SB355 - Revises provisions governing partial abatements of taxes for certain renewable energy facilities. (BDR 58-939)

S.B. 355 - *SB355* SENATE BILL NO. 355–SENATOR OHRENSCHALL MARCH 13, 2025 ____________ Referred to Committee on Growth and Infrastructure SUMMARY—Revises provisions governing partial abatements of taxes for certain renewable energy facilities. (BDR 58-939) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: May have Fiscal Impact. Effect on the State: Yes. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to renewable energy facilities; revising provisions governing applications for a partial abatement of certain taxes for renewable energy facilities that incorporate agrivoltaics or ecovoltaics; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law authorizes a person who intends to locate certain renewable 1 energy facilities in this State to apply to the Director of the Office of Energy for a 2 partial abatement of local sales and use taxes, property taxes, or both local sales and 3 use taxes and property taxes. (NRS 701A.360) Existing law requires the Director to 4 approve an application for the partial abatement if the Director, in consultation with 5 the Office of Economic Development, makes certain determinations, including, 6 without limitation, that: (1) the financial benefits that will result to this State from 7 the facility will exceed the loss of tax revenue that will result from the partial 8 abatement; and (2) the facility is consistent with the State Plan for Economic 9 Development. (NRS 701A.365) Section 5 of this bill requires the Director to 10 approve an application without determining that the financial benefits to the State 11 from the facility will exceed the loss of tax revenue from the partial abatement or 12 that the facility is consistent with the State Plan for Economic Development if not 13 less than 36 percent of the total area of the facility for which the application is 14 made will be devoted to agrivoltaics or ecovoltaics for the duration of the 15 abatement. Sections 2 and 3 of this bill define the terms “agrivoltaics” and 16 “ecovoltaics,” respectively. 17 Existing law prohibits the Director from approving an application for a partial 18 abatement unless the application is approved or deemed approved by the board of 19 county commissioners of the county in which the facility will be located. The board 20 of county commissioners is authorized to deny the application only if the board 21 determines that: (1) the projected cost of the services that the local government is 22 required to provide to the facility will exceed the amount of tax revenue that the 23 – 2 – - *SB355* local government is projected to receive as a result of the abatement; or (2) the 24 projected financial benefits that will result to the county from the facility will not 25 exceed the projected loss of tax revenue that will result from the abatement. (NRS 26 701A.365) Section 5 exempts an application from the requirement to be approved 27 or deemed approved by the board of county commissioners if not less than 36 28 percent of the total area of the facility will be devoted to agrivoltaics or ecovoltaics 29 for the duration of the abatement. 30 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Chapter 701A of NRS is hereby amended by 1 adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act. 2 Sec. 2. “Agrivoltaics” means a system in which agricultural 3 activities, including, without limitation, crop production, livestock 4 production or beekeeping, occur underneath or between solar 5 panels. 6 Sec. 3. “Ecovoltaics” means a system in which conservation 7 activities, including, without limitation, native species 8 conservation, rangeland enhancement, soil improvement, 9 brownfield remediation or the fostering of pollinator habitats, 10 occur underneath or between solar panels. 11 Sec. 4. NRS 701A.300 is hereby amended to read as follows: 12 701A.300 As used in NRS 701A.300 to 701A.390, inclusive, 13 and sections 2 and 3 of this act, unless the context otherwise 14 requires, the words and terms defined in NRS 701A.305 to 15 701A.345, inclusive, and sections 2 and 3 of this act, have the 16 meanings ascribed to them in those sections. 17 Sec. 5. NRS 701A.365 is hereby amended to read as follows: 18 701A.365 1. The Director, in consultation with the Office of 19 Economic Development, shall approve an application for a partial 20 abatement pursuant to NRS 701A.300 to 701A.390, inclusive, and 21 sections 2 and 3 of this act, if the Director, in consultation with the 22 Office of Economic Development, makes the following 23 determinations: 24 (a) The applicant has executed an agreement with the Director 25 which must: 26 (1) State that the facility will, after the date on which the 27 abatement becomes effective, continue in operation in this State for 28 a period specified by the Director, which must be at least 10 years, 29 and will continue to meet the eligibility requirements for the 30 abatement; and 31 (2) Bind the successors in interest in the facility for the 32 specified period. 33 – 3 – - *SB355* (b) The facility is registered pursuant to the laws of this State or 1 the applicant commits to obtain a valid business license and all other 2 permits required by the county, city or town in which the facility 3 operates. 4 (c) No funding is or will be provided by any governmental 5 entity in this State for the acquisition, design or construction of the 6 facility or for the acquisition of any land therefor, except any private 7 activity bonds as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 141. 8 (d) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (e), if the facility 9 will be located in a county whose population is 100,000 or more or a 10 city whose population is 60,000 or more, the facility meets the 11 following requirements: 12 (1) There will be 75 or more full-time employees working on 13 the construction of the facility during the second quarter of 14 construction, including, unless waived by the Director for good 15 cause, at least 50 percent who are residents of Nevada; 16 (2) Establishing the facility will require the facility to make a 17 capital investment of at least $10,000,000 in this State in capital 18 assets that will be retained at the location of the facility until at least 19 the date which is 5 years after the date on which the abatement 20 becomes effective; 21 (3) The average hourly wage that will be paid by the facility 22 to its employees in this State is at least 110 percent of the average 23 statewide hourly wage, excluding management and administrative 24 employees, as established by the Employment Security Division of 25 the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation on 26 July 1 of each fiscal year; and 27 (4) Except as otherwise provided in subsection [6,] 7, the 28 average hourly wage of the employees working on the construction 29 of the facility will be at least 175 percent of the average statewide 30 hourly wage, excluding management and administrative employees, 31 as established by the Employment Security Division of the 32 Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation on July 1 33 of each fiscal year and: 34 (I) The employees working on the construction of the 35 facility must be provided a health insurance plan that is provided by 36 a third-party administrator and includes health insurance coverage 37 for dependents of the employees; and 38 (II) The cost of the benefits provided to the employees 39 working on the construction of the facility will meet the minimum 40 requirements for benefits established by the Director by regulation 41 pursuant to NRS 701A.390. 