HOUSE BILL NO. 418

INTRODUCED BY B. PAVLOVICH

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT CLARIFYING THE EXEMPTION FROM PROPERTY TAXES FOR BUILDINGS AND PERSONAL PROPERTY OF A SOCIETY OR ORGANIZATION OF HONORABLY DISCHARGED UNITED STATES MILITARY PERSONNEL; AMENDING SECTION 15-6-203, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE AND A RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY DATE."

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

Section 1. Section 15-6-203, MCA, is amended to read:

"15-6-203. Veterans' clubhouse exemption -- incompetent veterans' trusts. (1) A clubhouse or building erected by or belonging to any society or organization of honorably discharged United States military personnel that is used primarily for educational, fraternal, benevolent, or purely public charitable purposes rather than for gain or profit, together with the personal property necessarily used in the building, is exempt from taxation. The exemption provided for in this section applies even if a business, intended primarily for the use of the members, is required to be open to the public and is operated in a portion of the building.

(2) All property, real or personal, in the possession of legal guardians of incompetent veterans of U.S. military service or minor dependents of the veterans, when the property is funds or derived from funds received from the United States as pension, compensation, insurance, adjusted compensation, or gratuity, is exempt from all taxation as property of the United States while held by the guardian, but not after title passes to the veteran or minor in the minor's own right on account of removal of legal disability."

NEW SECTION. Section 2. Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

NEW SECTION. Section 3. Retroactive applicability. [This act] applies retroactively, within the meaning of 1-2-109, to tax years beginning on or after December 31, 1998.

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