The Senate Finance and Tax Committee approved amendments to Senate Bill 2367 that change the order and administration of agricultural property valuation modifiers and require an initial application and periodic review for modifier adjustments, then voted to give the bill a due-pass recommendation as amended.

Senator Wallen explained the principal changes to the committee and said the amendment reorders subsection language so that whether property is krapland (a category used in statute) is the first determining factor, followed by soil type and then the schedule of modifiers. Wallen said the change is intended to standardize the modifier application and make minor differences without large fiscal impacts.

Another amendment requires an initial application to request an adjustment and clarifies that counties and the tax commissioner may periodically reassess modifiers. Wallen said a landowner may still request a modification annually but that periodic reviews are intended to catch changes in land use — for example, conversion from pasture to cropland — and adjust the modifiers for the next taxable year. "If it was one of those where the land use is not gonna change ... then they never have to make the application again," Wallen said.

Committee members pressed for equalization across counties. Senator Powers noted that 14 counties do not currently use the modifier system; Wallen said those counties employ substantially similar processes but the bill now requires use of the official modifier schedule rather than allowing wide variation. Committee members also asked whether tax directors and county assessors supported the changes; Wallen said he had consulted lobby groups and the tax department and was told they were comfortable with the revisions.

The committee first approved the amendment (motion and second recorded) and then voted to give SB 2367 a due-pass recommendation as amended. The roll calls recorded a majority in favor of the amendment and a majority in favor of the due-pass motion; the committee recorded the bill as "do pass as amended." Senator Wallen agreed to carry the bill forward.