House tax panel lays over bill extending Lake City port-authority filing deadline

The House Tax Committee on Thursday laid over House File 44‑55, a local-government "fix-it" bill that would extend Lake City's deadline to file paperwork to formalize as a port authority until January 2027 and make clear the entity would not have taxing authority.

Representative Altendorff, the bill's sponsor, told the committee the measure is intended to correct an administrative gap that occurred around the COVID shutdowns. "All this bill does is it extends so that they can file the paperwork by January 2027," the sponsor said, calling it "a fix-it bill" to resolve the paperwork issue and to ensure the city does not unintentionally convey taxing authority to an unelected board.

Members noted the bill already passed the Senate as a standalone measure, 65‑0, and discussed procedural options for the House — whether to send it to the general register (and through Rules) or keep it in Tax for placement in the omnibus tax bill. Representative Freiberg said the measure was straightforward in the Elections, Finance and Local Government Committee and raised no substantive concerns; other members expressed a preference to keep the bill in Tax to avoid procedural delays.

The committee agreed to lay the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus tax package.

What happens next: The bill was laid over; committee leaders said they will work with the sponsor to advance the measure for final placement in the House tax package.