ENROLLED
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 206
BY REPRESENTATIVE GLOVER
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request Governor John Bel Edwards and 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 of 2017; 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.
WHEREAS, the opportunity zones incentive is a new community investment tool
established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; and
WHEREAS, opportunity zones were created to encourage long-term investments in
low-income urban and rural communities nationwide by providing a tax incentive for
investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into dedicated qualified opportunity
funds; and
WHEREAS, qualified opportunity zones are low-income census tracts nominated by
governors and certified by the United States Department of the Treasury; and
WHEREAS, qualified opportunity zones retain the designation for ten years; and
WHEREAS, investors can defer tax on any prior gains until no later than December
31, 2026, as long as the gain is reinvested in a qualified opportunity fund, an investment
vehicle organized to make investments in qualified opportunity zones; and
WHEREAS, if an investor holds an investment in the qualified opportunity fund for
at least ten years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in its basis equal to the fair
market value of the investment on the date that it is sold; and
WHEREAS, seven census tracts in the Shreveport/Bossier area were designated as
qualified opportunity zones; and
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WHEREAS, Louisiana Census Tract 217 consists of Ochsner LSU Health
Shreveport, University Health, and BRF, formerly the Biomedical Research Foundation, and
the Willis-Knighton Health System corridor; and
WHEREAS, the exclusion of Louisiana Census Tract 217 is a missed opportunity
for investment in the future of the Shreveport/Bossier area and Louisiana as a whole; and
WHEREAS, according to correspondence from Caddo Parish District Three
Commissioner Steven Jackson, designating Louisiana Census Tract 217 would allow
investors to live up to the recommendations of a 2030 Great Expectations Shreveport-Caddo
Master Plan, which specifically calls for a revitalization program that encompasses Ochsner
LSU Health and Willis-Knighton areas as a mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood and
employment hub and as an example of planning and public-private investment to create
critical mass for revitalization success; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Treasury contends that the Tax
Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and legislative history of the qualified opportunity zone
designations, under IRC ยง 1400Z, do not contemplate an opportunity for additional or
revised designations after the maximum number of zones allowable have been designated
in a state or territory.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request Governor John Bel Edwards and 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 of 2017; 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.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Governor John Bel Edwards, the secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, each
member of the Louisiana congressional delegation, the secretary of the United States
Department of the Treasury, and the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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