Brief (1)
SB 411 contains four amendments to the statutes governing operating procedures of the State Board of Tax Appeals (SBOTA). The first amendment would allow SBOTA to publish its own orders. Current law requires that the Department of Administration Division of Printing publish the Board's orders.
The second amendment would remove the authority of the Small Claims Division to hear tax grievance applications, and instead require that these applications go to the Regular Division.
The third amendment would clarify that tax representatives and tax agents could appear at Small Claims hearings on behalf of taxpayers. The bill would also clarify that a county or unified government could be represented by the county/unified government appraiser, designee of the county/unified government appraiser, or the county/unified government attorney or counselor.
The final amendment would allow the taxpayer to waive the requirement that Small Claims hearings be conducted within 60 days after the appeal is filed with the Small Claims Division.
Background
SBOTA requested the introduction of this bill to address administrative concerns and appeared as the only proponent of the bill at the Senate Committee hearing.
The Senate Committee amended the bill to include clarification related to the unified government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
The House Committee removed a provision from the bill which would have required owners of single-family residential properties to appeal to the Small Claims Division of SBOTA as a prerequisite to appealing to the full board.
The Budget Division reports that passage of this bill would not have an effect on state revenues, but could reduce state expenditures for printing.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html