NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A777
SPONSOR: Carroll TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to providing a
tax abatement for facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The bill would establish a property tax abatement in cities with popu-
lations of one million or more to incentivize investment in building-
integrated technologies that remove, capture and/or utilize carbon or
carbon dioxide in processes that result in a net reduction of emissions
produced at buildings.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill amends Article 4 of the New York real property tax law by
adding a new Title 3-A: CARBON-TO-VALUE TAX ABATEMENT FOR CERTAIN PROP-
ERTIES IN A CITY OF ONE MILLION OR MORE PERSONS.
The bill sets forth definitions providing information related to policy
and rules formulation including: 1.the technical categories that consti-
tute different forms of "Carbon'-to-value" technologies that will be
eligible for the property tax abatement; 2. The property tax abatement
compliance period of four to eight years, and the maximum percentage of
eligible expenditures (20%) and/or tax dollar values that can be claimed
by project applicants in a given tax year ($100,000) and during the
entire compliance period ($800,000); and 3. the extensive authorities
and powers granted to the City of New York and designated agencies to
formulate and implement rules related to property tax abatement eligi-
bility, application procedures, and monitoring, over- sight and enforce-
ment.
The bill stipulates that 1.the property tax abatement will be eligible
for technologies placed in service between January 1, 2023 and January
1, 2028; and 2. That the annual property tax abatement amount will be
equal to the lesser of 5% of the total eligible expenditures, the amount
of property taxes payable in such tax year, or $100,000.
The bill stipulates the guidelines and rules of the property tax abate-
ment application process, including: 1. The application deadline; 2.
Required project information that must be included in complete form in
the application; 3. Certification of the project's compliance with local
building, electrical, fire and other relevant codes and standards.
The bill stipulates that eligibility to claim the property tax abatement
is conditioned on the project's continuous compliance with local codes
and standards during the property tax abatement compliance period.
The bill sets forth conditions and guidelines for property tax abatement
revocation by the Department of Finance in the event of project noncom-
pliance as well as the powers and authority of the Department of Finance
to formulate, implement and modify all rules and processes related to
the property tax abatement application, rules, revocation conditions,
and any other necessary functions.
The bill states that any prior taxes required to be paid by a property
tax abatement applicant shall constitute a tax lien as of the date it is
determined such taxes and interest are owed.
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent years New York City and New York State have made bold statuto-
ry commitments to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions over the next three
decades. Direct emissions reductions in key economic sectors through
efficiency, and transitioning to zero and low carbon energy sources and
technologies will account for the majority of progress made towards
these ambitious, legally mandated targets. In the dense urban context of
New York City, buildings account for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions. As
a consequence, local climate protection laws focus significantly on
strategies to reduce emissions at the building scale.
In addition to energy efficiency, electrification, renewable energy
substitution and climate effective design and planning, the rapidly
emerging carbontech (or carbon-to-value) sector represents a promising
new means of ensuring that City and State emission goals are successful-
ly met. Carbontech refers to a spectrum of technologies that remove CO2
from the air, capture it at point sources, and/or sequester it in goods
or in the geosphere.
This evolving industry is now delivering a growing number of solutions
that can reduce emissions at the building scale within cities like New
York. For those industrial and commercial segments of the local building
stock that will prove most difficult to fully reduce the emissions of in
compliance with mandated targets, carbontech solutions are creating
additional compliance options for building owners, and supplemental
pathways for overall emissions reduction success.
The property tax abatement proposed with this legislation will stimulate
demand for building-integrated carbontech applications, increasing the
financial performance of such investments and adoption by building
owners. The legislation builds on the success precedents established by
earlier legislation that introduced property tax abatements in New York
City for solar electric technology, battery storage systems, and green
roofs.
As law this legislation will advance New York's strategic efforts to
attract carbontech businesses to the city and state. With recent invest-
ments by the State Executive in carbontech research & development and
commercialization, combined with the state's world class advanced tech-
nology industries and infrastructure, and the market drivers created by
both the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the New
York City Climate Mobilization Ac, New York City is well positioned to
become a global economic hub for this future one trillion dollar indus-
try. Establishing a demand-side incentive in the form of a property tax
abatement will make New York City the strongest market for building-
integrated carbontech solutions in the world, and consequently will
attract new businesses and jobs to the city.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.8887/S.8252 of 2021-22
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
The act would go into effect immediately upon becoming law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
777
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL, SIMON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Real Property Taxation
AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to providing a
tax abatement for facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 4 of the real property tax law is amended by adding
2 a new title 3-A to read as follows:
3 TITLE 3-A
4 CARBON-TO-VALUE TAX ABATEMENT FOR CERTAIN PROPERTIES IN A CITY OF
5 ONE MILLION OR MORE PERSONS
6 Section 498. Definitions.
7 498-a. Tax abatement terms and amounts.
