Bill Text: GA HB1239 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Georgia Tourism Job Creation Act; enact
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-08 - House Second Readers [HB1239 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2009-HB1239-Introduced.html
10 LC 38
1066ER
House
Bill 1239
By:
Representatives Neal of the
1st
and Stephens of the
164th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 8 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to sales and use taxes, so as to provide for a program of tax refunds for
companies creating new tourism attractions; to provide for a short title; to
provide for definitions; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for
conditions of eligibility and approval; to provide for agreements; to provide
for procedures, conditions, and limitations; to provide for powers, duties, and
responsibilities of the commissioner of community affairs and the Department of
Community Affairs and the governing authorities of counties and municipalities;
to provide for powers, duties, and authority of the state revenue commissioner
and the Department of Revenue; to provide for related matters; to provide for an
effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
8 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to sales and
use taxes, is amended by adding a new article to read as follows:
"ARTICLE
5
48-8-240.
This
article shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Tourism Job Creation
Act.'
48-8-241.
As
used in this article, the term:
(1)
'Agreement' means a tourism attraction agreement for a tourism attraction
project entered into, pursuant to Code Section 48-8-245, on behalf of the
Department of Community Affairs and an approved company.
(2)
'Approved company' means any corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, business trust,
or any other entity that is seeking to undertake a tourism attraction project
pursuant to Code Section 48-8-245 and is approved, pursuant to subsection (b) of
Code Section 48-8-244, by the commissioner of community affairs and by the
governing authority of the city where the tourism attraction project is to be
located if within a city or otherwise by the governing authority of the county
where the tourism attraction project is to be located.
(3)
'Approved costs' means:
(A)
Obligations incurred for labor and to vendors, contractors, subcontractors,
builders, suppliers, deliverymen, and materialmen in connection with the
acquisition, construction, equipping, and installation of a tourism attraction
project;
(B)
The costs of acquiring real property or rights in real property and any costs
incidental thereto;
(C)
All costs for construction materials and equipment installed at the tourism
attraction project;
(D)
The cost of contract bonds and of insurance of all kinds that may be required or
necessary during the course of the acquisition, construction, equipping, and
installation of a tourism attraction project which is not paid by the vendor,
supplier, deliveryman, or contractor or otherwise provided;
(E)
All costs of architectural and engineering services, including but not limited
to estimates, plans and specifications, preliminary investigations, and
supervision of construction and installation, as well as for the performance of
all the duties required by or consequent to the acquisition, construction,
equipping, and installation of a tourism attraction project;
(F)
All costs required to be paid under the terms of any contract for the
acquisition, construction, equipping, and installation of a tourism attraction
project;
(G)
All costs required for the installation of utilities, including but not limited
to water, sewer, sewage treatment, gas, electricity, and communications, and
off-site construction of utility extensions if paid for by the approved company;
and
(H)
All other costs comparable with those described in this paragraph.
(4)
'Incremental sales and use tax' means those state and local sales and use taxes
generated by the tourism attraction project above the amount of such sales and
use taxes generated by the previous use of the property on which such project is
located.
(5)
'Tourism attraction' means a cultural or historical site; a recreation or
entertainment facility; a sports stadium or arena; an area of natural phenomena
or scenic beauty; a convention hotel and conference center; an automobile race
track with lodging and restaurant and other tourism amenities; a golf course
facility with lodging and restaurant and other tourism amenities; marinas and
water parks with lodging and restaurant facilities; or an entertainment
destination center designed to attract tourists to the State of Georgia. A
tourism attraction shall be subject to the following conditions:
(A)
A tourism attraction shall include commercial lodging facilities if the
facilities constitute a significant portion of a tourism attraction project or
the facilities are to be located on recreational property leased from a county,
a municipal corporation, the state, or the federal government; and
(B)
A tourism attraction shall not include the following:
(i)
Facilities that are primarily devoted to the retail sale of goods, shopping
centers, restaurants, or movie theaters; or
(ii)
Recreational facilities that do not serve as likely destinations where
individuals who are not residents of this state would remain overnight in
commercial lodging at the tourism attraction.
