HLS 19RS-1049 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 206
BY REPRESENTATIVE GLOVER
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Provides relative to opportunity zones
1 A RESOLUTION
2To urge and request Governor John Bel Edwards and Louisiana Economic Development to
3 reconsider nominating Louisiana Census Tract 217 as a qualified opportunity zone;
4 the Louisiana congressional delegation to consider offering legislation to amend the
5 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; and the United States Department of the Treasury
6 and the Internal Revenue Service to amend 26 U.S.C. Subchapter Z to allow for
7 additional qualified opportunity zones.
8 WHEREAS, the opportunity zones incentive is a new community investment tool
9established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; and
10 WHEREAS, opportunity zones were created to encourage long-term investments in
11low-income urban and rural communities nationwide by providing a tax incentive for
12investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into dedicated qualified opportunity
13funds; and
14 WHEREAS, qualified opportunity zones are low-income census tracts nominated by
15governors and certified by the United States Department of the Treasury; and
16 WHEREAS, qualified opportunity zones retain the designation for ten years; and
17 WHEREAS, investors can defer tax on any prior gains until no later than December
1831, 2026, as long as the gain is reinvested in a qualified opportunity fund, an investment
19vehicle organized to make investments in qualified opportunity zones; and
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HR NO. 206
1 WHEREAS, if an investor holds an investment in the qualified opportunity fund for
2at least ten years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in its basis equal to the fair
3market value of the investment on the date that it is sold; and
4 WHEREAS, seven census tracts in the Shreveport/Bossier area were designated as
5qualified opportunity zones; and
6 WHEREAS, Louisiana Census Tract 217 consists of Ochsner LSU Health
7Shreveport, University Health, and BRF, formerly the Biomedical Research Foundation, and
8the Willis-Knighton Health System corridor; and
9 WHEREAS, the exclusion of Louisiana Census Tract 217 is a missed opportunity
10for investment in the future of the Shreveport/Bossier area and Louisiana as a whole; and
11 WHEREAS, according to correspondence from Caddo Parish District Three
12Commissioner Steven Jackson, designating Louisiana Census Tract 217 would allow
13investors to live up to the recommendations of a 2030 Great Expectations Shreveport-Caddo
14Master Plan, which specifically calls for a revitalization program that encompasses Ochsner
15LSU Health and Willis-Knighton areas as a mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood and
16employment hub and as an example of planning and public-private investment to create
17critical mass for revitalization success; and
18 WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Treasury contends that the Tax
19Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and legislative history of the qualified opportunity zone
20designations, under IRC ยง 1400Z, do not contemplate an opportunity for additional or
21revised designations after the maximum number of zones allowable have been designated
22in a state or territory.
23 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
24urge and request Governor John Bel Edwards and Louisiana Economic Development to
25reconsider nominating Louisiana Census Tract 217 as a qualified opportunity zone; the
26Louisiana congressional delegation to consider offering legislation to amend the Tax Cuts
27and Jobs Act of 2017; and the United States Department of the Treasury and the Internal
28Revenue Service to amend 26 U.S.C. Subchapter Z to allow for additional qualified
29opportunity zones.
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HR NO. 206
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
2Governor John Bel Edwards, the secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, each
3member of the Louisiana congressional delegation, the secretary of the United States
4Department of the Treasury, and the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 206 Original 2019 Regular Session Glover
Urges and requests Governor John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Economic Development
to reconsider nominating Louisiana Census Tract 217 as a qualified opportunity zone; the
Louisiana congressional delegation to consider offering legislation to amend the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act; and the United States Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue
Service to amend 26 U.S.C. Subchapter Z to allow for additional qualified opportunity
zones.
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