8 498-b. Tax abatement application guidelines and rules.
9 498-c. Tax abatement continuing requirements.
10 498-d. Tax abatement revocation rules.
11 498-e. Tax abatement enforcement and administration.
12 498-f. Tax lien and interest rules.
13 § 498. Definitions. When used in this title:
14 1. "Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions" shall refer to the release
15 of heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere as a
16 result of human activities.
17 2. "Application for tax abatement" shall mean an application for a
18 facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment tax abatement pursuant to
19 section four hundred ninety-eight-b of this title.
20 3. "Carbon dioxide beneficial use" shall refer to a practice that
21 involves the utilization of carbon dioxide in a process to manufacture a
22 product or operate equipment that: (a) results in a net reduction in
23 operational and/or embodied carbon dioxide at a facility or property;
24 and (b) is verified by a life cycle assessment in compliance with Inter-
25 national Standard ISO 14040.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01156-01-3
A. 777 2
1 4. "Carbon dioxide capture" shall refer to the process of capturing
2 carbon dioxide at emissions point sources located at facilities and
3 buildings.
4 5. "Carbon dioxide removal" shall refer to the process of removing
5 carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
6 6. "Carbon dioxide storage" shall refer to the process of chemically
7 and/or physically sequestering carbon dioxide emissions from post-indus-
8 trial or atmospheric sources in materials, products or geological forma-
9 tions for periods of time equal to or greater than one hundred years.
10 7. "Compliance period" shall mean the tax year in which a tax abate-
11 ment commences and the three tax years immediately thereafter. For
12 eligible carbon-to-value applications placed in service at eligible
13 buildings for which annual property tax liability for the eligible
14 building is less than one hundred thousand dollars, and for which five
15 percent of the eligible carbon-to-value equipment expenditures exceeds
16 one hundred thousand dollars, the compliance period shall be extended to
17 a maximum of eight tax years to allow eligible building owners to avail
18 a tax abatement equal to the lesser of twenty percent of eligible
19 carbon-to-value equipment expenditures, or eight hundred thousand
20 dollars.
21 8. "Designated agency" shall mean one or more agencies or departments
22 of a city having a population of one million or more persons that are
23 designated by the mayor of such city to exercise the functions, powers
24 and duties of a designated agency pursuant to this title, including
25 certification of eligible carbon-to-value equipment, applications and
26 buildings.
27 9. "Eligible carbon-to-value application" shall mean the application
28 of carbon-to-value equipment at facilities for the purposes of mitigat-
29 ing carbon dioxide emissions that are: (a) generated as a result of the
30 operation of that facility; and/or (b) the manufacture of materials that
31 are prepared or produced at that facility, by technologies that remove,
32 capture and/or beneficially use carbon dioxide, resulting in a net
33 reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
34 10. "Eligible building" shall mean class four real property located
35 within a city having a population of one million or more persons. Desig-
36 nated agencies shall be empowered to exclude property tax abatement
37 eligibility of certain building types on the basis of carbon dioxide
38 emissions reduction and/or environmental justice considerations if the
39 latter are determined to contradict the intent of existing local laws
40 that have been established to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of
41 such buildings. No building shall be eligible for the property tax
42 abatement, under this provision, if the designated agencies empowered to
43 administer such abatement, deem that such building has not exhausted
44 other viable methods to reduce the building's carbon emissions in align-
45 ment with rules, objectives and programs established pursuant to exist-
46 ing local laws. No building shall be eligible for more than one tax
47 abatement pursuant to this title.
48 11. "Eligible carbon-to-value equipment expenditures" shall mean
49 reasonable expenditures for materials, labor costs properly allocable to
50 on-site preparation, assembly and original installation, architectural
51 and engineering services, and designs and plans directly related to the
52 construction or installation of carbon-to-value equipment installed in
53 connection with an eligible building. Such eligible expenditures shall
54 not include interest or other finance charges, or any expenditures
55 incurred using a federal, state or local grant.
A. 777 3
1 12. "Environmental justice areas" shall mean low-income communities or
2 minority communities located in a city of one million or more persons
3 that have been designated and defined pursuant to local law based on
4 United States census data.
5 13. "Facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment" refers to technol-
6 ogies placed in service at buildings within a city of one million or
7 more persons that remove carbon dioxide from the ambient air, capture
8 carbon dioxide from emissions point sources located at the property,
9 and/or utilize carbon dioxide in the production of goods and materials.