42 (e) If the facility will be located in a county whose population is 43 less than 100,000, in an area of a county whose population is 44 100,000 or more that is located within the geographic boundaries of 45 – 4 – - *SB355* an area that is designated as rural by the United States Department 1 of Agriculture and at least 20 miles outside of the geographic 2 boundaries of an area designated as urban by the United States 3 Department of Agriculture, or in a city whose population is less than 4 60,000, the facility meets the following requirements: 5 (1) There will be 50 or more full-time employees working on 6 the construction of the facility during the second quarter of 7 construction, including, unless waived by the Director for good 8 cause, at least 50 percent who are residents of Nevada; 9 (2) Establishing the facility will require the facility to make a 10 capital investment of at least $3,000,000 in this State in capital 11 assets that will be retained at the location of the facility until at least 12 the date which is 5 years after the date on which the abatement 13 becomes effective; 14 (3) The average hourly wage that will be paid by the facility 15 to its employees in this State is at least 110 percent of the average 16 statewide hourly wage, excluding management and administrative 17 employees, as established by the Employment Security Division of 18 the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation on 19 July 1 of each fiscal year; and 20 (4) Except as otherwise provided in subsection [6,] 7, the 21 average hourly wage of the employees working on the construction 22 of the facility will be at least 175 percent of the average statewide 23 hourly wage, excluding management and administrative employees, 24 as established by the Employment Security Division of the 25 Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation on July 1 26 of each fiscal year and: 27 (I) The employees working on the construction of the 28 facility must be provided a health insurance plan that is provided by 29 a third-party administrator and includes health insurance coverage 30 for dependents of the employees; and 31 (II) The cost of the benefits provided to the employees 32 working on the construction of the facility will meet the minimum 33 requirements for benefits established by the Director by regulation 34 pursuant to NRS 701A.390. 35 (f) [The] Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, the 36 financial benefits that will result to this State from the employment 37 by the facility of the residents of this State and from capital 38 investments by the facility in this State will exceed the loss of tax 39 revenue that will result from the abatement. 40 (g) [The] Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, the 41 facility is consistent with the State Plan for Economic Development 42 developed by the Executive Director of the Office of Economic 43 Development pursuant to subsection 2 of NRS 231.053. 44 – 5 – - *SB355* 2. [The] Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, the 1 Director shall not approve an application for a partial abatement of 2 the taxes imposed pursuant to chapter 361 of NRS submitted 3 pursuant to NRS 701A.360 by a facility for the generation of 4 process heat from solar renewable energy, a wholesale facility for 5 the generation of electricity from renewable energy, a facility for the 6 storage of energy from renewable generation or a hybrid renewable 7 generation and energy storage facility unless the application is 8 approved or deemed approved pursuant to this subsection. The 9 board of county commissioners of a county must provide notice to 10 the Director that the board intends to consider an application and, if 11 such notice is given, must approve or deny the application not later 12 than 30 days after the board receives a copy of the application. The 13 board of county commissioners: 14 (a) Shall, in considering an application pursuant to this 15 subsection, make a recommendation to the Director regarding the 16 application; 17 (b) May, in considering an application pursuant to this 18 subsection, deny an application only if the board of county 19 commissioners determines, based on relevant information, that: 20 (1) The projected cost of the services that the local 21 government is required to provide to the facility will exceed the 22 amount of tax revenue that the local government is projected to 23 receive as a result of the abatement; or 24 (2) The projected financial benefits that will result to the 25 county from the employment by the facility of the residents of this 26 State and from capital investments by the facility in the county will 27 not exceed the projected loss of tax revenue that will result from the 28 abatement; 29 (c) Must not condition the approval of the application on a 30 requirement that the facility agree to purchase, lease or otherwise 31 acquire in its own name or on behalf of the county any 32 infrastructure, equipment, facilities or other property in the county 33 that is not directly related to or otherwise necessary for the 34 construction and operation of the facility; and 35 (d) May, without regard to whether the board has provided 36 notice to the Director of its intent to consider the application, make a 37 recommendation to the Director regarding the application. 38  If the board of county commissioners does not approve or deny 39 the application within 30 days after the board receives from the 40 Director a copy of the application, the application shall be deemed 41 approved. 42 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1, the Director, 43 in consultation with the Office of Economic Development, may, if 44 – 6 – - *SB355* the Director, in consultation with the Office, determines that such 1 action is necessary: 2 (a) Approve an application for a partial abatement for a facility 3 that does not meet any requirement set forth in subparagraph (1) or 4 (2) of paragraph (d) of subsection 1 or subparagraph (1) or (2) of 5 paragraph (e) of subsection 1; or 6 (b) Add additional requirements that a facility must meet to 7 qualify for a partial abatement. 8 4. The provisions of paragraphs (f) and (g) of subsection 1 9 and subsection 2 do not apply to an application if, for the duration 10 of the abatement, not less than 36 percent of the total area of the 11 facility will be devoted to agrivoltaics, ecovoltaics or both 12 agrivoltaics and ecovoltaics. 13 5. The Director shall cooperate with the Office of Economic 14 Development in carrying out the provisions of this section. 15 [5.] 6. The Director shall [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]