Senate Bill No. 483
(By Senator Helmick)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-l,
relating to providing a corporate net income tax credit for
utility projects that provide economic development
opportunities in a depressed area or environmental
remediation in a distressed area of the state.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-l, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 13L. TAX CREDIT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OR
ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION.
§11-13L-1. Credit for economic development opportunities in adepressed area or environmental remediation in a distressed area.
(a) For the purposes of this section, "company" means any
person, corporation or other entity that is engaged in the active
conduct of a trade or business in this state; who is subject to
taxation under the provisions of article twenty-four of this
chapter; and who is subject to regulation by the public service
commission.
(b) A credit against the taxes imposed by article twenty- four of this chapter is allowed for any company that develops a
project that:
(1) Provides environmental remediation, as determined by the
director of the division of environmental protection, in an area
of the state that is distressed, as determined by the
commissioner of the bureau of environment; or
(2) Provides economic development in an area of the state
that is an economically disadvantaged area as defined in section
three, article thirteen-j of this chapter; and
(3) Has the potential to reduce government spending in that
area of the state and offset the cost of the tax incentive
provided by this section; and
(4) Has or acquires a long-term contractual obligation to
purchase the output of the project.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the purchase power agreement of any company who's project meets the requirements of
subsection (b) of this section shall be deemed prudent by the
commissioner of the public service commission.
(d) The credit is determined by calculating the difference
between the current contractual cost of the power coming from the
project and the current avoided cost for the company defined as
the most recent cost of its purchased power agreement or the
weighted average cost of purchased power agreements in effect for
that specific year, whichever is lower.
If the amount of the credit exceeds the company's tax
liability for the taxable year, the amount which exceeds the tax
liability may be carried over and applied as a credit against the
tax liability of the company pursuant to article twenty-four of
this chapter for the next taxable year, and any subsequent
taxable year until the total amount of the credit is used.
(e) Upon qualification of a project for the credit provided
by this section, a company may not thereafter be denied the
credit, and no future action by the state may alter or void the
company's eligibility for the credit.
(f) Any credit earned under this section shall be determined
by the public service commission as an offset against the
purchased power agreement and not as a reduction in the
calculation of the revenue requirement.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a corporate
net income tax credit for utility projects that provide economic
development opportunities in depressed areas or environmental
remediation in distressed areas.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.