HELENA (LEE) --Shortly after House Republicans backed one major property-tax relief bill Thursday, their majority leader unveiled a separate measure that now becomes the centerpiece of the GOP's effort to lower property taxes.

House Majority Leader Michael Lange, R-Billings, said he had just approved the final draft of a major new bill that will provide more than $400 million in tax relief over the next two years and continue with more in future years. Under the plan, the state would pick up a far greater share of K-12 education costs from local school districts.

It would provide $266 million in property-tax cuts over the two years. Those homeowners who don't receive a $400-a-year reduction in property taxes under the plan would be eligible for a refundable income-tax credit to bring their total relief up to $400.

Lange's plan would have the state pay for 80 percent of K-12 schools, instead of current 44.7 percent share, and pay all of the guaranteed tax base and block grants under a previous law. Those measures would be a major step toward addressing legal concerns about Montana's school funding system, Lange said.

"Given all the concerns over school funding the past few years, we should be able to generate huge bipartisan support," Lange said of his yet-to-be introduced bill.

But House Minority Leader John Parker, D-Great Falls, said he fears that Lange's bill will use too much of the state's projected $1 billion general fund surplus and leave other pressing needs unmet.

"This proposal seems to raise questions about how we will attend to overcrowded prisons, tuition increase, the billion-dollar retirement deficit and providing access to health care to children from poor families," Parker said.

With Republicans likely to break the major budget bill into as many as eight sections, Parker said, "I'm very concerned it will be confusing to develop a coherent policy on tax."

Lange said his new bill addresses concerns by Democrats that his earlier proposal, HB356, funneled too much of the property tax relief to large corporations and the out-of-state owners of trophy homes in Montana's mountain valleys.

He estimated 72 percent of the tax relief would go to homeowners, commercial property owners and agricultural and timber property owners under the new plan.

Both major Montana political parties made property-tax relief the most pressing issue of their legislative campaigns last year.

Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and his party's candidates advocated his $100 million plan to give each Montana resident household a one-time, $400 property-tax rebate.

The Democratic-controlled Senate already has approved Schweitzer's plan in SB139, by Sen. Dan Harrington, D-Butte, and sent it to the House.

Republicans countered in their campaigns that they want to permanently lower Montana's property taxes. They have been working on a number of plans to do so.

Lange revealed the details of his new bills to reporters shortly after the House gave debate-stage approval to a separate measure, House Bill 315, by Rep. Roger Koopman, R-Bozeman.

Koopman's bill would use any state budget surpluses greater than $50 million in a year to lower and, if enough, eliminate the 95 statewide property-tax mills that go for K-12 schools. Using the estimates in the Schweitzer budget, the bill would provide $178 million in property-tax relief over the next two years.

Rather than have the House take a final vote on SB315 today before sending it to the Senate, Lange sent the bill to the House Appropriations Committee. He said he would ask that committee to amend it to delay implementation two years.

All 50 Republicans, plus Rep. Rick Jore, a Constitution Party member from Ronan, voted for the bill, while all 49 Democrats voted against it.

"It isn't our money," Koopman said during the floor debate. "It is excess taxes. It doesn't belong to the state. It belongs to the people who paid them."

He added, "Frankly, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money."

Rep. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula, said Montana has gone through good years and bad years economically, with the current projected surplus reflecting recent good times.

"You need to plan for that bad year," Erickson said, suggesting that spending too much of the expected surplus now on tax relief would leave the state scrambling for revenue in leaner times.

He also said if the 95 mills were ever eliminated under the bill, Exxon Mobil would get "a nice tax break." A Democratic handout showed Exxon Mobil would see a $423,000 property tax reduction here, while ConocoPhillips' tax bill would drop by $953,000.