AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 67, relative to taxation.
Summary
HB0726 amends Tennessee’s property tax provisions in Title 67 to revise eligibility and administration rules tied to property affected by a qualified disaster. The bill changes the disaster-damage requirement so that property must have been destroyed or damaged by a qualified disaster, as determined by the property assessor by April 15, 2025, to qualify under the referenced tax relief provision.
The bill also makes two additional technical changes to Tennessee Code Annotated § 67-5-1601. It replaces the phrase “in lieu of” with “with or without” in one subsection and deletes the last sentence of another subsection. Taken together, these changes appear aimed at clarifying how the disaster-related property tax relief program operates and how it interacts with other tax treatment or relief mechanisms.
Impact
HB0726 affects Tennessee property tax law by narrowing and clarifying the statutory language governing relief for property damaged in a qualified disaster. It places a specific deadline on assessor determinations and adjusts wording in § 67-5-1601 that may affect how taxpayers can receive relief alongside other forms of tax treatment. The bill primarily impacts property owners in disaster-affected areas, county property assessors, and local tax administration.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It advanced through subcommittee and committee stages with unanimous or near-unanimous votes, and it passed both chambers without any recorded dissenting votes. The voting history suggests general agreement that the measure was a technical or clarifying update to disaster-related tax law rather than a major policy dispute.
Contention
No major contention is evident in the available record. The only potentially sensitive issue is the scope and timing of eligibility for disaster-related tax relief, including the April 15, 2025 assessor-determination deadline and the revised wording about whether relief applies “with or without” other tax treatment. However, the unanimous votes indicate these issues were not politically divisive in committee or on the floor.