10 Qualified carbon-to-value equipment must perform functions that result
11 either in verifiable carbon dioxide removal and storage or constitute a
12 verifiable carbon dioxide beneficial use that results in reduced or
13 avoided carbon dioxide emissions.
14 § 498-a. Tax abatement terms and amounts. 1. If the facility-integrat-
15 ed carbon-to-value equipment is placed in service on or after January
16 first, two thousand twenty-three, and not after December thirty-first,
17 two thousand twenty-eight, for each year of the compliance period such
18 tax abatement shall be the lesser of: (a) five percent of eligible
19 facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment expenditures; (b) the
20 amount of taxes payable in such tax year; or (c) one hundred thousand
21 dollars.
22 2. For facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment that captures
23 carbon dioxide from boiler systems that combust fossil-based hydrocarbon
24 fuels eligibility for the property tax abatement shall be restricted to
25 properties that meet the following conditions:
26 (a) Boiler systems that are located at the property were placed in
27 service between January first, two thousand fifteen and April twenty-
28 second, two thousand twenty.
29 (b) The carbon dioxide captured at the property by the proposed
30 carbon-to-value application shall:
31 (i) be utilized subsequent to capture within the physical jurisdiction
32 of the city with a population of one million or more people; and
33 (ii) result in the storage of carbon dioxide in materials for periods
34 of no less than one hundred years in duration.
35 (c) The carbon-to-value application at the property shall demonstrate
36 net carbon dioxide reductions as verified by a life cycle assessment in
37 compliance with International Standard ISO 14040.
38 (d) The equipment shall not be located at buildings located within
39 designated environmental justice areas as defined by a city of one
40 million or more persons pursuant to local law.
41 § 498-b. Tax abatement application guidelines and rules. 1. To obtain
42 a tax abatement pursuant to this title, an applicant must file an appli-
43 cation for tax abatement, which may be filed on or after January first,
44 two thousand twenty-four, and on or before March fifteenth, two thousand
45 twenty-nine.
46 2. Such an application shall contain the following:
47 (a) The name and address of the applicant and the location of the
48 facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment.
49 (b) The type of facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment.
50 (c) A description of the specific utilization or utilizations of the
51 carbon dioxide that will be removed or captured by the facility-inte-
52 grated carbon-to-value equipment.
53 (d) Proof that the applicant received all required certifications,
54 permits and other approvals to construct the facility-integrated
55 carbon-to-value equipment.
A. 777 4
1 (e) Certifications in a form prescribed by a designated agency, from
2 an architect, engineer or other certified or licensed professional whom
3 a designated agency designates by rule, that: (i) a facility-integrated
4 carbon-to-value equipment has been placed in service in connection with
5 an eligible building in accordance with this title, the rules promulgat-
6 ed hereunder, and local construction and fire codes; and (ii) if deemed
7 applicable by a designated agency, the facility-integrated carbon-to-va-
8 lue equipment has been placed on the roof of a building or other struc-
9 ture, that a structural analysis has been performed establishing that
10 such building or structure can sustain the load of such facility-inte-
11 grated carbon-to-value equipment. All certifications required by this
12 title or the rules promulgated hereunder shall set forth the specific
13 findings upon which the certification is based, and shall include infor-
14 mation sufficient to identify the eligible building, the certifying
15 engineer, architect or other professional, and such other information as
16 may be prescribed by a designated agency.
17 (f) If deemed applicable, an agreement to permit a designated agency
18 or its designee to inspect the facility-integrated carbon-to-value
19 equipment and any related structures and equipment upon reasonable
20 notice.
21 (g) Any other information or certifications required by a designated
22 agency pursuant to this title and the rules promulgated hereunder.
23 § 498-c. Tax abatement continuing requirements. The tax abatement
24 shall be conditioned upon:
25 1. continuing compliance during the compliance period with all appli-
26 cable provisions of law, including without limitation the local
27 construction and fire codes, maintaining the facility-integrated
28 carbon-to-value equipment in such a manner that it continuously consti-
29 tutes a facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment within the meaning
30 of this title and the rules promulgated hereunder, and permitting a
31 designated agency or its designee to inspect the facility-integrated
32 carbon-to-value equipment and any related structures and equipment upon
33 reasonable notice; and
34 2. property taxes, water and sewer charges, payments in lieu of taxes
35 or other municipal charges with respect to an eligible building not
36 having been due and owing during the compliance period for a period of
37 six months or more.
