What happened regarding property tax?

Greetings! The 100th legislative session is officially over. We go in March 31 to look at any vetoes and have a special session in Pierre July 22 to decide on the penitentiary.
So, what happened regarding property tax? Great question! Not the results I was hoping for. I knew going in it was going to be tough going, but it was much worse than I anticipated.
To start off, we had 42 new legislators out of the 105 total—28 in the House and 14 in the Senate. This really affected the stability of both chambers. Then, to add to that instability, the governor was picked to be the Homeland Security secretary. That was a great honor to Gov. Noem as well as the state of South Dakota. Then Rep. Tony VenHuizen was tabbed to be lieutentant governor filling Gov. Rhoden’s vacancy. Tony, a great guy, a real mover and shaker, who was serving as vice chair of appropriations with appropriations chair Rep. Mike Derby.
To make matters even more challenging, he agreed to be the prime sponsor of HB1016. We were all excited to have Rep. VenHuizen as prime sponsor with hopes of picking up the over 20 legislators in the Sioux Falls area. So, the bill came back to me to be prime sponsor. Following is the essence of HB1016.
Our proposal
• 35 percent average property tax cut for homeowners
• Paid for with increase in sales tax from 4.2 percent to 5.0 percent. How does do it work?
• Owner-occupied general education and special education levies for 2025 (paid in 2026) would be set to $0
• Currently $2.679 mill levy for owner-occupied general education and $1.488 for special education
• This lowers owner-occupied property tax by $416.70 for every $100,000 of taxable value ($300,000 saves $1250.10)
• State sales tax would go up at the end of 2025, the same time that property tax relief occurs.
Of, this 100 percent of tax relief goes to South Dakotans.
• Owner-occupied properties must by owned by South Dakota residents, living in their own homes
• This means out-of-state owners or vacation homes do not get the property tax cut
• State sales tax is paid by everyone, including visitors to South Dakota
• Increase of 0.8 percent sales tax is 3¢ on a $4 loaf of bread
This plan has no effect on:
• Ag property or commercial property—levies stay the same
• School funding formula - it’s dollar-in, dollar-out
• City and county funding
HB 1016 was sent to State Affairs, not the tax committee, and was soundly defeated. Seriously Tim? Yes!
So, I waited for the other 18 property tax bills and then smoked out HB1016, requiring a floor vote from all 70 members. In committee, only the 13 State Affairs members showed their disdain for property tax relief. The entire House had to vote now.
We had a spirited debate and the bill was defeated. We got 35 yeas and 34 nays, but a spending bill, which it wasn’t as the speaker determined, needed a two-thirds rds vote for passage. That would be 47 yeas.
So, there you have it. We will discuss strategy to get it (HB1016) through next session.