Summary Proceedings
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D r a f t O n l y A p p r o v a l P e n d i n g SSUUMMMMAARRYY ooff PP RROOCCEEEEDDIINNGGSS JOINT REVENUE COMMITTEE COMMITTE E ME E TING INFORM ATION October 28-29, 2013 Room 302, Capitol Building Cheyenne, Wyoming COMMITTE E ME MBE RS PRE S E NT Senator R. Ray Peterson, Cochairman Representative Michael Madden, Cochairman Senator James Lee Anderson (SD 28) Senator Cale Case Senator Fred Emerich Representative Gregg Blikre Representative John Eklund Representative Dan Kirkbride Representative Bunky Loucks Representative Ruth Ann Petroff C OMMITTE E ME MBE RS N OT PRES ENT Senator Michael Von Flatern Representative W. Patrick Goggles Representative David Northrup Representative Mark Semlek LEGISL ATIV E SE RV ICE OFFICE ST AFF Mark Quiner, Assistant Director Josh Anderson, Staff Attorney Matt Sackett, Research Manager OTHERS PRE S E NT AT ME E TING Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Subcommittee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting. The Committee Meeting Summary of Proceedings (meeting minutes) is prepared by the Legislative Service Office (LSO) and is the official record of the proceedings of a legislative committee meeting. This document does not represent a transcript of the meeting; it is a digest of the meeting and provides a record of official actions taken by the Committee. All meeting materials and handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office, public officials, lobbyists, and the public are on file at the Legislative Service Office and are part of the official record of the meeting. An index of these materials is provided at the end of this document and these materials are on file at the Legislative Service Office. For more information or to review meeting materials, please contact the Legislative Service Office at (307) 777-7881 or by e-mail at [email protected] . The Summary of Proceedings for each legislative committee meeting can be found on the Wyoming Legislature’s website at www.wyoleg.gov. PAGE 2 OF 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Committee met for two days in Cheyenne. The Committee received testimony on State lands and received an update on the most recent CREG report. The Committee considered six bill drafts and ultimately voted to sponsor three bills as Committee bills: 14LSO-0155.W1 – Property tax exemption – charity; 14LSO-0158.W2 – County board of equalization; and 14LSO-0068.W3 – Mineral tax-audit interest rate. CALL TO ORDER (OCTOBER 28, 2013) Co-Chairman Madden called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Committee Meeting Agenda. 14LSO-0155.W1 – PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION – CHARITY The Committee received a copy of bill draft 14LSO-0155.W1 – Property tax exemption – charity (see Appendix 3 for a copy of the bill). Ms. Brenda Arnold of the Department of Revenue stated that the bill helps provide clarity for those administrating the law. She noted that the bill narrows the exemption for charitable trusts. She stated that the department did have some concerns about the reporting requirement because the department does not value exempt properties and the counties do not appraise exempt properties. She stated that if counties have to assess those properties it would require additional man hours. Mr. Steve Olmstead, Chairman of the State Board of Equalization, stated that they had some concerns about tracking information. He noted that they have been tracking the present worth exemption since its inception and that information is available to the legislature. Ms. Jayne Mockler of the State Board of Equalization noted that exemptions tend to come before the board on appeal because somebody will protest. She said that it is important to make sure the exemptions are written as clearly as possible. Mr. Ken Guille, Laramie County Assessor, stated that there are over 20 properties in Laramie County that fall under this exemption but he was not sure of the total number statewide. Senator Anderson moved that the Committee sponsor the bill and the motion was seconded. Representative Petroff moved that the bill be amended on Page 1- line 18 by deleting "4-10-106" and inserting "4-10-406". The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Representative Petroff moved that the bill be amended on Page 2- line 2 by deleting “and” and inserting “or”, and after "association" by inserting "which is directly beneficial to the people of this state". The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Representative Petroff moved that the bill be amended on page 2-line 22 after "on the " by deleting the balance of the line and inserting “number of, name of and legal description of the property for