Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform Meeting – March 23, 2026
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Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform Meeting – March 23, 2026
The Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform held its final meeting on March 23, 2026, at 1:48 PM via online meeting. The sole agenda item was to determine whether pending bills before the committee should be filed or referred to another committee, as the committee's term was set to expire at the end of the week. No public testimony was offered. The committee voted unanimously to refer all pending bills to the Budget and Finance (BFED) Committee.
Discussion Items
- Chair's Recommendation: The Chair recommended that all pending bills that had not passed be referred to the BFED Committee, where that committee could decide whether to take up any item or file them.
- Motion and Second: Vice Chair of the Council Yukile Sugimura moved to refer all pending bills to the BFED Committee, seconded by Member Kalonoi Bakangon.
- Clarification: Vice Chair Cannie Rollins Fernandez asked for confirmation that the motion covered referral of all bills to BFED, which the Chair affirmed.
- Summary of Accomplishments: The Chair noted that over approximately six months (September 16, 2025–March 23, 2026), the committee had passed 8 out of 16 items. Examples included:
- Bill 170 CD1 (sponsored by Member Gabe Johnson): a tax credit under the circuit breaker program of up to $10,000.
- Bill 168 CD1 (sponsored by Vice Chair Cannie Rollins Fernandez): requiring the Director of Finance to consider shared equity deed restrictions when addressing real property assessments.
- Bill 142 (joint effort): allowing homeowners to file for the home exemption in June and December, providing tax relief for working families and seniors.
- Future Work: Finance Director Marcy Martin thanked the committee for its productivity and stated that ideas discussed but not accomplished would continue to be explored by the real property assessment division.
Key Outcomes
- Motion Passed: The motion to refer all pending bills to the BFED Committee carried with 4 ayes (Members present: Chair, Vice Chair Sugimura, Vice Chair Rollins Fernandez, Member Bakangon). Member Johnson was excused.
- Committee Disbanded: With the committee's term expiring, no further meetings of this special committee are scheduled. Members expressed interest in reconvening if needed, but the Chair noted that staff work should be minimized.
Meeting Transcript
Will the special committee on real property tax reform meeting of March twenty-third, twenty twenty-six please come to order. It is one forty-eight PM. This online meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Sunshine Law. As a reminder, when your name is called, if you are not in the council chamber, please state your location and identity and identify by name who, if anyone is in the room, vehicle a workspace with you today. Christy Ricklesworth. I knew it was another Christie. There's like five of them that work up there. Okay. Um and then also with us we have president from the Department of Finance, Finance Director Marcy Martin. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Okay. The item. Oh, see the last page of the agenda for information on meeting connectivity. The item, the committee may recommend the following bills be filed or referred to another committee. And for opening comments, I say thank you, members, for attending today's meeting. The only matter on today's agenda is whether the the pending bills before this committee should be filed or referred to another committee. This committee's term is set to expire at the end of this week. Okay. The bills we must address are posted on today's agenda. But before we discuss, let's proceed with testimony on this item. Staff Chair, there's currently no one signed up to testify on this item, so we'll do a last call. If there is anyone who'd like to testify on this item, please identify yourself now. On Teams, you can do that by using the raise hand function. We'll do a countdown. Three, two, one. Chair, there's no one to testify on this item. Okay. All right. Uh then. You did you did mention last call for everybody. Members, are there any objections to closing public testimony and accepting written testimony? Okay. So ordered. We are public testimony is closed for this item. We can entertain questions from members. If members will be members will be timed during their questions. Members can discuss the pending bill and whether they should be referred to another committee. Bills that are not recommended for referral will be recommended for filing. However, what I'm really going to recommend is that anything that was not passed and is pending in this committee all be referred to the BFED committee, and there that committee can decide whether to take up any item or file it. Are there any objections to that? If not, I need a motion. Move by vice chair. I mean, uh vice chair of the council, Yukile Sugimura, seconded by Kalonoi Bakangon. Any discussion. Members, just for your information, and you will be getting a copy of us the summary of our work, which began on September 16th and will end today, March 23rd. So roughly six months or so of work, and I want to re thank all of you for your good ideas. We were able to pass eight out of 16 items. Very good guys. Let me just tell you one of them.
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