellowstone County area. But overwhelmingly in both chambers the consensus was that Montanans sent lawmakers to Helena to address high property taxes, with these bills as the best option. 'It's not a perfect product. I would posit there is no such thing as a perfect product, because the essence of the property tax relief is that somewhere, somehow, there are going to be tax shifts,' Rep. Dave Bedey, R-Hamilton, said in the House. Bedey added that the disagreements and fingerpointing between various factions of lawmakers — including a Senate coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans who joined together on major pieces of legislation — prevented the Legislature from delivering property tax bills earlier on in the session, as requested by the governor. 'Yeah, the cake might have been baked. It should have been baked. We should have had it out the oven earlier,' Bedey said. 'And now we're doing the best we can.' In the upper chamber, Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena, said legislators could go home and be proud of the work they accomplished on property taxes this session. An estimated 230,000 to 240,000 homeowners will be impacted by the tax cuts, according to Jones. '(Those) homeowners will be helped, their rates will go down, their taxes will go down,' Dunwell said. 'And you can tell your constituents that will happen.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major property tax proposals advance, legislators raise concerns with both
Photo illustration by Getty Images. With a maximum 11 days left in the session, legislators advanced two major but conflicting property tax relief proposals on Tuesday, one in the House and one in the Senate. Within minutes of each other, House Bill 231 passed in the Senate, and Senate Bill 542 passed in the House. Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, said many options have been flying around the Capitol, and SB 542 melds together ideas from other bills into one that isn't perfect, but needs to pass. 'We want to get something across for our constituents, and we want to be able to say that this legislature at least took a stab at lowering property taxes,' Ler said.'Is this bill going to do everything … that everybody in this room wants it to do? No. Does it do everything I wanted to do? No. But what it does do is it actually makes a difference in property taxes.' SB 542 includes a tiered rate drop and a one-time rebate among other provisions. Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said she had concerns about the bill, but it's 'past time' to do something for residential property taxpayers, more than just a rebate. 'People will notice this,' Sullivan said. 'Our constituents will open their bill, and they will say thank you. You guys dropped some rates for us.' HB 231 is a 43-page property tax bill so complicated Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvary quipped on Tuesday that 'nobody really knows what this bill is doing besides three, or four, or five us in the room.' The bill has gone through months of amendments, including two more added on the floor Tuesday that addressed an issue with taxation limits in the Billings and Sunburst city charters that has complicated property tax discussions. House Bill 231 looks to shift property taxes onto second homes, but has met resistance from some legislators who live in districts with large numbers of second homes and short-term rentals. Both bills still need a final vote in their respective chambers, and as both have been heavily amended, they will need to get another approval from their original chamber to pass. How legislators choose to push either or both forward to the governor's desk will unfold in the last days of the session. Reducing property taxes for residential payers has been a priority for the 2025 Montana Legislature because bills have increased significantly — more than 20% on average in the state in the most recent 2023 reappraisal, and are expected to increase again. Ler said SB 542 takes pieces from other bills, including a major proposal from Democrats, House Bill 155, and marries them into 'what the media now calls 'the Frankenstein property tax bill.'' It also takes pieces from HB 231, a proposal supported by the Governor's Office,. Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said residential property tax bills will decrease 14.5% statewide in the first year, and those payers also will receive a one-time $400 rebate. Also in the first year, Jones said commercial properties will rise 4.6%, centrally assessed properties, such as railroads, will increase 10.7%, and agriculture will be up 4.3%. In year two, he said, bills for residential homes would be down 25.6% on average. After killing all but one amendment in a debate that ran nearly an hour-and-a-half, the House approved the bill on a bipartisan 80-20 vote. The only amendment that passed was proposed by Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings. Legislators have said the bill could cost the city of Billings millions because of an apparent conflict with its charter, which caps mills levied without voter approval. Zolnikov said if the city of Billings gets in legal trouble as a result, the amendment requires the state to pay any legal fees. 