Signed by Governor Terry Branstad

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that regulates tax increment financing (TIF) in local municipalities.

Highlights:

• Requires each board of trustees that has provided for a division of revenue in the rural improvement zone during the most recently ended fiscal year to file a report with the Department of Management on tax increment financing by December 1 following the end of that fiscal year (Sec. 9).

• Requires each local government that had an urban renewal plan and area in effect at any time during the most recently ended fiscal year to file a report with the Department of Management by December 1 following the end of that fiscal year (Sec. 12).

• Requires the reports on an urban renewal plan or area in effect to include certain details including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 12):
• The type of area:
• A slum area;
• A blighted area;
• An economic development area; or
• A combination of those areas;
• The map clearly identifying the boundaries of the area;
• The types of expenditures and amounts that remain unpaid:
• Specific loans;
• Advances;
• Indebtedness; or
• Bonds;
• The copy of the ordinance providing for a division of revenue in the urban renewal zone; and
• The total amount of property taxes that were exempted, rebated, refunded, or reimbursed by the city.

• Requires all reports on tax increment financing, urban renewal plans, and urban renewal areas in effect to be made publically available online through a searchable database by the Department of Management in collaboration with the Legislative Services Agency by December 1, 2012 (Sec. 9).

• Prohibits tax increment financing from being used for an urban renewal project that involves the relocation of a commercial or industrial enterprise that is not already in the municipality, unless the following applies (Sec. 19):
• The local government where the enterprise is currently located and the local government where the enterprise is proposing to relocate has approved the relocation in writing; or
• The local government where the enterprise plans to relocate can show that the relocation is in the public interest.

Full Bill Text