(6)
'Tourism attraction project' or 'project' means the real estate acquisition,
including the acquisition of real estate by a leasehold interest with a minimum
term of 30 years, construction, and equipping of a tourism attraction; the
construction and installation of improvements to facilities necessary or
desirable for the acquisition, construction, and installation of a tourism
attraction, including but not limited to surveys; installation of utilities,
which may include water, sewer, sewage treatment, gas, electricity, and
communications; and off-site construction of utility extensions if paid for by
the approved company.
48-8-242.
The
General Assembly finds and declares that the general welfare and material
well-being of the citizens of this state depend in large measure upon the
development of tourism in this state; that, in light of the current economic
conditions marked by extreme unemployment and financial turmoil, it is in the
best interest of this state to increase state tourism and economic development
by inducing the creation and expansion of major tourism destinations that will
advance the public purposes of relieving unemployment by preserving and creating
jobs, particularly in geographic areas designated as enterprise zones due to
disinvestment, underdevelopment, and economic decline, which would not exist if
not for the sales and use tax refund offered by the State of Georgia to approved
companies and by preserving and creating sources of tax revenues for the support
of public services provided by this state; that the purposes to be accomplished
under the provisions of this article are proper governmental and public purposes
for which public moneys may be expended; and that the inducement of the creation
and expansion of tourism attraction projects is of paramount importance to the
economy of this state, mandating that the provisions of this article are to be
liberally construed and applied in order to advance public
purposes.
48-8-243.
(a)
In consideration of the execution of the agreement, each approved company shall
be granted a sales and use tax refund from the incremental sales and use tax
on:
(1)
The sales generated by the approved company and arising at the tourism
attraction; and
(2)
The sales generated by the approved company that are attributable to and
connected with any project to be a part of or an addition to an existing tourism
attraction.
Each
approved company shall keep and maintain annual records that delineate the
increase in sales created by a project at an existing tourism attraction in
order to be eligible to be granted a refund for that increase in
sales.
(b)
The approved company shall have no obligation to refund or otherwise return any
amount of this sales and use tax refund to the persons from whom the sales and
use tax was collected.
(c)
For all privately owned tourism attractions, the term of the agreement granting
the sales and use tax refund shall be ten years. For any tourism attraction
owned by one or more counties or municipalities located in the State of Georgia
or by an agency, authority, or instrumentality created or authorized by one or
more counties or municipalities in the state of Georgia, the term of the
agreement granting the sales and use tax refund shall be 20 years. The term for
an agreement made pursuant to this subsection shall commence on the later
of:
(1)
The final approval of the agreement for purposes of the sales and use tax
refund; or
(2)
The date the tourism attraction opens for business and begins to collect sales
and use taxes;
(d)
Any sales and use tax collected by an approved company on sales transacted after
final approval but prior to the commencement of the term of the agreement shall
be refundable as if collected after the commencement of the term and applied to
the approved company's first year's refund after activation of the term and
without changing the term.
(e)
The total sales and use tax refund allowed to the approved company over the term
of the agreement shall be equal to the lesser of the total amount of the sales
and use tax liability of the approved company or 25 percent of the approved
costs for the tourism attraction project, subject to the following
conditions:
(1)
The sales and use tax refund shall accrue over the term of the agreement in an
annual amount equal to the lesser of the sales and use tax liability of the
approved company for that year or 2.5 percent of the approved costs;
and
(2)
Notwithstanding the 2.5 percent limitation of paragraph (1) of this subsection,
any unused sales and use tax refunds from a previous year may be carried forward
to any succeeding year during the term of the agreement.
(f)
On or before March 31 of each year during the term of the agreement, an approved
company shall file with the department a claim for the sales and use tax refund
collected by the approved company and remitted to the department during the
preceding calendar year pursuant to subsection (e) of this Code
section.
(g)
The department, in consultation with other appropriate state agencies, shall
promulgate administrative regulations and require the filing of a refund form
designed by the department to reflect the intent of this article.
