HB 544

This bill creates the commercial development board to be administratively attached to the department of economic and community development and aut horizes the board to exercise the powers and duties necessary to implement this bill. Under this bill, this board will terminate as of June 30, 2027. Under this bill, the board consists of eight members, including (i) two members to be appointed by the governor, (ii) two members to be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, (iii) two members to be appointed by the speaker of the senate, (iv) the commissioner of economic and community development, or the commissioner's designee, as an e x officio member, and (v) the comptroller of the treasure, or the comptroller's designee, as an ex officio, nonvoting member. Under this bill, all members are voting members except for the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee. Additi o nally, the commissioner of economic and community development serves as chair. This bill requires the terms for the initial board members to be staggered. F ollowing the initial terms, the term for a board member who does not serve ex officio is four y ears. A board member who does not serve ex officio is eligible for reappointment and may serve a maximum of two full terms . H owever, an appointment to fill an unexpired term as a result of a vacancy does not count toward the term limit. This bill author izes a board member to continue to serve until a successor is appointed or until the member is reappointed , at the expiration of the member's term. Under this bill, five board members constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. If a quorum is p resent, a vacancy on the board does not prevent the board from transacting business or otherwise taking an action authorized pursuant to this bill . This bill requires a ny form of board action to be passed by a majority of the voting members present. This bill requires the board to meet at the call of the chair. This bill authorizes the board to elect other officers as the board deems appropriate. This bill provides that t he appointed members serve without compensation but may receive reimbursement for travel expenses in accordance with the comprehensive travel regulations . PILOT AGREEMENTS This bill requires the board to negotiat e and receiv e from developer-lessees payments in lieu of ad valorem taxes (" PILOTs "") with respect to new commercial propert y. T he board may acquire and lease a new commercial property in furtherance of the public purpose of promoting economic and community development in the state. As used in this bill, ""new commercial property"" means real property that (i) is located within a county in which the combined property tax rate imposed by all affected taxing jurisdictions within that county exceeds $5.50 per $100 of assessed value; (ii) is solely developed for commercial use by a developer-lessee; and (iii) is owned by the board . Procedure This bill requires the board to approve requests from developer-lessees for PILOTs with respect to new commercial property upon written requests submitted by developer-lessees to the board to enter into agreements with respect to PILOTs and l eases, and upon submission of a reasonable fee in an amount determined by the board to offset the costs of administering this bill. This bill requires t he board to remit the PILOTs to each affected taxing jurisdiction. The commercial development board m ust attach to the PILOT agreements an analysis of the costs and benefits of entering into such agreements. The analysis must contain a finding by the board that the PILOTs are in furtherance of the board's public purposes. A PILOT agreement entered into by the board must contain terms and conditions that provide that (i) the PILOTs are payable to all affected taxing jurisdictions in which the new commercial property is located and (ii) the chair of the board has executed a letter supporting the lease of n ew commercial property to developer-lessees. Under this bill, an agreement providing for the acceptance of PILOTs, including any renewal or extension of such agreement, entered into by the board must not result in a developer-lessee making PILOTs for a period that is greater than 10 years. PILOTs and any lease payments payable to the board are and remain a first lien upon the fee interest in the leased property from January 1 of the year in which such PILOTs or lease payments are due. This bill authorizes the board to enforce such lien, and also obtain interest at 10% per annum from the date due and reasonable attorneys' fees, by suit filed in the circuit or chancery court. This bill requires all PILOT agreements to be reduced to writing and submitted to the chief executive officer of each jurisdiction in which the pr operty is located and to the comptroller of the treasury, for review, but not approval. This bill authorizes a n agreement to be submitted in advance of its execution but must be submitted within 10 days after its execution. The name of individuals that a re parties to the agreement may be obscured on copies of agreements submitted in advance of their execution. Annual R eports By October 1 of each year, this bill requires the board to submit an annual report containing (i) a list of all new commercial p roperty owned by the board; (ii) t he value of each listed new commercial property as estimated by the board; (iii) t he date and term of the lease for each listed new commercial property; (iv) t he amount of PILOTs for each listed new commercial property; (v) t he date each listed new commercial property is scheduled to return to the regular tax rolls; (vi) t he property address and parcel identification number of the new commercial property assigned by the assessor of property; (vii) t he amount of rents pai d; (viii) t he amount of any property taxes paid on any leasehold assessment under present law; and (ix) h ow the PILOTs are allocated between each affected city and county. This bill requires the board to timely file a copy of the filing of the annual re port to the assessor of property in the county where the property is located on or before October 15 of the year in which the filing is made with the comptroller of the treasury. This bill authorizes t he assessor of property to audit or review, or both, t he data report on all PILOT agreements and conduct comparative analysis to ensure that all agreements are reported to the assessor of property."