Jill Schramm/MDN Sens. Jose Castaneda, left, and Bob Paulson check online bill information at a legislative forum in Minot Saturday.

Senate amendments that reduce the primary residence credit in a House bill aren’t the last word on property tax relief this session, Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, said at Minot Area Chamber EDC’s legislative forum Saturday.

The House passed House Bill 1176 with a primary residence credit of $1,450, which was somewhat less than the $1,550 supported by the governor. The Senate passed an amended bill with a $1,250 credit, requiring the credit not exceed 75% of a taxpayer’s bill. The bill will go to a House-Senate conference committee.

“The North Dakota Senate has been the champions of property tax relief,” Hogue said. “We will see significant property tax relief this session, just like there was last session.”

However, he added the Legislature has a constitutional obligation to balance the state budget.

“The proven course of action is to continue to try to make cuts in these budgets and try to reduce our spending so that we can provide more property tax relief. I think if you judge the Senate by the history, you’ll find that we will provide more than what’s contained in (HB) 1176 but, the present stance of where we’re at, we need to get our spending under control in the next 10 legislative days,” Hogue said.

Rep. Scott Louser, whose House Bill 1168 offers property tax relief through a school mill levy buydown, said the amount of the buydown would directly impact property taxes of all taxpayers. If the Senate adopts amendments to cut the mandated 60-mill school levy in half, it would reduce taxes by about 25% on average, he said.

Legislators also are dealing with school costs in the two remaining bills considered school choice options, House Bill 1540 and Senate Bill 2400, which provide for educational savings accounts.

Paulson said he voted against SB 2400 because the majority of the money was to go to students in public schools.

“It was difficult for me to understand how that was really true school choice,” he said. The bill passed the Senate 25-22. Minot Sen. Jose Castaneda also voted against the bill, while Sens. Randy Burckhard and Hogue voted in favor.

Burckhard said the state is educating its youth in public schools with the idea they will stay after graduation and contribute to the state. The state is hoping private school students also stay and contribute but is leaving their educational expense to their parents, he said.

Rep. Scott Louser said SB 2400 received a “do not pass” recommendation from the House Education Committee, and he plans to vote against it. HB 1540, passed by the House 51-39, is in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Louser was the only Minot representative to vote against HB 1540 on the House floor.

“My position on choice is if we are going to fund tuition, then a student who chooses to go to a school should be admitted to that school. Private schools have the ability to restrict admissions. So, there’s that give and take. If we’re going to give the money to the student to let them pick the school they want to attend, the school that they pick should admit them,” Louser said, launching a bit of a legislative debate at the forum.

Rep. Dan Ruby said parents who are sending their children to private schools or homeschooling are paying taxes.

“The way I look at it is it gives them some of their tax money back,” he said.

Louser then slipped in a reminder of his effort to have the state eventually pick up the 60 mills that school districts are required to levy in property taxes, which would eliminate the argument about private school parents paying for public schools. The mill levy buydown in HB 1168 coming out of the House is 10 mills, or $120 million. Louser said the Senate is considering amending it to 30 mills, or $360 million.

“The constitutional framework of our state provides the Legislature with the authority to develop policies that enhance educational access beyond the traditional public school system,” Rep. Jay Fisher said. “Senate Bill 2400 does exactly that. By directing the state resources toward student-centered funding, the bill ensures that parents, not bureaucratic systems, are the ultimate decision makers in their child’s education.”

Louser also is a co-sponsor on a bill calling for annual legislative sessions, which he has opposed in the past.

“The reason I am in support of it now is this measure is not a constitutional amendment. So, it keeps our 80 days,” he said of the limit on how long the Legislature can be in session every two years.

For instance, he said, House and Senate Finance and Tax committees could combine and operate year-round in taking testimony on bills, rather than acting as study committees. If senators and representatives vote differently in the interim joint committee, the committee would send differing recommendations to the Senate and House when the Legislature convenes the next year.

On the property tax issue, in particular, instead of multiple bills getting introduced in a regular session, legislators would have the ability to provide amendments to a single proposal and work through different ideas in developing a bill to present to the Legislature, he said.

“There would be a lot more efficiency. There would be a lot less redundancy,” Louser said. “It may add a little bit of expense because I would envision those committees meeting monthly, not quarterly, in the interim, but they would be joint committees between the House and Senate, and they would give citizens a lot more time to come in and testify. There would not be a rush to get bills put out.”

Rep. Jeff Hoverson said there are good arguments on both sides of the bill. Annual, shorter sessions would enable more people to serve in the Legislature, he said.

“But I don’t know that it gets to the root of the problem,” Hoverson said. “The root of what’s causing the problem is that our government is too big. The fact is that we’re involved in way too many things.”

House Bill 1408, the annual sessions bill, passed House 64-26 and the Senate now has it under consideration.