Panel OKs Real Estate Price Disclosure

The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee approved the measure 5-3 over the objections of real estate agents and state builders associations.

Those groups argued that mandatory disclosure could lead to transfer taxes and unfairly muscle in on turf controlled by multiple listing services, the private databases that allow real estate brokers to share information.

But county officials who backed the measure say valuing homes or land for tax purposes has grown increasingly difficult, in part because some real estate agents encourage clients not to provide sales prices even on a voluntary basis. Limited information and faulty valuations have led to contentious county hearings where many residents protest their tax assessments, Valley County Commissioner Frank Eld told the committee.

Last year, for instance, owners of about 3,000 of 25,000 parcels in Valley County appealed their assessments, he said.

"The system is broken," Eld said. "Almost every appellant was amazed at how little information we had to use."

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, and House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, cosponsored the measure, which now goes to the full Senate.

This is the first time such a bill has cleared a committee in nearly two decades, Jaquet said.

Under the bill, sale price disclosure requirements would apply to buyers of single-family residences, residential townhouses and residential condominium units, plus duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. Commercial property is excluded.

Sales prices wouldn't become public; any public official who breaks confidentiality could face a $1,000 civil penalty.