At a Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee meeting in Cheyenne, the committee voted 6–2 to recommend a "do not pass" on House Bill 12, a proposal to exempt industrial production equipment stored in commercial storage facilities from property tax.

The bill, introduced as "industrial production equipment — deferral," was amended in committee to change the title and text to make the measure a property-tax exemption, to remove language that would have delayed sales taxes, and to clarify that the $50,000 exclusion applies to each item. Supporters and opponents focused on whether the exemption would be exploited to capture federal production tax credits for stored wind-turbine parts and on practical problems that the Department of Revenue said the bill’s sales-tax language would create.

Brenda Henson, director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue, told the committee the draft should not use the word "deferral." “The deferral, while it was part of this bill in the interim, it never made it to this form. … The term deferral means, thinking about you don't pay the tax now, but you pay it at a later time. That is not what this bill does. So I would suggest, just an amendment that would change it to industrial production equipment property tax exemption,” Henson said. She also warned the committee that a paragraph in the bill requiring sales or use tax to be paid “upon removal of the property from the commercial storage facility” would not accomplish the intended sales-tax sourcing change and would conflict with existing W.S. 39-15 and 39-16 administration.

Henson explained the exemption in the draft would apply while equipment is temporarily stored in a commercial storage facility approved by the Department of Revenue and noted the bill’s implementation schedule: rules and approval processes could be put in place after a July 1, 2025 effective date so the exemption would apply for the January 1, 2026 assessment year. The department interpreted the draft to allow the exemption “not to exceed two reporting periods,” meaning two January 1 assessment dates, and said a "commercial storage facility" must be operated by a person other than the equipment owner and approved through an application process.

Opponents said the exemption could be used to capture federal production tax credits for wind projects. Mr. Lindholm, state director of Americans for Prosperity in Wyoming, described a laydown yard he toured in Garden City, Kansas, and said modern turbine components stored there could generate substantial federal production credits because of how the federal tax credit is triggered. “I absolutely can bet that that was not the intent the legislation and it's a nice little loophole that we've got in this law,” Lindholm said. He recommended adding language to exclude equipment that qualifies for federal production tax credits or technology-neutral credits for low-carbon electricity generation.

Committee members amended the bill on multiple points during the hearing. They agreed to:
- change the title and strike references to an ad valorem tax deferral, replacing it with “property tax exemption”;
- delete the provision that would have required sales or use tax upon removal from storage (page 4, lines 5–8) after the Department of Revenue explained administration problems;
- add a provision to exclude industrial production equipment that qualifies for production tax credits or certain low-carbon credits (page 5, line 16); and
- clarify that the $50,000 threshold applies to each item (page 5, line 10).

Representatives voted on the bill after the amendments. The roll call, as read into the record, recorded the following positions: Representative Campbell — No; Representative Knapp — No; Representative Larson — No; Representative Lolli — Aye; Representative Riggins — Excused; Representative Schmidt — No; Representative Tarver — No; Representative Weber — No; Chairman Heiner — Aye. The clerk read the tally as six No votes, two Aye votes and one Excused. The committee chair announced, “House Bill 12 has received a do not pass,” and the do-not-pass recommendation was forwarded to the chief clerk.

Supporters of the bill had argued the exemption would create laydown-yard activity and economic development in Wyoming. Department of Revenue testimony and public witnesses focused the debate on technical issues of sales-tax sourcing, the meaning of “commercial storage facility,” the per-item threshold, and the potential for unintended capture of federal tax credits by private storage yards.

The committee’s "do not pass" recommendation will be entered in the House records and the bill file will be returned to the chief clerk. The committee record includes the Department of Revenue’s written materials and public testimony from industry and advocacy witnesses.