House File 2295 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2295 BY ISENHART , H. MILLER , GAINES , and ABDUL-SAMAD A BILL FOR An Act providing a property tax exemption for land used to 1 produce food within the limits of a city. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5678YH (5) 85 da/sc

H.F. 2295 Section 1. Section 427.1, Code 2014, is amended by adding 1 the following new subsection: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 25. Urban farm. Property certified as an 3 urban farm by a city in compliance with this subsection. 4 a. The city council must adopt an ordinance providing for 5 terms and conditions of the exemption. 6 b. The property must be owned by a nonprofit entity as 7 defined in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or 8 must be leased by another person to such a nonprofit entity. 9 The lease must be for at least five consecutive assessment 10 years. The lease may be made on a cash rent basis or crop-share 11 basis. A lease may be renewed or extended. 12 c. The property must be located within the corporate limits 13 of the city. 14 d. The nonprofit entity must use the property as an urban 15 farm to produce food suitable for human consumption. The food 16 may be further processed or packaged prior to distribution as 17 provided in this subsection. 18 e. The food must be distributed to a food bank or emergency 19 feeding organization recognized by the department of revenue. 20 The food bank or emergency feeding organization must distribute 21 the food within the corporate limits of the city. 22 f. The city must certify that the property is an urban 23 farm. The city must send a copy of the certification to 24 the appropriate assessor not later than February 1 of the 25 assessment year for which the exemption is requested. The city 26 may subsequently withdraw certification of the property if it 27 is not used as an urban farm and the assessor shall be given 28 written notice of the decertification. 29 g. The exemption granted under the provisions of this 30 subsection shall apply until the property is decertified or the 31 lease expires, whichever occurs earlier. 32 h. An ordinance adopted under this subsection may provide 33 that upon decertification, all taxes that would have been 34 levied for the period of time the exemption was in effect 35 -1- LSB 5678YH (5) 85 da/sc 1/ 2

H.F. 2295 under this subsection shall be immediately entered against 1 the property on the tax list for the current year and shall 2 constitute a lien against the property in the same manner as 3 a lien for property taxes. The tax when collected shall be 4 apportioned in the same manner provided for the apportionment 5 of the property taxes for the applicable tax year. 6 EXPLANATION 7 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 8 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 9 This bill provides a property tax exemption for property 10 located within a city and certified as an urban farm by a 11 city council pursuant to an ordinance. The property must be 12 owned by or leased to a nonprofit entity which must use the 13 property to produce food for distribution to a food bank or 14 emergency feeding organization recognized by the department 15 of revenue. A lease must be for at least five years and the 16 exemption applies until the lease expires or until the property 17 is decertified. A lease may be renewed or extended. The 18 ordinance may provide that upon decertification, the exemption 19 is disallowed and the amount of the property taxes must be 20 entered against the property on the tax list for the current 21 year. 22 -2- LSB 5678YH (5) 85 da/sc 2/ 2