'I don't think anybody's intent is to, you know, bankrupt the city of Billings,' Zolnikov said. Ler said the bill already protected the city of Billings and its unique situation, but the amendment was friendly. It passed with 99 votes and none opposed. After the House passed the bill, though, a fierce debate followed over whether to send it to the Appropriations Committee, which reviews significant spending proposals. Some legislators argued the House shouldn't take shortcuts, especially because lawmakers didn't have a current analysis of the bill's cost. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, said legislators need to work quickly, but they need to complete all their work too. 'This is the process. We shouldn't skirt the process just because we waited until day 79 to pass property taxes,' Zephyr said. Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, said it was a weighty piece of legislation, and he wanted to know who the losers were before he voted. He said he didn't believe all of them had been identified, nor did he want to vote on legislation without a current fiscal analysis. 'I am not wild about voting on this without a new fiscal note,' said Mercer, who voted no on the bill. However, Jones, chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said the committee already had seen the bills that are part of SB 542, so the committee had a good handle on cost, and time was of the essence. 'I want to make sure that a tax bill crosses into the Senate before the Senate goes home,' Jones said. The House agreed to bypass the review in the Appropriations Committee. HB 231 'picks winners and losers,' Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said on the floor Tuesday. HB 231 includes a property tax rebate on taxes paid in 2024. Someone who applied for the rebate also automatically qualifies for the homestead exemption built into the bill, a major piece of policy the governor has pushed. The bill passed on a narrow 26-24 vote, with a single Democrat in opposition and nine Republicans in support. Glimm's comments echoed the sentiments expressed by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, and Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell. Hertz, Glimm and Reiger have all been in support of Senate Bill 90, which directs tourist dollars toward property tax rebates as part of their property tax solution. But they didn't support HB 231. In the final comment before bill carrier Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, closed on HB 231, Regier explained his reason — first to the legislature, and then to the people of Montana. He noted to the legislature it was spending general fund money, which has been a common discussion point in the chamber. And then, saying he was speaking directly to the public, he said tax rates, especially for agricultural communities, were going to go up if House Bill 231 passed. For second home properties and short term rentals, that increase could be over $300 million, according to a fiscal note for HB 231. 'There are a lot of options that actually do provide property tax relief,' Regier said. 'This is not it. So please, watch this vote, and hold those that vote for and against accountable.' Fern, though, said the bill would provide middle-class property tax relief, saying that 'for most folks, it will be a substantial tax decrease.' He also pushed back on the idea second homes were a major issue, saying that when he knocked on doors during his campaign, 'I'm going to guess 98% of them didn't have second homes.' However, Fern added HB 542 may end up being the vehicle for property tax relief and pointed to the urgency. 'Over the last couple sessions, we, the legislature and the Governor's Office failed to deliver property taxes, and so it compounded,' Fern said on the floor. 'Then we had a very volatile situation where appraisals and values went high. The system was not built to mitigate it in an easy way.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zombies and Frankenstein: Montana Legislature looks to cobble together tax relief
Gov. Greg Gianforte listens to Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, outline his subcommittee's proposals out of the Property Tax Task Force at a meeting on Aug. 15, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) A stalemate over property tax relief in both Montana Legislative chambers continues with little end in sight as disputes and heated floor sessions continue. Montana Senators left a marathon session on the floor without any property tax relief on Thursday after voting down two major pieces of legislation — House Bill 155 and House Bill 231. In another twist, the House Taxation Committee on Friday morning amended Senate Bill 542, originally a two-year freeze on property taxes, into HB 155 and HB 231. House Bill 155, as amended, would reduce tax rates on residential and agricultural property. 