House File 2444 - Introduced



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  WHITEAD, WENDT, THOMAS,
                                           and HOFFMAN


    Passed House, Date               Passed Senate,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to targeted jobs withholding credit agreements
  2    for certain pilot project cities located in border counties.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 5877YH 82
  5 tw/sc/14

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 403.19A, subsection 1, unnumbered
  1  2 paragraph 1, Code Supplement 2007, is amended to read as
  1  3 follows:
  1  4    For purposes of this section subchapter, unless the context
  1  5 otherwise requires:
  1  6    Sec. 2.  Section 403.19A, subsection 1, paragraphs c and f,
  1  7 Code Supplement 2007, are amended to read as follows:
  1  8    c.  "Employer" means a business creating targeted jobs in
  1  9 an urban renewal area of a pilot project city pursuant to a
  1 10 withholding agreement.
  1 11    f.  "Targeted job" means a job in a business which is or
  1 12 will be located in an urban renewal area of a pilot project
  1 13 city that pays a wage at least equal to the countywide average
  1 14 wage.  "Targeted job" includes new jobs from Iowa business
  1 15 expansions or retentions within the city limits of the pilot
  1 16 project city and those jobs resulting from established
  1 17 out=of=state businesses, as defined by the department of
  1 18 economic development, moving to or expanding in Iowa.
  1 19    Sec. 3.  Section 403.19A, subsection 3, paragraphs a and b,
  1 20 Code Supplement 2007, are amended to read as follows:
  1 21    a.  A pilot project city may provide by ordinance for the
  1 22 deposit into a designated account in the special fund
  1 23 described in section 403.19, subsection 2, of the targeted
  1 24 jobs withholding credit described in this section subchapter
  1 25 into a fund established for that purpose.  The targeted jobs
  1 26 withholding credit shall be based upon the wages paid to
  1 27 employees pursuant to a withholding agreement.
  1 28    b.  An amount equal to three percent of the gross wages
  1 29 paid by an employer to each employee under a withholding
  1 30 agreement shall be credited from the payment made by the
  1 31 employer pursuant to section 422.16.  If the amount of the
  1 32 withholding by the employer is less than three percent of the
  1 33 gross wages paid to the employees covered by the withholding
  1 34 agreement, the employer shall receive a credit against other
  1 35 withholding taxes due by the employer or may carry the credit
  2  1 forward for up to ten years or until depleted, whichever is
  2  2 the earlier.  The employer shall remit the amount of the
  2  3 credit quarterly, in the same manner as withholding payments
  2  4 are reported to the department of revenue, to the pilot
  2  5 project city to be allocated to and when collected paid into a
  2  6 designated account in the special fund for the urban renewal
  2  7 area in which the targeted jobs are located established in
  2  8 paragraph "a".  All amounts so deposited shall be used or
  2  9 pledged by the pilot project city for an urban renewal a
  2 10 project related to the employer pursuant to the withholding
  2 11 agreement.
  2 12    Sec. 4.  Section 403.19A, subsection 3, paragraph c,
  2 13 subparagraph (1), Code Supplement 2007, is amended to read as
  2 14 follows:
  2 15    (1)  The pilot project city shall enter into a withholding
  2 16 agreement with each employer concerning the targeted jobs
  2 17 withholding credit.  However, an agreement shall not be
  2 18 entered into by a pilot project city with a business currently
  2 19 located in this state unless the business either creates ten
  2 20 new jobs or makes a qualifying investment of at least five
  2 21 hundred thousand dollars within the urban renewal area in the
  2 22 pilot project city.  The withholding agreement may have a term
  2 23 of up to ten years.  An employer shall not be obligated to
  2 24 enter into a withholding agreement.
  2 25    Sec. 5.  Section 403.19A, subsection 3, paragraph j, Code
  2 26 Supplement 2007, is amended to read as follows:
  2 27    j.  A pilot project city that enters into a withholding
  2 28 agreement shall arrange for a match of at least one dollar for
  2 29 each withholding credit dollar received by the city.  The
  2 30 local match may come from the pilot project city, a private
  2 31 donor, or the business, or a combination of all three.  The
  2 32 local match may be in cash or in kind to be used for the
  2 33 business project.  If the business is located in an urban
  2 34 renewal area, the pilot project city may use revenues from the
  2 35 special fund created in section 403.19, subsection 2, if the
  3  1 project related to the employer meets the definition of urban
  3  2 renewal project in section 403.17, subsection 25.
  3  3    Sec. 6.  CODE EDITOR DIRECTIVE.  The Code editor is
  3  4 directed to transfer section 403.19A, as amended in this Act,
  3  5 to become new section 403.25 and to correct any internal
  3  6 references as necessary.
  3  7                           EXPLANATION
  3  8    This bill relates to the withholding agreement tax credits
  3  9 pilot program by providing that employers who have entered
  3 10 into a withholding agreement no longer have to be located in
  3 11 an urban renewal area.  Instead they are only required to be
  3 12 in a pilot project city.
  3 13    The bill also provides that the amount of the withholding
  3 14 credits is to be deposited in a fund of the city established
  3 15 for that purpose rather than into the special fund created for
  3 16 urban renewal purposes.
  3 17    The bill provides that a pilot project city may use tax
  3 18 increment financing funds from the special fund created in
  3 19 Code section 403.19 as matching funds, provided the project
  3 20 meets the definition of an urban renewal project.
  3 21    The bill directs the Code editor to transfer Code section
  3 22 403.19A, as amended in the bill, to new Code section 403.25.
  3 23 LSB 5877YH 82
  3 24 tw/sc/14