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The Permitting and
Licensing Bill
The Economic Growth
Committee passed HSB 14, the Permitting and Licensing Bill, out of
committee on Tuesday by a unanimous vote. HSB 14 allows cities,
counties and regions to obtain most of the permits and licenses
needed before a business decides to locate at the site.
Local communities can determine the appropriate type of
development they want to pre-permit the site for. Sites can be
categorized as: research and development; business/commerce park;
manufacturing; light industrial; warehouse/distribution; or office
park. A local community that designates an area for a specific
type of development and pre-permits the site can apply to a
Department of Economic Development (DED) to certify the area as a
pre-approved development site, called a “Smart Site.”
Through allowing cities,
counties and regions to pre-permit sites, businesses are able to
start building or operating without going through most of he
hassle of permitting and licensing. However, localities cannot
obtain every permit and license ahead of time. Businesses will
still have to go through some permitting and licensing process,
but if the business locates on a “Smart Site,” they have fewer
permits and hassle to worry about.
Currently, very few
states are this forward thinking on development. New York and
North Carolina are two states that allow pre-permitting. Once a
site has been through the prescribed permits, it is certified by
each state. New York certifies their states “Shovel Ready”
while North Carolina declares their pre-permitted sites as a
“Certified Site.” Once HSB 14 is signed into law, and DED
develops the certification process, Iowa will join New York and
North Carolina with “Smart Sites.”
House Study Bill 182,
School Infrastructure Local Option Sales Tax
HSB 182 was introduced in
the Ways & Means Committee on Monday.
This bill provides a limitation on the school
infrastructure local option sales tax (SILO). This limit is equal
to the total tax revenue that would be generated by a one percent
school sales tax if imposed by all 99 counties divided by the
actual enrollment for school districts in the state for the
previous school year.
Counties
that collect tax revenue in excess of this “per student limit”
will have the revenues
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transferred to a reserve
pool. The moneys in the reserve pool will be used to provide
additional revenue to those counties which have imposed the tax but
have not reached their per student limit.
The per student limit is
decreased for those counties which impose a SILO at less than one
percent, or impose it for less than the entire fiscal year.
The limitation on tax
revenues that school districts in a county may receive applies to
counties that impose a SILO on or after January 1, 2003, and to
those counties that currently impose the SILO and vote to continue
the tax beyond January 1, 2003. Counties that currently impose a
SILO on January 1, 2003, will continue to receive the tax revenues
collected in the county until the end of the 10-year period when the
tax is automatically repealed.
The other school
districts subject to the new limitation under the bill will be
required to spend the revenues for property tax relief by lowering
the debt service levies, the voter-approved physical plant and
equipment levy (PPEL), the instructional support levy, or the
additional property tax levy under the school aid formula, unless
the school board adopts an infrastructure plan which is approved at
an election by sixty percent of those voting.
HSB
182 is retroactive to January 1, 2003. The bill is currently in
subcommittee.
Ways
& Means Update
Bills passed out of Ways & Means this week:
HF 132-A
bill for an act allowing a refund of motor fuel taxes paid by an
agency or instrumentality of two or more political subdivisions of
the state formed by a joint intergovernmental agreement.
HF 141-A
bill for an act relating to the payment by a county of the
agricultural land tax credit and reimbursement to the county of its
payment and providing an effective date.
Bill
Assignments:
HSB
182-An act relating to the distribution and use of tax revenues
from the local option sales and services tax for school
infrastructure purposes collected in a county.
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Week
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