LOC News
E-Zone Bill Moves Out of Committee
The House Revenue Committee passed an amended version of HB 2199, which extends the standard enterprise zone program, out of committee on Thursday with a ‘Do Pass’ recommendation and referred the bill to the Joint Committee on Tax Expenditures.
The LOC has been engaged in a number of conversations this session on enterprise zones and provided feedback on proposed policy changes to the program.
The -1 amendment has the following items:
1. Transparency: requires that zone sponsors post the applications on their website for 30 days before it is finalized.
- Note this is not requiring it be passed by resolution, only posted on the website to allow the opportunity for public input.
2. Enterprise zone sponsor must notify neighboring jurisdictions if new enterprise zone agreement will impact other jurisdictions’ infrastructure.
3. Exclusion of school district taxes for the period of extension (years 4-5 in a standard agreement) and any agreement beyond 5 years (years 6-15 of the long-term rural agreement).
- On average, 40% of property taxes are distributed to school districts, so the value of the incentive for extended agreements would be reduced by about 40%
4. Extends the sunset by 5 years to 2030.
The bill does not exclude data centers or warehouses from receiving enterprise zone agreements. A previous iteration of the bill (HB 3011) attempted to exclude those entities from the enterprise zone program.
Contact: Lindsay Tenes, Lobbyist – ltenes@orcities.org
Last Updated 5/12/23