'I think I'm optimistic it'll be the vehicle,' Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, who sponsored HB 155 said on Friday morning. The Senate indefinitely postponed HB 231 on Thursday night, but HB 155 in amended form is technically still alive in the chamber. HB 231 was the preferred bill from the governor, and it would have shifted some tax burden onto those with multiple homes. The 69th Legislative session began with a mandate — both self-imposed by legislators and by the Governor — to develop property tax relief. While movement has been slowly made on the issue, neither chamber has pushed through expansive property tax relief to the executive branch. The House has had long discussions over the merits of Senate Bill 90, legislation that would take tourism tax dollars and use them for tax relief. That bill has yet to technically see the House floor, but has been discussed for around an hour total during failed blast motions on Wednesday and Thursday. SB 90 and House Bill 924, legislation that would create a large trust, are also connected. The discussions on the major bills have been occasionally emotional and often frustrated. It's also been repeated many times in the hallways, in committee meetings and on the floor that Montanans will hold their elected officials accountable if they don't pass real tax relief. In the most recent reappraisal cycle, property taxes increased significantly, even leading to a lawsuit against the state. The worry for many Montanans? Being priced out of their homes with no place to go. Legislators on both sides of the aisle promised property tax help this session. In the background, deals and arguments over what type of assistance is right for the state reign supreme. But the session is days from concluding and there is no consensus. 'I think that this is going to be changing every five minutes for the next week,' Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale said on Friday. Even before the session started, Gov. Greg Gianforte formed a task force to help, and from the beginning of the session this year, he looked to push and prod the Legislature to pass property tax reform, specifically in HB 231. But both political parties are split into their own factions, responding to different political pressures and interests, and a majority has yet to coalesce around HB 231 or any other proposal. Some are interested in giving property taxpayers cash in the form of a credit or rebate, some want structural relief, some don't understand why Montanans can't have both, and some worry that plans to help residential payers will just hit industry instead. That impasse has yet to be fully resolved. There has been some friction between the branches, with legislative Republicans going so far as to issue a press release after the governor made comments about the slow pace of property tax legislation in March. 'The Governor understands the legislative process and should have submitted his proposals earlier if he wanted them enacted more quickly,' the press release stated. In the meantime, legislators are cobbling together ideas. HB 231, brought by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, was recently described as a 'Frankenstein' bill by Senate Taxation Committee Chairman Sen. Greg Hertz and has faced significant scrutiny. For Hertz, who represents part of the Flathead, second-homes, including rentals, are common in his district and HB 231 would tax those at a higher rate. He also said Jones had taken control of the finance and claims process, as well as the budgeting process. 'Now I believe he's gotten himself into trouble,' Hertz said. 'Because now we can only control the budget, but he has no balance over here to allow conservative Republicans to readjust the budget that happens this session.' During a Thursday press conference, Gianforte reiterated his support for the Homestead exemption in House Bill 231. 'I continue to urge the legislature to keep its focus on Montanans who live in their primary residence, the place that they call home, and not on those who only live here part of the year,' Gianforte said. 'Our homestead rate cut was a thoughtfully developed solution and a result of a diverse, bipartisan effort.' Republican Senate President Matt Regier has pushed Senate Bill 90, a tax rebate proposal. Hertz has also said he's in favor of SB 90, as are some House Republicans, including Billings Rep. Katie Zolnikov. She brought the first motion to bring the tabled bill to the House floor and said the conversation around the legislation has become convoluted, challenging and difficult. 'The most frustrating part of the discussion is that most of the arguments against the bill basically utilize the assumption that this is the only property tax bill that we're going to pass,' Zolnikov said in an interview. 'And so it's talked about as if it's this mutually exclusive thing … SB 90 or nothing.' She also said people then criticize the bill as not being meaningful reform. 'Of course it's not meaningful reform,' she said. 'You're comparing apples to oranges here. But why can't we do both?' Some Democrats have also supported SB 90, including a cohort who has voted in favor of blast motions to move it to the House floor. That coalition seems to have taken cues from House Minority leader Rep. Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, who has voted in favor of bringing SB 90 to the floor twice. But her caucus has not completely followed her lead. Sullivan had no comment on SB 90 when reached through staff. For Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, who has been against SB 90, it's a general fund issue. He's concerned the rebate will just eat up more of the fund over time, and that it's simply not enough relief. 'To me, it's almost an insult to my constituents,' Karlen said. 