GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORT H CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 387
Short Title: Brownfields Property Reuse Act Revisions. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators McInnis, Moffitt, and Jarvis (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
March 25, 2025
*S387 -v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO AMEND THE BROWNFIELDS PROPERTY REUSE ACT AND THE 2
BROWNFIELDS PROPERTY TAX BENEFIT. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. G.S. 130A-310.39 reads as rewritten: 5
"§ 130A-310.39. Fees. 6
(a) The Department shall collect the following fees: 7
(1) A prospective developer who submits an application for a proposed 8
brownfields agreement for review by the Department shall pay an initial fee 9
of two thousand dollars ($2,000). 10
(2) A prospective developer who enters into a brownfields agreement with the 11
Department shall pay pay, on a schedule that the Department may specify, a 12
fee in an amount equal to the full cost to the Department and the Department 13
of Justice of all activities related to the brownfields agreement, including but 14
not limited to negotiation of the brownfields agreement, public notice and 15
community involvement, and monitoring the implementation of and 16
compliance with the brownfields agreement. agreement and requirements of 17
this Part regarding the Notice of Brownfields Property. The procedure by 18
which the amount of this fee is determined shall be established by agreement 19
between the prospective developer and the Department and shall be set out as 20
a part of the brownfields agreement. The fee imposed by this subdivision shall 21
be paid in two installments. The first installment shall be due at the time the 22
prospective developer and the Department enter into the brownfields 23
agreement and shall equal all costs that have been incurred by the Department 24
and the Department of Justice at that time less the amount of the initial fee 25
paid pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection. The Department shall not 26
enter into the brownfields agreement unless the first installment is paid in full 27
when due. The second installment shall be due at the time the prospective 28
developer submits a final report certifying completion of remediation under 29
the brownfields agreement and shall include any additional costs that have 30
been incurred by the Department and the Department of Justice, including all 31
costs of monitoring the implementation of the brownfields agreement. 32
(3) Any prospective developer or owner of properties subject to a recorded Notice 33
of Brownfields Property who is out of compliance with the requirements of 34
this Part regarding the Notice shall pay a fee to the Department and the 35 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 387-First Edition
Department of Justice sufficient to cover the costs to the State to enforce or 1
otherwise seek to correct the noncompliance. 2
(b) Fees and interest imposed under this section shall be credited to the Brownfields 3
Property Reuse Act Implementation Account. 4
(c) If a prospective developer fails to pay the full amount of any fee due under this 5
section, interest on the unpaid portion of the fee shall accrue from the time the fee is due until 6
paid at the rate established by the Secretary of Revenue pursuant to G.S. 105-241.21. A lien for 7
the amount of the unpaid fee plus interest shall attach to the real and personal property of the 8
prospective developer and to the brownfields property until the fee and interest is paid. The 9
Department may collect unpaid fees and interest in any manner that a unit of local government 10
may collect delinquent taxes." 11
SECTION 2. G.S. 105-277.13 reads as rewritten: 12
"§ 105-277.13. Taxation of improvements on brownfields. 13
(a) Qualifying improvements on brownfields properties are designated a special class of 14
property under Article V, Sec. 2(2) of the North Carolina Constitution and shall be appraised, 15
assessed, and taxed in accordance with this section. An owner of land subject to a recorded Notice 16
of Brownfields Property under G.S. 130A-310.35 is entitled to the partial exclusion provided by 17
this section for the first five taxable years beginning after completion of qualifying improvements 18
made after the later of July 1, 2000, or the date of the upon which the Department of 19
Environmental Quality provides written confirmation that the prospective developer of that land 20
and the proposed improvements are eligible to receive a brownfields agreement. After property 21
has qualified for the exclusion provided by this section, the assessor for the county in which the 22
property is located shall annually appraise the improvements made to the property during the 23
period of time that the owner is entitled to the exclusion. 24
(b) For the purposes of this section, the terms "qualifying improvements on brownfields 25
properties" and "qualifying improvements" mean improvements made to real property that is 26
subject to as prescribed in a brownfields agreement entered into by the Department of 27
Environmental Quality and the owner recorded Notice of Brownfields Property pursuant to G.S. 28
130A-310.32.The Brownfields Property Reuse Act of 1997, Part 5 of Article 9 of Chapter 130A 29
of the General Statutes, as amended. 30
(c) The following table establishes the percentage of the appraised value of the qualified 31
improvements that is excluded based on the taxable year: 32
Year Percent of Appraised Value Excluded 33
Year 1 90% 34
Year 2 75% 35
Year 3 50% 36
Year 4 30% 37
Year 5 10%." 38
SECTION 3. Section 1 of this act becomes effective January 1, 2026. Section 2 of 39
this act is effective for taxes imposed for taxable years beginning on or after July 1, 2025. The 40
remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law. 41