Louisiana Payments in Lieu of Property Taxes Option Amendment (October 2019)

Louisiana Payments in Lieu of Property Taxes Option Amendment
Election date October 12, 2019
Topic Taxes and Property
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Louisiana measuresLouisiana Amendment 1Louisiana Amendment 2Louisiana Amendment 3Louisiana Amendment 4Submit

The Louisiana Payments in Lieu of Property Taxes Option Amendment was not on the ballot in Louisiana as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on October 12, 2019.

This amendment would have done the following:

• authorized an exemption from ad valorem property taxes for certain property when the owner of the property enters into a cooperative endeavor agreement with a taxing authority to make payments to the taxing authority instead of paying property taxes, according to details established by law and the specific agreements;
  • the exemption could have only been applied to new manufacturing establishments or additions to existing manufacturing establishments;
• required any law implementing this amendment to be approved by a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in each chamber of the state legislature; and
• required that information about the properties to which this exemption is applied be added to tax assessment rolls and provided to the Louisiana Tax Commission.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title would have been:

“

Do you support an amendment to authorize a property tax exemption for property that is subject to an agreement with local government, as provided by law, allowing the property owner to make payments instead of paying property taxes and to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to enact laws in this regard? (Adds Article VII, Section 21(O))

”

Full text

The full text is available here.

Background

Cooperative endeavor agreement

A cooperative endeavor agreement was an agreement that meets the following conditions, according to a memo by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor:

“

1. The expenditure or transfer must be for a public purpose that comports with the governmental purpose which the entity has legal authority to pursue; 2. The expenditure or transfer of public funds or property, taken as a whole, does not appear to be gratuitous; and 3. Evidence must demonstrate that the public entity has a demonstrable, objective, and reasonable expectation of receiving a benefit or value at least equivalent to the amount expended or transferred.

”

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Louisiana Constitution

In Louisiana, a two-thirds vote is needed in each chamber of the Louisiana State Legislature to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot for voter consideration.

Rep. Mark Abraham (R) (R-36) introduced the constitutional amendment as House Bill 76 (HB 76) on March 28, 2019. On May 28, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved the constitutional amendment, with 70 representatives supporting the amendment, 28 representatives opposing the amendment, and seven members absent or not voting. At least 70 votes were needed to pass HB 76.

Vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives May 28, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 70  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	70	28	7
Total percent	66.66%	26.66%	6.66%
Democrat	21	14	4
Republican	47	12	3
Independent	2	2	0

See also

2019 measures

• 2019 ballot measures
• Taxes on the ballot
• Property on the ballot

Louisiana

• Louisiana ballot measures
• Louisiana ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Louisiana House Bill 76 (2019)