Bill Text: OR HB2284 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program; appropriating money; prescribing an effective date.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2013-07-08 - In committee upon adjournment. [HB2284 Detail]

Download: Oregon-2013-HB2284-Introduced.html

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     77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session

NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .

LC 2804

                         House Bill 2284

Sponsored by Representative READ (Presession filed.)

                             SUMMARY

The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.

  Requires Oregon Business Development Department to establish
and administer Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program to make
loans to qualified project sponsors for development of certified
state and regionally significant industrial sites. Allows
department to forgive portions of loans where project sponsor
contracts with eligible employer. Limits loan forgiveness to
lesser of percentage of eligible site preparation costs or
estimated incremental income tax revenues.
  Establishes Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program Fund.
Continuously appropriates moneys in fund to Oregon Business
Development Department.
  Takes effect on 91st day following adjournment sine die.

                        A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to the Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program;
  appropriating money; and prescribing an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
  SECTION 1.  { + The Legislative Assembly finds that:
  (1) Traded sector industries are the foundation of state and
regional economic development strategies for long-term prosperity
and job creation.
  (2) Industrial development that provides new traded sector jobs
reinforces the economies of local and regional communities and
contributes to the economic recovery of the State of Oregon.
  (3) There is a shortage of market-ready state and regional
industrial sites in this state. Project sponsors have limited
financial tools to facilitate development of significant and
complex industrial sites that are appropriate for traded sector
industrial use.
  (4) Public assistance is necessary to overcome
development-related constraints and to incentivize industrial
site development in this state.
  (5) The State of Oregon has a significant interest in the
success of state and regional economic development strategies and
is the primary beneficiary from increased income tax revenues
generated by such economic development. These revenues should be
shared and invested in facilitating significant site development
for traded sector industrial use in this state. + }
  SECTION 2.  { + As used in sections 1 to 5 of this 2013 Act:
  (1) 'Compensation' has the meaning given that term in ORS
314.610.
  (2) 'Eligible employer' means an employer that:
  (a) Has entered into a contract with a project sponsor to
conduct a business in the traded sector industry on a state and
regionally significant industrial site; and
  (b) Has hired one or more full-time employees who are residents
of this state and whose compensation averages at least the county
or state average in annual per employee compensation, whichever
is less.
  (3) 'Estimated incremental income tax revenues' means the
Oregon personal income tax revenues that are estimated pursuant
to section 4 of this 2013 Act to be substantially equivalent to
the amount of tax that employees of an eligible employer who are
hired after the eligible employer enters into a contract with a
qualified project sponsor to conduct a traded sector business on
a certified state and regionally significant industrial site will
be required to pay under ORS chapter 316 as a result of
compensation paid to the employees by the eligible employer in
the tax years beginning with the tax year following the fifth tax
year in which a project sponsor was qualified under section 3 of
this 2013 Act.
  (4) 'Project sponsor' means a public or private owner of a
state and regionally significant industrial site that is
investing in preparation of the site for industrial and traded
sector development either for the owner's use or for use by a
third party.
  (5) 'State and regionally significant industrial site ' means a
site certified for inclusion in the Oregon Industrial Site
Readiness Program under section 3 of this 2013 Act.
  (6) 'Traded sector' has the meaning given that term in ORS
285A.010. + }
  SECTION 3.  { + (1) In consultation with the Department of
Revenue, the Oregon Business Development Department shall
establish and administer the Oregon Industrial Site Readiness
Program. The purpose of the program is to provide loans,
including forgivable loans, to qualified project sponsors to
allow for the development of state and regionally significant
industrial sites certified under this section.
  (2)(a) Subject to standards and procedures that the Oregon
Business Development Department shall establish by rule, the
department shall certify state and regionally significant
industrial sites for inclusion in the readiness program.
  (b) A state and regionally significant industrial site
certified under this section must be a large industrial site that
is zoned and planned for industrial or traded sector use and that
is either:
  (A) A site of 25 net acres or greater in a metropolitan
statistical area as defined in ORS 267.010; or
  (B) A site of 15 net acres or greater in a rural area as
defined in ORS 285A.010.
  (3) A project sponsor may apply to participate in the readiness
program by submitting an application and development plan in
writing in a form prescribed by the department by rule.
  (4) The department shall establish by rule criteria and
standards for the qualification of project sponsors to
participate in the program.
  (5)(a) Upon qualification of a project sponsor under this
section, the department may enter into a loan agreement with the
project sponsor under terms and conditions specified and required
by the department.
  (b) The agreement may specify that a portion of the loan may be
forgiven if the project sponsor enters into a contract with an
eligible employer to conduct a business in the traded sector
industry on a state and regionally significant industrial site
within five years after the project sponsor was qualified under
this section.

  (c) The total amount of the loan forgiveness that may be
allowed under paragraph (b) of this subsection is the lesser of:
  (A) 50 percent of the total cost of eligible site preparation
costs; or
  (B) 50 percent of the amount of the estimated incremental
income tax revenues for the eligible employer.
  (6) The department shall establish, by rule, eligible site
preparation costs including, but not limited to, some or all of
the following:
  (a) Acquisition and assembly costs associated with creating
large development parcels.
  (b) Transportation improvements such as access roads,
intersections, turning lanes, signals, sidewalks, curbs, transit
stops and storm drains.
  (c) Water and sewer infrastructure.
  (d) Natural resource mitigation.
  (e) Site grading activities.
  (f) Environmental remediation and mitigation activities to
address brownfields issues in accordance with state and federally
approved remediation plans.
  (g) Planning, engineering and administrative costs associated
with applying for necessary local, state and federal permits.
  (h) Interest-carrying costs incurred by a project sponsor for
borrowing undertaken to develop a state and regionally
significant industrial site, not to exceed 20 percent of the
total amount forgiven, if any, under subsection (5) of this
section. + }
  SECTION 4.  { + The Director of the Oregon Business Development
Department, in consultation with the Director of the Department
of Revenue, shall:
  (1) Specify the methodology for estimating incremental income
tax revenues; and
  (2) Estimate incremental income tax revenues. + }
  SECTION 5.  { + The Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program
Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct
from the General Fund. The Oregon Industrial Site Readiness
Program Fund consists of amounts deposited in the fund and other
moneys transferred to the fund. Amounts in the fund are
continuously appropriated to the Oregon Business Development
Department for the purposes of making the loans under section 3
of this 2013 Act and paying the costs and expenses of the Oregon
Business Development Department in connection with the
implementation and administration of sections 1 to 5 of this 2013
Act. + }
  SECTION 6.  { + The Oregon Business Development Department
shall report on the Oregon Industrial Site Readiness Program to
the committees of the Seventy-eighth Legislative Assembly with
authority over the subject area of economic development during
the 2015 regular session. + }
  SECTION 7.  { + This 2013 Act takes effect on the 91st day
after the date on which the 2013 regular session of the
Seventy-seventh Legislative Assembly adjourns sine die. + }
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