The proposed legislation, General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5285, aims to modify the assessment rates for certain motor vehicles based on their age and manufacturer's suggested retail price. Effective October 1, 2026, the bill establishes a new depreciation schedule for motor vehicles manufactured nineteen or fewer years prior to the assessment year, ensuring that no vehicle is assessed at less than five hundred dollars. The assessment rates decrease progressively from eighty-five percent for vehicles up to one year old to fifteen percent for vehicles aged fifteen to nineteen years. For vehicles twenty years and older, the assessment will be either ten percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price or five hundred dollars, whichever is less.

Additionally, municipalities have the option to adopt a modified depreciation schedule, which allows for higher assessment rates starting at ninety percent for vehicles up to one year old and decreasing to twenty percent for vehicles aged fifteen to nineteen years. Similar to the standard schedule, vehicles twenty years and older will be assessed at either fifteen percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price or five hundred dollars, whichever is less. Municipalities that choose to implement this modified schedule must notify the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management within fourteen days of their decision. The bill repeals the previous assessment language that mandated a minimum assessment of five hundred dollars for older vehicles, replacing it with the new percentage-based assessments.