'If I'm like, 'Hey, you know, guess what, the rates are still going to be the same, residential property taxpayers keep paying more and more of the total tax share. But don't worry, we're gonna give you $250 bucks.'' When asked if he'd consider rebates as a property tax relief option, Gianforte said, 'We've been pretty clear we need permanent, meaningful relief.' Local government policies are playing a role too. A cohort of representatives from Montana's largest city have an interest in avoiding the potential legal and constitutional issues related to language in HB 231 and HB 155. Under both bills, cities with a charter that has specific stipulations around how many mills they can levy without voter approval could stand to lose millions. This has Billings legislators on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers looking for answers. 'We feel that the unique issue of Billings needs to be taken into consideration when trying to come to a final resolution on property taxes,' Rep. Denise Baum, D-Billings, said in a Thursday text message. 'We are hoping that SB 90 will become part of the solution in conjunction with an overall property tax reform.' There's also worry about the constitutionality of legislation surrounding solutions proposed for 'the Billings problem,' something Hertz has repeatedly said in committee meetings. During an impassioned Senate floor discussion on HB 231 on Thursday, Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, pushed back against the idea the potential city charter fixes would be unconstitutional. Fern was carrying the bill in the Senate. Karlen had similar thoughts on Billings Friday morning. Charters were a problem with HB 155, too, and an amendment was added to that bill to address the issue. 'What I would say to folks in Billings is: You'll be included in long term property tax relief,' Karlen said in an interview. 'It's just a little bit wonkier in how that happens.' One of the proposed solutions is reimbursing local governments impacted by the issue with state money, an idea Gianforte indicated he wouldn't support. 'The other hard line we've drawn is that we do not think we should take someone's income tax dollars and use it to backfill local spending,' Gianforte said. 'So that's something we will not do.' Galt also had a two year-property tax freeze bill he described April 3 on the Senate floor as a 'backstop' and 'Plan D.' It's now dead, he said on Friday. Some Republicans had considered the idea as an option — and not just as a last-ditch attempt to show the Legislature did something on property taxes. 'We're looking at two weeks, if even less, and being out of here,' Regier said on Tuesday. 'And so when things come together and come together fast, and that's obviously one piece that needs to be talked about.' But all language regarding a tax freeze was cut out, and while Galt's name is at the top of House Bill 542, it's a very different piece of legislation. The House Taxation committee approved a large amendment on Friday morning that creates a $400 tax credit for 2024 taxes paid and takes parts from other pieces of tax legislation. Residential rates in HB 542 for 2025 mirror language in House Bill 155, starting at 0.76% rate for residential properties. The calculation for 2026 rates are similar to what's in HB 231. There's also a fix in HB 542 for Billings and other cities where there has been conflict between bill language and a charter, though its legality is unclear. House Speaker Brandon Ler, R-Savage said in the House Taxation committee on Friday morning that it was a good amendment and a step toward how the legislature is going to address property taxes. 'This amendment here kind of has a lot of fixes in it for a lot of different concerns that we've heard in the last 78 days,' Ler said. Other supplementary property tax legislation beyond direct relief has passed out of the Legislature. SB 117, which is on the Governor's desk, will allow property taxes collected on new development to be used to offset taxes paid by existing homeowners and businesses. Regier has mentioned it several times as part of a fix for property taxes, and sponsor Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, said he was pleased it passed. 'We've got plenty more work to do on property taxes before we wrap up the session, but SB 117 is an important structural reform that will help contain property tax increases heading into the future, and we got it across the finish line,' Sen. Zolnikov said in a press release. 'This is a long-term solution to a long-term problem of endless government growth.' While bits and pieces of property tax legislation have gone through both chambers, no final long-term solution has gathered enough support to get it to the governor's desk. 'A lot of times you don't feel like you actually have input,' Rep. Zolnikov said. 'Because things have been decided prior. Prior to a committee meeting, prior to a floor vote, prior to the session in general.' What may have been decided remains to be seen as frustration mounts.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House committee approves constitutional amendment on school prayer
Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road (right) speaks with Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 6, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Ingram's bill that would require local school boards to adopt a policy allowing employees and students to voluntarily pray in school passed a House committee on April 16, 2025. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama House committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would require local school boards to adopt a policy allowing employees and students to voluntarily pray in school. But the committee made significant changes to HB 231, sponsored by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Matthews, a constitutional amendment that must be approved by voters if it passes the Legislature. As filed, the bill required a daily prayer and specified that the prayer must reflect Judeo-Christian values. A substitute adopted by the committee removed that requirement. 'We took out the Christianity requirement, where if somebody had a different belief, it would be any of their religion,' Ingram said. 'And I'm a Christian, and have been, and always will be. But I do respect other religions as well, too, and other people come into this country with different beliefs and that's their right and opinion.' Current law generally allows school prayer and religious studies outside of school buildings. Other changes to the bill include that prayers cannot be done in a classroom or during instructional time, and students must get parental consent to participate. 'Prayer has to go on before the school time or after school time. So they would have a room that they could pray in if the school, whatever the school board decided for them to,' he said. The legislation also requires schools to start each day with the Pledge of Allegiance. If schools do not comply consistently with this requirement, the state superintendent must withhold 25% of state funding. The Legislature will also be authorized to withhold funding from noncompliant schools if they continue to violate the legislation. 'These kids that grow up these days don't understand what the flag is and what it means. And I think that's part of the teaching,' he said. The bill moves to the full House. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate Taxation Committee moves major property tax bills to Senate floor
The door to the Senate Chamber at the Montana Capitol. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) The Senate Taxation Committee made headway on the property tax debate by moving several bills originating in the House through the committee on Wednesday morning, despite reservations by several legislators. Gov. Greg Gianforte's favored bill, House Bill 231, brought by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, moved on, as did House Bill 155, which has become a flagship bill from Democrats in both chambers. Some Republicans also feel rebates are the way to provide tax relief, while the HB 231 camp and the Democrats try and adjust tax rates. House Bill 528, which was a late, under-the-radar and bipartisan bill from Rep. Ed Bryne, R-Bigfork, was tabled in the committee. A motion to reconsider House Bill 154, a renter tax credit Democrats had previously hinted wasn't dead, also failed to move to the floor. Senate Bill 90, a bill favored by Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, and conservative members of his caucus, continues to hang around as a property tax option in the House. SB 90 is a tax rebate that Democrats say does not provide enough relief. SB 90 has been added to HB 924, which includes a property tax credit. That legislation that would create a $1 billion trust that serves multiple interests, including childcare, infrastructure and disaster resilience. 'Senate Bill 90 is alive and well,' Sen. Greg Hertz, chair of Senate Taxation said during the meeting. His words were foreshadowing — Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings made a reconsideration motion on SB 90 during the House's floor session. Around a dozen House members rose to speak during discussion on the blast motion, which ultimately failed by one vote. The committee made several amendments on both HB 155 and HB 231. For HB 155, brought by Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, the amendment included language to roll back property tax rates to 2024 and provide a homestead exemption on the first $50,000 of a home, bringing some Democrats into opposition because of those changes. '155 now is different. It's changed,' Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena said during the meeting. 'I went from a yes to a no. It's changed that much.' Amendments to HB 231 included pushing the effective date back, as the bill was originally looking to be passed in March, and adding language to help fix a major hurdle for much of the property tax legislation — issues with charters in several cities that could see an increase local property taxes with the bill as introduced. Language in HB 231 was amended to give local governments the option to switch from a mill-based levy to a dollar-based levy should they so choose. There was also some debate over whether reimbursing cities with charters that conflict with state money could be a realistic option. Hertz said he thinks telling cities to ignore their charters is unconstitutional and had little doubt it would be challenged in court. HB 155 and HB 231 will now head to the Senate floor for the full Senate to consider. Property taxes remain a major hurdle for the Legislature as the end of the session nears and Montanans face another jump in property values. 'I committed to Representative Jones to get this bill out of here,' Hertz said of HB 231. 'I don't like it. It's more or less a Frankenstein bill now, but I hope we can get this bill out of here so we can have the discussion on the floor.'
