State Lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 136 in the final day of the Legislative Session.
The bill deals with a somewhat obscure tax that is placed on those who are annexed into a municipality while also on a rural electric system.
Lawmakers in support of the legislation say the tax has been in place for 20 years, but a recent change in Department of Revenue policy ended up an unfair tax burden in these unique cases.
For those like Republican State Representative Thomas Brunner this is an issue of tax fairness.
“All these taxes that the rural electrics, and the investor owns, and the municipalities, are paying they’re are all different across the state. But they’re made that way so we have tax fairness to the customer,” says Brunner.
The House agreed and passed the bill by a vote of 63 to 1. The Senate also overrode the governor’s veto and Senate Bill 136 becomes law. The legislature failed to override two other bills the governor turned down.