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JUNEAU -- A bill intended to do away with property tax breaks for church-owned houses occupied by religious school teachers, such as those owned by the Anchorage Baptist Temple, has hit a snag in its first committee.

Rep. Cathy Munoz, R-Juneau and the chair of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee, said she's heard a lot of opposition to House Bill 305 and that some other legislators on the committee also don't like it. The measure was heard in her committee Feb. 9 and is still locked up there.

"The votes aren't there," acknowledged the prime sponsor, state Rep. Berta Gardner.

The measure would only affect few residences but because of the religion angle and the connection to the Baptist Temple and its chief pastor, the Rev. Jerry Prevo, it has generated huge public interest.

"There's been a lot of push back, much of it wrong and misinformed," Gardner said. Some opponents are framing it as an attack on religious freedom, or as somehow relating to protections for people who are gay or lesbian.

Prevo and the church's administrative pastor, the Rev. Glenn Clary, have long been Republican Party activists and now are leading opposition to the One Anchorage Initiative, the equal rights ballot measure next month.

Gardner and one of the co-sponsors, Lindsey Holmes, both Anchorage Democrats, say they'll try a new tack: letting local governments decide whether to exempt religious educator housing from local property taxes. That wouldn't outlaw the tax breaks, the way their original bill would, but wouldn't automatically grant them, either, the way current law does. Instead, municipalities would control the issue.

That's the approach the Alaska Municipal League told the committee it favors, since the lost revenue would affect local governments, not the state.

It appears the only houses that could lose a tax exemption under the measure are those owned by the Baptist Temple.

The House committee was told that the state assessor found 10 residences now getting the exemption, five owned by the Baptist Temple and five owned by Alaska Christian College. However, Alaska Christian College later told the committee its housing is for students and volunteers, not teachers.

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Bill to ax tax breaks for churches hits hurdle