Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	December 12, 2018 03:28 PM
From:	Senator Mario M. Scavello
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) Changes

In the near future, I intend to introduce two pieces of legislation, similar to Senate Bill 1238 of 2017-18 Legislative Session, to amend the Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) Act as it relates to the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Act.

Similar legislation specific to Philadelphia was passed unanimously out of the House and Senate in 2016. Act 32 of 2016 amended the law governing NID’s in Philadelphia known as the Community and Economic Improvement (CEI) Act. This legislation would apply the same changes made in the CEI statewide.

These two pieces of legislation would amend the TIF Act and the NID Act to harmonize and streamline the relationship between the NID Act and the TIF Act, as the municipal finance lending community increasingly expects elements from each Act to secure the same transactions. The changes are limited to circumstances where a NID overlaps with a TIF District, and are administrative in nature.

Specifically, the legislation does the following:

Coordinates definitions of the District boundaries between TIF and NID acts;
Enables the same authority to issue debt under both acts and use certain NID revenues to service TIF debt;
Enables the same authority to administer the district under both acts;
Eliminates the requirement for separate plans when the acts are used in conjunction;
Rationalizes provisions of the NID Act with debt-service requirements of TIF lenders;
Increases the threshold for TIF from 20 years up to 30 years if a municipality sees the benefit in doing so; and
Provides consistency in eligible uses of funds between the acts.

This legislation reconciles inconsistent definitions and procedures between the two acts, which will make the process more efficient. Approval will facilitate financing of a TIF by putting it on even footing with other states, where the TIF and NID laws are written to work together so that assessments under the NID can be used to support financing within a TIF District.

The passage of this two-bill package will further strengthen the Commonwealth’s commitment to economic growth and provide municipalities with additional tools to incentivize economic growth, create jobs and revitalize economically-depressed areas.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. If you have any questions regarding this legislation, please contact Christine Zubeck in my office at 717-787-6123 or czubeck@pasen.gov.

Document #1

Introduced as SB804

Description:	Amending the Neighborhood Improvement District Act, further providing for changes to harmonize and streamline the relationship between NID and TIF,

Document #2

Description:	Amending the Tax Increment Financing Act, increasing the threshold for TIF from 20 years up to 30 years.