Louisiana Tax Exemptions for Capital Investment Projects and Non-residential Immovable Property Amendment (2020)

Louisiana Tax Exemptions for Capital Investment Projects and Non-residential Immovable Property Amendment
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Taxes
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
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The Louisiana Tax Exemptions for Capital Investment Projects and Non-residential Immovable Property Amendment was not on the ballot in Louisiana as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

This amendment would have established ad valorem property tax exemptions for certain capital investment projects and non-residential immovable property that are under cooperative endeavor agreements and required laws passed to administer exemptions receive a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in both chambers of the state legislature.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title would have been as follows:

“

Do you support an amendment to authorize property tax exemptions for capital investment projects, to provide for the approval, terms, and amounts of the exemptions, and to authorize the legislature to provide for the administration of the exemptions by law and to grant a property tax exemption for non-residential property subject to a cooperative endeavor agreement with local taxing authorities allowing the property owner to make payments in place of property taxes and to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to enact laws related to the exemption? (Amends Article VII, Section 21(F); 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. Barry Ivey (R) introduced the constitutional amendment as House Bill 41 on June 5, 2020. On June 23, 2020, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved the constitutional amendment in a vote of 70-18 with 16 representatives absent or not voting and one vacancy. HB 41 did not receive a vote by the state Senate before the special session adjourned on June 30.

Vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives June 23, 2020
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	18	16
Total percent	67.31%	17.31%	15.38%
Democrat	10	12	13
Republican	59	5	2
Independent	1	1	1

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Taxes 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 41 (2020)