Senate rejects House version of property tax cut bill

CHEYENNE (WNE)  — A bill that would offer a 50% residential property tax cut to single- family residences in Wyoming valued up to $1 million is headed to a joint conference committee to reconcile differences between the House and the Senate versions.

Senate File 69, “Homeowner property tax exemption,” faced 35 amendments on the House floor and 13 amendments on the Senate floor. The House adopted 10 amendments, but some were rescinded by later changes. The Senate adopted seven amendments, some of which were also later changed.

According to the Wyoming Manual of Legislative Procedures, prepared by Legislative Service Office, after a measure has passed the second body, it returns to the first with the request that the first body “concur” on any adopted amendments.

If the original body refuses to accept amendments to the bill made by the second body, conference committees may be appointed from both bodies to “iron out the differences by adding, striking and compromising amendments.”

On the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, urged his fellow senators to vote no on concurrence on SF 69. The concurrence vote failed 25-6.

Once a conference committee reaches an agreement, both chambers must agree to it for the bill to move to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk.

“We might go back and forth a couple times on this one; it’s that important,” Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.

This story was published on February 21, 2025.