Committee pares tax changes from renewals for retired peace officers, approves surviving-spouse benefit extension

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday amended House Bill 02/1993 to remove a newly added income-tax deduction provision and left intact a provision extending benefits to surviving spouses of retired peace officers.

Representative Munson moved to remove section 1 (the income-tax portion) and section 4 as drafted in the amended version; Representative Nelson seconded the motion. Committee discussion centered on budget priorities and the fiscal note. Members described the income-tax change as a revenue reduction—staff cited a fiscal-note estimate of about $20 million in reduced revenue—and some lawmakers said the state should prioritize savings given anticipated revenue corrections.

After discussion the committee voted to adopt the amendment removing the income-tax portion; the amendment passed on a roll call recorded as 17–4 with 2 members absent. Committee members then considered the remaining language in the bill (the surviving-spouse extension) and received a fiscal-note summary: staff noted 256 claims for tax year 2023 totaling $13,300,000 in deductions, with a continuing estimated revenue reduction (engrossed fiscal note) on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for the retention/extension portion. The committee voted to give the amended bill a do-pass recommendation; the motion carried 21–0–2.

Representative Munson said the remove-and-revert approach returned the bill to the form it came from the Senate. Representative Wagner, Representative O'Brien and others spoke in favor of retaining the bill's original intent and focusing the measure on the intended benefit language.

Votes at a glance: amendment to remove income-tax portion carried 17–4 with 2 absent; committee do-pass on the remaining bill carried 21–0–2.