HB 183: STATE EMPLOYEE HOUSING - 1998 Budget/Special Session

HB 183 prohibited state agencies from providing housing for state employees who reside within 15 miles of an incorporated town or city. HB 183 also specified that any housing currently owned by any state agency within 15 miles of an incorporated town or city shall be sold at fair market value and the money deposited to the account from which funds to purchase the property were spent.

Further, the bill provided that if an employee must live 15 or more miles outside an incorporated town or city in agency-provided housing to fulfill the duties of the job, the fair market rental value of the property would be added to the employee’s taxable income.

Proponents argued that agency-provided housing for state employees living within 15 miles of a town or city unfairly competes with local owners of rental properties. They also contended that certain state employees, despite having to live in a specific place to fulfill the duties of the job, were unfairly benefitting from agency-provided housing.

Opponents pointed out that HB 183 would cost the state thousands of dollars. For those individuals living 15 miles from an incorporated town or city, the state would have to make matching contributions for Social Security, Medicare and retirement on the employee’s increased taxable income -- income that the employee was not actually receiving in the first place.

Moreover, federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations prohibit including housing as taxable income if an employee is required to live at a specific place for the purposes of the job.

HB 183 was amended to delete the language contradicting IRS regulations. This left the provisions prohibiting state agencies from providing housing for employees, as well as requiring them to sell any state-owned housing within 15 miles of an incorporated town or city.

HB 183 failed on third reading (final passage), 27-33 (2 excused).