Updated at 4:25 p.m.: Democrats’ primary property tax bill has cleared the first of two House committees and is set for a first full vote by the whole chamber later tonight. That sets it up for a final vote Monday, when the special session is expected (but not guaranteed) to end.
The House’s Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee advanced the measure on a 9-4 party-line vote. The vote was a forgone conclusion, given Democrats’ control of the committee, but the debate continued an ongoing messaging war between Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans have argued that the state is using TABOR dollars to pay for property tax relief. That’s technically true, but not because of anything Democrats are proposing now. The legislature passed a property tax relief bill 18 months ago, with robust bipartisan support, that dipped into the TABOR surplus to pay for it.
What Democrats are now proposing — and advancing — doesn’t use any TABOR money. It instead relies on less than $200 million from the legislature’s primary bank account, the general fund, rather than the surplus set to go back to taxpayers. Republicans’ assertions and Democrats’ repeated rebuttals have played prominently throughout the bill’s debate all weekend and are likely to do so again as the full House takes up the measure tonight.
Updated at 1:10 p.m.: The Senate passed the most contentious bill of the session on third reading with a technical amendment this afternoon.
SB23B-001 will increase the residential property value deduction for taxes to $55,000 for multifamily and single-family residential properties and decrease the residential assessment rate. It would also widen criteria for local taxing districts that would qualify for full reimbursement of lost property tax dollars because of state cuts to the formula.
The amendment that the Senate passed before the third reading vote was a technical one, at the request of the bill drafters. But that didn’t stop Republicans from voting against the amendment — and of course, the bill itself.
The bill will now work its way through the House before any final votes.
Updated at 11:30 a.m.: Two of the seven Democratic-backed priority bills are headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after the state Senate voted to approve them Sunday morning. HB23B-1002 doubles the earned income tax credit for 2023, and HB23B-1008 appropriates money to the state Department of Treasury to staff the property tax deferral program.
The Senate passed the bills on a party-line vote after starting at 10 a.m. Sunday, with Republicans in opposition. The bills passed without changes or amendments, making the voice votes their final hurdle before getting Polis’ signature.
For more than an hour following those votes, the Senate has been in recess, discussing proposed changes to SB23B-001, the property tax relief bill. After that, the Senate will give the bill a third and final vote before sending it to the House committees and chamber for approval.
Updated at 11:05 a.m.: The Capitol is off and running this morning on what is likely the special session’s penultimate day. In the House, the Democratic majority comfortably passed a bill to send $30 million in rental aid to keep at-risk tenants housed. The money, which nearly doubles the state’s overall rental assistance fund, must be doled out to nonprofits (who will in turn direct it to landlords) by the end of June.
While Republicans criticized Proposition HH for not doing enough for renters (a frustration shared by their progressive opponents), House Republicans unanimously opposed the rental assistance bill. Democrats said it will help protect at-risk renters while making landlords whole.
Rep. Mandy Lindsay, an Aurora Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said she regularly sees unhoused Coloradans bedding down for the night in doorways and beneath bushes on her drive home at night.
“When I see that, I feel like a failure as a neighbor, as a community member … and as a legislator,” she said.
Original story: The Colorado legislature is convening this morning for the third day of its special session on property taxes and other forms of relief for Coloradans burdened by the rising cost of living.
With the House already meeting, the Senate was set to convene later this morning. They sit near the midpoint of the session, with the House already having passed several bills and sent them to the Senate — and the Senate set to take final votes today on two tax-related bills it originated, sending them to the House for immediate consideration.
If all goes as planned, after a hiccup in the Senate’s timing on Friday night, the legislature will finish the session on Monday.
The special session was called by Gov. Jared Polis in response to voters’ rejection of Proposition HH in the Nov. 7 election. The measure, championed by Polis and Democratic legislative leaders, had aimed to reduce the size of coming property tax increases that are driven by recent increases in property values across the state that average about 40% at the median.
Prop. HH also would have sent state money to school districts and local governments and special districts that rely on property tax revenue for their budgets.
The most contentious bill of the special session — the one that led the Republican minority in the Senate to attempt to slow the process Friday — passed a key voice vote in the chamber on Saturday that all but secured its passage. A final vote still needs to happen Sunday.
In one of the key proposed changes, Democratic sponsors on Saturday increased the amount of residential property value that can be deducted before the rest of the property tax formula is applied to determine a homeowner’s tax bill. Under the amendment, the deduction, which is currently $15,000, would rise to $55,000, rather than $50,000 as originally proposed in the bill.
The Denver Post looked at the state of other major legislation, along with the potential impact on homeowners, renters and lower-income taxpayers, in a story published Saturday night.
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