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Session of 2000
          House Concurrent Resolution No. 5079           By Committee on Taxation           3-29          

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  9             A  PROPOSITION to amend section 1 of article 11 of the constitution
10             of the state of Kansas, relating to the taxation of certain property of
11             public utility service providers.
12      
13      
14       Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Kansas, two-thirds of the
15             members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Repre-
16             sentatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and
17             qualified to the Senate concurring therein:
18                   Section  1. The following proposition to amend the constitution of the
19       state of Kansas shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the state
20       for their approval or rejection: Section 1 of article 11 of the constitution
21       of the state of Kansas is hereby amended to read as follows:
22                   ``§  1. System of taxation; classification; exemption (a) The
23             provisions of this subsection shall govern the assessment and taxa-
24             tion of property on and after January 1, 1993, and each year there-
25             after. Except as otherwise hereinafter specifically provided, the leg-
26             islature shall provide for a uniform and equal basis of valuation and
27             rate of taxation of all property subject to taxation. The legislature
28             may provide for the classification and the taxation uniformly as to
29             class of recreational vehicles, as defined by the legislature, or may
30             exempt such class from property taxation and impose taxes upon
31             another basis in lieu thereof. The provisions of this subsection shall
32             not be applicable to the taxation of motor vehicles, except as oth-
33             erwise hereinafter specifically provided, mineral products, money,
34             mortgages, notes and other evidence of debt and grain. Property
35             shall be classified into the following classes for the purpose of as-
36             sessment and assessed at the percentage of value prescribed
37             therefor:
38                   Class 1 shall consist of real property. Real property shall be fur-
39             ther classified into seven subclasses. Such property shall be defined
40             by law for the purpose of subclassification and assessed uniformly
41             as to subclass at the following percentages of value:

42	(1) Real property used for residential purposes including multi-familyresidential real property and real property necessary to accommo-

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1	date a residential community of mobile or manufactured homes in-cluding the real property upon which such homes are located	11½%
2	(2) Land devoted to agricultural use which shall be valued upon thebasis of its agricultural income or agricultural productivity pursuantto section 12 of article 11 of the constitution	30%
3	(3) Vacant lots	12%
4	(4) Real property which is owned and operated by a not-for-profit or-ganization not subject to federal income taxation pursuant to section501 of the federal internal revenue code, and which is included inthis subclass by law	12%
5	(5) Public utility real property, except railroad real property which shallbe assessed at the average rate that all other commercial and indus-trial property is assessed	33%
6	(6) Real property used for commercial and industrial purposes andbuildings and other improvements located upon land devoted to ag-ricultural use	25%
7	(7) All other urban and rural real property not otherwise specificallysubclassified	30%

  8             Class 2 shall consist of tangible personal property. Such tangible per-
  9       sonal property shall be further classified into six subclasses, shall be de-
10       fined by law for the purpose of subclassification and assessed uniformly
11       as to subclass at the following percentages of value:

12	(1) Mobile homes used for residential purposes	11½%
13	(2) Mineral leasehold interests except oil leasehold interests the averagedaily production from which is five barrels or less, and natural gasleasehold interests the average daily production from which is 100mcf or less, which shall be assessed at 25%	30%
14	(3) Public utility tangible personal property including inventoriesthereof, except railroad personal property including inventoriesthereof, which shall be assessed at the average rate all other com-mercial and industrial property is assessed	33%
15	(4) All categories of motor vehicles not defined and specifically valuedand taxed pursuant to law enacted prior to January 1, 1985	30%
16	(5) Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment which, if itseconomic life is seven years or more, shall be valued at its retail costwhen new less seven-year straight-line depreciation, or which, if itseconomic life is less than seven years, shall be valued at its retail costwhen new less straight-line depreciation over its economic life, ex-cept that, the value so obtained for such property, notwithstandingits economic life and as long as such property is being used, shallnot be less than 20% of the retail cost when new of suchproperty	25%

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(6) All other tangible personal property not otherwise specificallyclassified

30%

  2             (b) The legislature may provide by law for the definition of public
  3       utility services and the classification or reclassification of property of any
  4       entity, or division thereof, providing public utility services.
  5             (b) (c) All property used exclusively for state, county, municipal, lit-
  6       erary, educational, scientific, religious, benevolent and charitable pur-
  7       poses, farm machinery and equipment, merchants' and manufacturers'
  8       inventories, other than public utility inventories included in subclass (3)
  9       of class 2, livestock, and all household goods and personal effects not used
10       for the production of income, shall be exempted from property taxation.''
11             Sec.  2. The following statement shall be printed on the ballot with
12       the amendment as a whole:
13             ``Explanatory statement: This amendment would allow the legis-
14                   lature to provide by law for the classification or reclassification
15                   of property of public utility service providers for property tax
16                   assessment rate purposes.
17                   ``A vote for this proposition would grant the authority to the legis-
18                   lature to provide for the classification or reclassification of prop-
19                   erty of public utility service providers for property tax assessment
20                   rate purposes.
21                   ``A vote against this proposition would continue the existing prop-
22                   erty tax assessment rate treatment for all public utility service
23                   providers.
24                   Sec.  3. This resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the members
25       elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives, and
26       two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the
27       Senate shall be entered on the journals, together with the yeas and nays.
28       The secretary of state shall cause this resolution to be published as pro-
29       vided by law and shall cause the proposed amendment to be submitted
30       to the electors of the state at the general election to be held on November
31       7, 2000, unless a special election is called at a sooner date by concurrent
32       resolution of the legislature, in which case it shall be submitted to the
33       electors of the state at the special election.
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