48-8-244.
(a)
The commissioner of community affairs, in consultation with other appropriate
state agencies, shall establish standards for the filing of an application for
tourism attraction projects by the promulgation of administrative
regulations.
(b)
The commissioner of community affairs shall consult with an advisory committee
consisting of the commissioner of economic development, the state revenue
commissioner, and the director of the Office of Planning and Budget who shall
assist and advise the commissioner of community affairs in his or her review of
applications filed by companies that are considering the development of a
tourism attraction project. Within a reasonable time period after receiving a
completed application, the commissioner of community affairs shall make a
determination as to whether the applicant meets the requirements of the
regulations, and the commissioner of community affairs shall recommend approval
or denial of the application to the state revenue commissioner.
(c)
An application for a tourism attraction project filed with the Department of
Community Affairs shall include, but not be limited to:
(1)
Marketing plans for the tourism attraction project that target individuals who
are not residents of this state;
(2)
A description and location of the tourism attraction project;
(3)
Capital and other anticipated expenditures for the tourism attraction project
and the anticipated sources of funding for such project;
(4)
The anticipated employment and wages to be paid at the tourism attraction
project;
(5)
Business plans which indicate the average number of days in a year in which the
tourism attraction project will be in operation and open to the public;
and
(6)
The anticipated revenues to be generated by the tourism attraction
project.
(d)
The commissioner of community affairs and the local governing authority
specified in paragraph (2) of Code Section 48-8-241 may grant approval to the
tourism attraction project if the project:
(1)
Creates not less than 50 full-time positions and have approved costs in excess
of $50 million, and such project is to be a tourism attraction.
(2)
Creates not less than 25 full-time positions and have approved costs in excess
of $25 million if such project is to be a part of or an addition to an existing
tourism attraction or, if the existing tourism attraction can substantiate an
increase in visitation to the tourism attraction by adding physical improvements
that cost less than $25 million, represents at the determination of the
commissioner of community affairs a significant positive economic impact on the
region and this state;
(3)
Has a significant and positive economic impact on the state considering, among
other factors, the extent to which the tourism attraction project will compete
directly with existing tourism attractions in this state and the amount by which
increased state and local tax revenues from the tourism attraction project will
exceed the refund to be given to the approved company;
(4)
Is located in a geographic area that has been designated as an enterprise zone
pursuant to Code Section 36-88-5;
(5)
Is located in a county that has been designated by the commissioner of community
affairs as a tier 1 or tier 2 county under the county tier program in Code
Section 48-7-40;
(6)
Produces sufficient revenues and public demand to be operating and open to the
public for a minimum of 200 days per year; and
(7)
Does not adversely affect existing employment in the state.
48-8-245.
(a)
The Department of Community Affairs shall enter into an agreement with any
approved company which may also include as a partner any local development
authority, and the terms and provisions of each agreement shall include, but not
be limited to:
(1)
The projected amount of approved costs, provided that any increase in approved
costs incurred by the approved company and agreed to by the Department of
Community Affairs shall apply retroactively for purposes of calculating the
carry forward for unused sales and use tax refunds as set forth in subsection
(e) of Code Section 48-8-243 for tax years commencing on or after July 1,
2010;
(2)
A date certain by which the approved company shall have completed the tourism
attraction project and begun operations. Upon request from any approved company
that has received final approval, the Department of Community Affairs shall
grant an extension or change, which in no event shall exceed 18 months from the
date of final approval, to the completion date as specified in the agreement
with an approved company; and
(3)
A statement specifying that the term shall be ten years from the later
of:
(A)
The date of the final approval of the tourism attraction project;
or
(B)
The original effective date specified in the agreement, if this effective date
is within three years of the date of the final approval of the tourism
attraction project.
(b)
If an approved company receives a refund under this article, the Department of
Community Affairs may deny the right to claim other economic development
incentives consisting of income tax credits granted under Chapter 7 of this
title that it may otherwise be eligible to claim on its state income tax
return."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2010.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of law in conflict with this Act are repealed.