AB538 - Revises provisions governing the Board of Economic Development. (BDR 18-419)

A.B. 538 - *AB538* ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 538–COMMITTEE ON REVENUE (ON BEHALF OF THE JOINT INTERIM STANDING COMMITTEE ON REVENUE) MARCH 24, 2025 ____________ Referred to Committee on Revenue SUMMARY—Revises provisions governing the Board of Economic Development. (BDR 18-419) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No. Effect on the State: No. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to economic development; requiring the appointment of certain temporary members to the Board of Economic Development for the limited purpose of considering certain applications for transferable tax credits, tax abatements and partial tax abatements; requiring the Office of Economic Development to notify certain entities upon receipt of an application for transferable tax credits, a tax abatement or a partial tax abatement for a business or project in certain rural counties; requiring the Board to be the entity that approves certain applications for transferable tax credits, a tax abatement or a partial tax abatement; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law authorizes the Office of Economic Development to approve 1 transferable tax credits and abatements or partial abatements of certain property 2 taxes, business taxes and sales and use taxes for certain businesses in certain 3 circumstances. (NRS 231.1555, 274.310, 274.320, 274.330, 360.750, 360.753, 4 360.754, 360.759, 360.889, 360.945) With certain exceptions, existing law requires 5 a partial tax abatement with a projected value to a single entity of $500,000 or more 6 to be approved by the Board of Economic Development and a partial tax abatement 7 with a projected value to a single entity of less than $500,000 to be approved by the 8 Executive Director of the Office of Economic Development. (NRS 231.0695) 9 Existing law requires an application for certain transferable tax credits which may 10 be issued to a new or expanded business to be considered by the Board if the 11 – 2 – - *AB538* application is for transferable tax credits in an amount greater than $100,000. (NRS 12 231.1555) In addition to partial tax abatements, section 3 of this bill requires a tax 13 abatement or transferable tax credits, or a combination of tax abatements, partial 14 tax abatements and transferable tax credits, with a projected value to a single entity 15 or a single project of $500,000 or more to be approved by the Board. 16 Section 3 requires the Office, within 15 days after receiving an application for 17 a tax abatement, partial tax abatement or transferable tax credits which must be 18 approved by the Board and which is for a business or project that is or will be 19 located in a county whose population is less than 100,000 (currently all counties 20 other than Clark and Washoe Counties), to notify the governing body of the county, 21 city and school district in which the business or project is or will be located and the 22 president of each community college located in the county in which the business or 23 project is or will be located. Section 1 of this bill requires each entity which is 24 required to receive such notice, not later than 15 days before any meeting at which 25 the Board will consider such an application, to appoint a representative to serve as a 26 temporary voting member of the Board for the limited purpose of considering and 27 taking action on the application. Section 1 provides that a temporary voting 28 member does not receive compensation from the Board and is not counted as a 29 member of the Board for the purpose of determining the presence of a quorum. 30 Additionally, sections 1, 2, 5 and 6 of this bill authorize a temporary voting 31 member to receive and view any information contained in the application which is 32 available to the other members of the Board. 33 Section 4 of this bill makes a conforming change to indicate that the provisions 34 of section 1 requiring the appointment of temporary members applies if the Board 35 is required to consider an application for transferable tax credits for a new or 36 expanded business in an amount greater than $100,000. 37 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 231.033 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1 231.033 1. There is hereby created the Board of Economic 2 Development, consisting of: 3 (a) The following voting members: 4 (1) The Governor; 5 (2) The Lieutenant Governor; 6 (3) The Secretary of State; and 7 (4) Six members who must be selected from the private 8 sector and appointed as follows: 9 (I) Three members appointed by the Governor; 10 (II) One member appointed by the Speaker of the 11 Assembly; 12 (III) One member appointed by the Majority Leader of 13 the Senate; and 14 (IV) One member appointed by the Minority Leader of 15 the Assembly or the Minority Leader of the Senate. The Minority 16 Leader of the Senate shall appoint the member for the initial term, 17 the Minority Leader of the Assembly shall appoint the member for 18 the next succeeding term, and thereafter, the authority to appoint the 19 – 3 – - *AB538* member for each subsequent term alternates between the Minority 1 Leader of the Assembly and the Minority Leader of the Senate. 2 (b) The following nonvoting members: 3 (1) The Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher 4 Education or his or her designee; 5 (2) The Superintendent of Public Instruction or his or her 6 designee; 7 (3) The Director of the Department of Business and Industry; 8 and 9 (4) The Director of the Department of Employment, Training 10 and Rehabilitation. 11 2. In appointing the members of the Board described in 12 subsection 1, the appointing authorities shall coordinate the 13 appointments when practicable so that the members of the Board 14 represent the diversity of this State, including, without limitation, 15 different strategically important industries, different geographic 16 regions of this State and different professions. 17 3. The Governor shall serve as the Chair of the Board. 18 4. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the 19 members of the Board appointed pursuant to subparagraph (4) of 20 paragraph (a) of subsection 1 are appointed for terms of 4 years. The 21 initial members of the Board shall by lot select three of the initial 22 members of the Board appointed pursuant to subparagraph (4) of 23 paragraph (a) of subsection 1 to serve an initial term of 2 years. 24 5. The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor or the Secretary of 25 State may designate a person to serve as a member of the Board for 26 the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or Secretary of State, 27 respectively. Any person designated to serve pursuant to this 28 subsection shall serve for the term of the officer appointing him or 29 her and serves at the pleasure of that officer. If the Governor 30 designates a person to serve on his or her behalf, that person shall 31 serve as the Chair of the Board. Vacancies in the appointed 32 positions on the Board must be filled by the appointing authority for 33 the unexpired term. 34 6. The Executive Director shall serve as the nonvoting 35 Secretary of the Board. 