Main property tax bills falter, hinge on conference

Clayton Murphy

HELENA (UM Legislative News Service) – It is likely the final week of the 2025 legislative session and lawmakers continue to disagree on property tax solutions.

House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542 would both provide similar rebates for taxes on primary residences and reduce overall residential property taxes. But both now need to be discussed in dedicated groups called conference committees. That happens when one chamber makes changes to a bill but the other disagrees and votes those changes down.

That happened to both bills Monday. In the House, Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said that after a long journey, it may be time to reevaluate HB 231.

“Well, this little bill's been hijacked, held up, changed, leveraged, fell over dead, came back to life and has had quite a journey and had some Senate amendments added.”

He suggested that lawmakers consider combining his bill with SB 542. That decision will be left up to the conference committee meeting this week. 

In the Senate, Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, had similar disagreements with changes to SB 542. He said in its amended version, it “no longer represents the original intent of the bill” and he takes issue with using general fund money for property tax relief. He agreed with Jones’ idea to join forces with HB 231.

The legislative session is scheduled to end on May 5 at the latest.