Session Spotlight: 2019 Tax Package

On Thursday, May 2, the Senate took up the tax package passed by the House (HB 7123) and adopted a strike-all amendment that put the Senate package on the bill. It kept many of the provisions (with some changes), added some new provisions, and removed one controversial provision, and changed another.

After considerable behind the scenes negotiations, the House took the tax package up Friday night and added a couple more amendments, including a brand new provision that had not been considered this session and one that changed a controversial charter school provision again. After some heated debate, the Senate accepted the amendments and passed the bill at 11:10 pm. It was a surprisingly close 23-17 vote. The previous Senate vote on the bill was 38-2.

Several of the Senate additions were part of its tax package last session but were not included in the final bill. The Senate bill provides $48.5 million in one-time tax savings and $73.0 million in recurring savings. The House bill had $47.1 million in one-time and $114.0 million in recurring savings. Here are the provisions of the final bill and how it differs from the original House package.