HELENA — With just two full weeks left in the Montana Legislature’s 2025 session, it’s reached the point where bills may appear to die, come back to life and get significantly changed – all at a rapid pace. That has been on full display this week, as lawmakers debate how to put together a final plan for property tax relief.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum are in agreement that addressing property taxes is one of the biggest things – if not the biggest – they still need to accomplish, but they’re not aligned on the best way to do that. There’s still a lot of work to get any of the proposals across the finish line.
(Watch the video to see which property tax bills are still alive.)
Wild week for property tax relief at MT Legislature
On Wednesday, the Senate Taxation Committee heavily amended and advanced two property tax bills: House Bill 155 and House Bill 231. As amended, they shared some similarities – each adjusting residential tax rates and offering different versions of a “homestead exemption” to further reduce taxes on Montanans’ primary residences.
The full Senate took both bills up on Thursday evening, and after a debate, they both failed to get the votes they needed to move forward. HB 155 was voted down 21-29, but senators also voted down a following motion to “indefinitely postpone” consideration – meaning the bill could be heard again later. HB 231 failed on a tied vote, 25-25, and was indefinitely postponed.
Jonathon Ambarian
Much of the debate on HB 231, Gov. Greg Gianforte’s preferred property tax legislation, centered on the bill’s complexity.
“I think we’re trying to do is be realistic, put together what is possible,” said Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, who carried the bill on the Senate floor. “And I’ll just tell you, not everyone’s going to be 100% happy with it, but I’m hoping we can get a consensus going and we can move forward with this.”
“If you’re knocking on doors and the taxpayer comes up in and wants to know why my property taxes didn’t go down much and can you tell me what you did, I bet there’s only a handful of people who even know what this bill does,” said Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, who opposed the bill.
Jonathon Ambarian
But on Friday afternoon, senators voted 26-24 to revive HB 231.
Those opposed to bringing back HB 231 argued its major provisions would still be debated again in the Senate, because they’d been added to another bill. On Friday morning, the House Taxation Committee took Senate Bill 542, completely removed the original language and inserted new provisions. The amended bill would provide a one-time property tax rebate of up to $400 on a primary residence, implement a graduated tax rate for 2025 that increases as the value of a residential property increases, and then institute “homestead” rates in 2026 that advantage primary residences and long-term rentals.
“I think this is a good amendment and a good first step in the Legislature, trying to figure out how we are going to – maybe not even fix, but looking forward how we’re going to deal with property taxes,” said House Speaker Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, who proposed the amendment.
The committee also included contingency language in SB 542 that would invalidate another property tax proposal, HB 528, if both bills pass. The Senate Taxation Committee voted to table HB 528 Wednesday, but the full Senate voted to bring it to the floor. It was initially scheduled to be debated on Friday, but was delayed.
Jonathon Ambarian
Also this week, the House voted twice on attempts to bring back another tabled proposal, Senate Bill 90 – the preferred property tax bill for Senate Republican leadership. It would use state taxes on lodging and rental vehicles to fund property tax credits for Montanans’ primary residences.
On Wednesday, a motion to bring SB 90 to the House floor got 54 votes – just one short of the 55 it needed. On Thursday, another motion only received 38 votes.
The Legislature left Friday afternoon for a three-day Easter break. They’ll return Tuesday, with just 12 legislative days remaining to complete their work.
