Panel Passes Tax Relief For Ky. Tornado Victims

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee has approved a proposal for sales tax relief for victims of the March 2 tornadoes that damaged Kentucky communities.

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Rep. Will Stacy, D-West Liberty, who introduced the measure at a bipartisan press conference on Tuesday, brought it before the committee Wednesday at a special called meeting, and it passed unanimously.

Stacy said he expects the bill to go to the House floor on Thursday.

The bill would provide a rebate of the state's 6 percent sales tax on materials used to rebuild houses, business buildings and other structures in the counties where the owners' losses occurred. The owners would have to show receipts and proof of losses from their insurance companies or the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to get reimbursed by the Revenue Cabinet.

The relief would apply to the 21 counties that were declared eligible for federal disaster area assistance by President Barack Obama.

The bill would also help school districts by authorizing the state commissioner of education to authorize 10 additional emergency or disaster days that would not be counted against their average daily attendance figures. It would give those districts the option to use last year's ADA figures instead of this year's if attendance is lower so that their funding would not decrease.

School employees in the 21 counties would be protected from loss of pay or benefits resulting from time lost because of the storms. School staff would have to perform work for those days missed, but the work could be in areas other than the areas where they're normally assigned.

"This is a rare opportunity that we all have under extraordinarily bad circumstances to do something jointly for people all over the state who are in need," Stacy told the committee.

Stacy said he appreciated the support the measure has gotten from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate.

Several members commended Stacy for bringing the proposal to them before the end of the session.

Chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford, thanked him for acting quickly. He said that in his own district there was no loss of life from the storms, but there was structural damage, including the destruction of a fire station.

Rep. Richard Henderson, D-Jeffersonville, who represents an adjoining district, said his constituents were aware of the time and attention that Stacy had given to visiting Morgan and Menifee counties and communities in eastern Kentucky that were ravaged by the storms.

"The thing I'll never be able to erase from my mind is the faces of the people" she saw after the tornado destroyed West Liberty and some areas of her own county, said Rep. Marie Rader, R-McKee.

The bill, she said, is not just about monetary damage, it's about offering hope to those victims whose lives were wrecked by the loss of their homes, their businesses and their jobs.

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, explained that the bill was enacted by stripping the language from another bill and replacing it with the wording of the tax relief bill. The bill chosen for that purpose was one that would have required the use of headlights when it's raining.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said at the press conference Tuesday that he and other lawmakers have been working on proposals to help storm victims for the past two and a half weeks. Rather than pass a separate bill, he said, the Senate will likely vote on the bill that comes out of the House, and possibly make changes to it.

Stacy said after the meeting that affected building owners are already well aware that the relief is being offered. The press conference was held at 12:30 Tuesday at the Capitol Annex, and by 6 p.m., when he and Rep. Mike Denham, D-Maysville, met with residents at a park in West Liberty, there were about 100 people in attendance.

"They had all kinds of questions, as you can imagine, about what the future held for them," he said. "People were glad that there was actually something tangible being offered."

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The bill is HB 165.