38 § 498-d. Tax abatement revocation rules. 1. The department of taxation
39 and finance shall revoke, in whole or in part, any tax abatement granted
40 pursuant to this title whenever a designated agency has determined and
41 notified the department of taxation and finance that:
42 (a) an applicant has failed to comply with a requirement of this title
43 or any rule promulgated hereunder at any time during the compliance
44 period including, but not limited to, any of the continuing requirements
45 set forth in subdivision one of section four hundred ninety-nine-c of
46 this title;
47 (b) an eligible building has not been in compliance at any time during
48 the compliance period with a requirement of this title or any rule
49 promulgated hereunder;
50 (c) the facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment for which a tax
51 abatement was granted has at any time during the compliance period
52 failed to meet any requirement for a facility-integrated carbon-to-value
53 equipment pursuant to this title or any rule promulgated hereunder;
54 (d) facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment has become a fire or
55 safety hazard at any time during the compliance period; or
A. 777 5
1 (e) an application, certification, report or other document submitted
2 by the applicant contains a false or misleading statement as to a mate-
3 rial fact or omits to state any material fact necessary in order to make
4 the statement therein not false or misleading.
5 2. The department of taxation and finance may revoke, in whole or in
6 part, any tax abatement granted pursuant to this title whenever it has
7 determined that an applicant has failed to comply with the continuing
8 requirements set forth in section four hundred ninety-nine-c of this
9 title.
10 3. Where it has been determined by a designated agency, after notice
11 and an opportunity to be heard, that any of the provisions of subdivi-
12 sion one of this section have not been complied with, such designated
13 agency shall notify the department of taxation and finance no later than
14 the ninetieth day after the last day of the compliance period.
15 4. An applicant shall pay, with interest, such part of any tax abate-
16 ment received pursuant to this title that represents the period of non-
17 compliance as determined by the designated agency or the department of
18 taxation and finance. In addition, a designated agency may declare any
19 applicant ineligible for future tax abatement pursuant to this title if
20 any application, certification, report or other document submitted by
21 the applicant contains a false or misleading statement as to a material
22 fact or omits to state any material fact necessary in order to make the
23 statement therein not false or misleading.
24 § 498-e. Tax abatement enforcement and administration. 1. The depart-
25 ment of taxation and finance shall have, in addition to any other func-
26 tions, powers and duties that have been or may be conferred on it by
27 law, the following functions, powers and duties to be exercised in
28 accordance with this title:
29 (a) to apply a tax abatement;
30 (b) to revoke all or part of any such tax abatement;
31 (c) to make and promulgate rules to carry out the purposes of this
32 title; and
33 (d) any other function, power or duty necessarily implied by this
34 title.
35 2. A designated agency shall have, in addition to any other functions,
36 powers and duties that have been or may be conferred on it by law, the
37 following functions, powers and duties to be exercised in accordance
38 with this title:
39 (a) to receive, review, approve and deny applications for tax abate-
40 ment;
41 (b) to inspect facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment and any
42 related structures and equipment;
43 (c) to establish permit or certification requirements to determine
44 when the facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment has been placed
45 in service, such as certification by an architect, engineer or other
46 certified or licensed professional whom a designated agency designates
47 by rule;
48 (d) to establish guidance and procedures for determining or certifying
49 eligible facility-integrated carbon-to-value equipment expenditures;
50 (e) to prescribe forms and make and promulgate rules to carry out the
51 purposes of this title;
52 (f) to make the determinations provided for in this title and to noti-
53 fy the department of taxation and finance of such determinations; and
54 (g) any other function, power or duty necessarily implied by this
55 title.
A. 777 6
1 3. If a designated agency determines that an architect or engineer or
2 other certified or licensed professional whom a designated agency desig-
3 nates by rule, in making any certification under this title or any rule
4 promulgated hereunder, engaged in professional misconduct, then such
5 agency shall so inform the education department or other appropriate
6 certifying or licensing authority.
7 4. A designated agency may provide for reasonable administrative
8 charges or fees necessary to defray expenses of administering the tax
9 abatement program established by this title.
10 5. A designated agency and the department of taxation and finance
11 shall establish procedures that are necessary or appropriate for: (a)
12 the timely notification to the department of taxation and finance by a
13 designated agency of an approval of an application for tax abatement or
14 of any noncompliance pursuant to section four hundred ninety-nine-d of
15 this title; and (b) any other interagency coordination to facilitate the
16 purposes of this title.
17 § 498-f. Tax lien and interest rules. All taxes, with interest,
18 required to be paid retroactively pursuant to this title shall consti-
19 tute a tax lien as of the date it is determined such taxes and interest
20 are owed. All interest shall be calculated from the date the taxes would
21 have been due but for the tax abatement granted pursuant to this title
22 at the applicable rate or rates of interest imposed generally for non-
23 payment of real property tax with respect to the eligible building for
24 the period in question.
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