36 7. A majority of the voting members of the Board constitutes a 37 quorum, and the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting 38 members of the Board is required to exercise any power conferred 39 on the Board. 40 8. The Board shall meet at least once each quarter but may 41 meet more often at the call of the Chair or a majority of the voting 42 members of the Board [.] , not including any temporary voting 43 members. 44 – 4 – - *AB538* 9. The members of the Board serve without compensation but 1 are entitled to receive the per diem allowance and travel expenses 2 provided for state officers and employees generally while engaged 3 in the official business of the Board. 4 10. Not later than 15 days before any meeting at which the 5 Board will take action on an application for a tax abatement, 6 partial tax abatement or transferable tax credits for a business or 7 project that is or will be located in a county whose population is 8 less than 100,000, each entity to which notification is required to 9 be provided pursuant to NRS 231.0695 shall appoint a 10 representative to serve as a temporary voting member of the Board 11 for the sole purpose of considering and taking action on the 12 application. An entity to which notification is required to be 13 provided pursuant to NRS 231.0695 may appoint himself or 14 herself, if the entity is a natural person, or one of its members, if 15 the entity is a governing body. If, within the time required by this 16 subsection, the entity has not made an appointment of a temporary 17 voting member of the Board, the Office may take action on the 18 application without the appointment of such a temporary voting 19 member and the failure to make such an appointment must not be 20 considered for the purposes of determining the presence of a 21 quorum or the number of votes necessary to act on the application. 22 A temporary voting member appointed to the Board pursuant to 23 this subsection: 24 (a) May not vote on or participate in the consideration of any 25 matter before the Board other than the application for which the 26 temporary voting member was appointed. 27 (b) Serves without compensation from the Board and is not 28 entitled to per diem and travel allowances for engaging in any 29 business of the Board, other than any per diem and travel 30 allowances authorized and paid by the entity making the 31 appointment. 32 (c) Is not a member of the Board for the purposes of 33 determining the existence of a quorum pursuant to this section or 34 chapter 241 of NRS. 35 (d) May receive and view any information contained in the 36 application which is available to the members of the Board who 37 are not temporary voting members. 38 Sec. 2. NRS 231.069 is hereby amended to read as follows: 39 231.069 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3 and 40 NRS 231.033, 239.0115, 360.890 and 360.950, the Office shall keep 41 confidential any record or other document of a client which is in its 42 possession if the client: 43 (a) Submits a request in writing that the record or other 44 document be kept confidential by the Office; and 45 – 5 – - *AB538* (b) Demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Office that the record 1 or other document contains proprietary or confidential information. 2 2. If the Office determines that a record or other document of a 3 client contains proprietary or confidential information, the 4 Executive Director shall attach to the file containing the record or 5 document: 6 (a) A certificate signed by him or her stating that a request for 7 confidentiality was made by the client and the date of the request; 8 (b) A copy of the written request submitted by the client; 9 (c) The documentation to support the request which was 10 submitted by the client; and 11 (d) A copy of the decision of the Office determining that the 12 record or other document contains proprietary or confidential 13 information. 14 3. The Office may share the records and other documents that 15 are confidential pursuant to this section with the nonprofit 16 corporation formed by the Executive Director pursuant to NRS 17 231.0545, as deemed necessary by the Office to accomplish the 18 purposes for which the nonprofit corporation was formed. 19 4. Records and documents that are confidential pursuant to this 20 section: 21 (a) Are proprietary or confidential information of the business; 22 (b) Are not a public record; and 23 (c) Must not be disclosed to any person who is not an officer or 24 employee of the Office unless the business consents to the 25 disclosure. 26 5. As used in this section, “proprietary or confidential 27 information” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 360.247. 28 Sec. 3. NRS 231.0695 is hereby amended to read as follows: 29 231.0695 1. For the purpose of any tax abatement, partial tax 30 abatement or transferable tax credits which the Office is required 31 or authorized to approve, the Office shall be deemed to have 32 approved the tax abatement, partial tax abatement [:] or 33 transferable tax credits: 34 (a) Upon approval by the Board for tax abatements, partial tax 35 abatements , transferable tax credits or any combination of tax 36 abatements, partial tax abatements and transferable tax credits 37 with a projected value to a single entity or, with respect to NRS 38 360.880 to 360.980, inclusive, a single project of $500,000 or more; 39 or 40 (b) Upon approval by the Executive Director for tax 41 abatements, partial tax abatements , transferable tax credits or any 42 combination of tax abatements, partial tax abatements and 43 transferable tax credits with a projected value to a single entity or, 44 – 6 – - *AB538* with respect to NRS 360.880 to 360.980, inclusive, a single project 1 of less than $500,000. 2 2. If the Office receives an application for a tax abatement, a 3 partial tax abatement or transferable tax credits for a business or 4 project that is or will be located in a county whose population is 5 less than 100,000 and to which paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of 6 this section or subsection 5 of NRS 231.1555 applies, the Office 7 shall, not later than 15 days after receiving the application, notify: 8 (a) The governing body of: 9 (1) Each county in which the business or project is or will 10 be located; 11 (2) Each city in which the business or project is or will be 12 located; and 13 (3) Each school district in which the business or project is 14 or will be located; and 15 (b) The president of each community college located in the 16 county in which the business or project is or will be located. 17 3. For the purposes of this section, “projected value” means the 18 dollar value of the abatement or tax credits requested by an entity or 19 on behalf of a project plus the accumulated value of all tax 20 abatements and tax credits received by that entity or project for the 21 immediately preceding 2 years. 22 Sec. 4. NRS 231.1555 is hereby amended to read as follows: 23 231.1555 1. A person who intends to locate [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]