Committee advances bill to exempt student electronic devices from sales tax

The Revenue & Tax Committee advanced SB 244, which would add electronic instructional devices used by students (tablets, Chromebooks) to the sales-tax exemption currently available for textbooks. Senator Kim Hammer presented the bill, arguing the pandemic accelerated a long-term shift from textbooks to electronic devices and that tax policy should reflect that change.

"We're moving more toward electronics," Senator Hammer said, noting districts sometimes buy tablets or Chromebooks for instructional needs. He told the committee that because technology expenditures are coded together in current records, the fiscal-impact numbers are a "worst case" snapshot.

Paul Gearing of DFA told senators a fiscal impact statement released earlier estimated roughly $4.5 million in revenue effect but that the figure is likely on the high side because department and DFA coding does not currently separate staff devices from student devices. He said DFA and the Department of Education relied on the department's expenditure data and suggested more precise tracking would lower the estimate.

The committee voted to pass SB 244 by voice vote after brief discussion. Supporters said exempting student devices would reduce costs for districts and families purchasing instructional technology; DFA cautioned that further technical coding and monitoring would be needed to measure the program’s actual cost accurately.