any exemption under W.S. 39-11-105(a)(xix), (xxvi), (xxxix) or (xl)." The motion was seconded. The motion failed by voice vote. Representative Petroff moved that the bill be amended by deleting section 2. The motion was seconded. The motion failed by voice vote. JOINT REVENUE COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings WYOMING LEGISLATIVE SERVICE OFFICE • 213 State Capitol • Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 TELEPHONE (307) 777-7881 • FAX 307-777-5466 • E-MAIL [email protected] • WEB SITE www.wyoleg.gov PAGE 3 OF 8 Representative Blikre moved that the bill be amended on page 2-line 22 by deleting “value of” and inserting "number of". The motion was seconded. The motion failed by voice vote. The Committee voted to sponsor 14LSO-0155.W1 as amended as a House Bill with a roll call vote of 8 ayes, 2 noes and 4 excused. See vote form attached to the bill. 14LSO-0158.W2 – COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION The Committee received a copy of bill draft 14LSO-0158.W2 – County board of equalization (see Appendix 4 for a copy of the bill). The Committee also received a handout of an amendment to the bill (see Appendix 5 for a copy of the amendment). Mr. Olmstead stated that the bill raised some issues that the board felt needed brought to attention. He stated that while he thinks it generally works well in the present condition, if there were going to be changes it is important not to make the process of appealing property tax assessments more onerous for taxpayers. He noted that at this time the board has not been seeing a real problem related to this issue coming from the counties. Ms. Mockler walked the Committee through the amendment. She noted that it provides some structural and procedural changes to clarify the county board of equalization After additional discussion, Senator Emerich moved that the Committee sponsor the bill and the motion was seconded. Representative Eklund moved that the bill be amended as provided in the amendment received by the Committee. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Senator Emerich moved that the bill be amended on page 3-lines 5 and 6 by deleting "without prejudice”. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Representative Petroff moved that the bill be amended by deleting the new language on page 4-lines 13 and 14. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The Committee voted to sponsor 14LSO-0158.W2 as amended as a Senate File with a roll call vote of 9 ayes, 1 no and 4 excused. See vote form attached to the bill. 14LSO-0069.W1 – TAXATION OF MULTI-COUNTY PROJECTS 14LSO-0175.W2 – SALES AND USE TAX CONSULTATION The Committee received a copy of bill draft 14LSO-0069.W1 – Taxation of multi-county projects (see Appendix 6 for a copy of the bill). The Committee also received a handout of an amendment to 14LSO- 0069.W1 (see Appendix 7 for a copy of the amendment). And, the Committee received a copy of bill draft 14LSO-0175.W2 – Sales and use tax consultation (see Appendix 8 for a copy of the bill). The Committee also received a handout of an amendment to 14LSO-0175.W2 (see Appendix 9 for a copy of the amendment). The Committee received a handout of comments from the Department of Revenue regarding the two bills under consideration. See Appendix 10 for a copy of the comments. Mr. Todd Parfitt of the Department of Environmental Quality stated that while the industrial siting council is tasked with organizing the meetings under 14LSO-0069.W1, it would make more sense to have the industrial siting division as the contact for that process. He stated that the main functions of the division under the bill would be to accept information, issue invitations to the counties and neighboring JOINT REVENUE COMMITTEE Summary of Proceedings WYOMING LEGISLATIVE SERVICE OFFICE • 213 State Capitol • Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 TELEPHONE (307) 777-7881 • FAX 307-777-5466 • E-MAIL [email protected] • WEB SITE www.wyoleg.gov PAGE 4 OF 8 states, file a public notice and facilitate a meeting to discuss the tax implications. He noted that he was not sure if the bill would have a fiscal note because he was not clear on what was included in the universe of projects that would be subject to the bill. Mr. Marion Loomis of the Wyoming Mining Association stated that in response to 14LSO-0069.W1 there are many projects that straddle county lines and he was very concerned with the 5 million dollar limit as companies would be required to go in and sit down and get an endorsement that the right counties would receive the money on many projects. He noted that there were also concerns on the requirement to provide notice to the newspapers because this is not something for the public to consider.