2014 -- S 3090

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LC005878

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - TAXATION

     Introduced By: Senators Ruggerio, Goodwin, Jabour, Metts, and Miller

     Date Introduced: June 11, 2014

     Referred To: Senate Housing & Municipal Government

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 45-13 of the General Laws entitled "State Aid" is hereby amended

by adding thereto the following section:

     45-13-5.3. Municipal services pro rata reimbursement. – Notwithstanding any general

or public law to the contrary, municipalities shall be authorized to charge any non-profit hospital

facility with licensed bed capacity of over five hundred (500) for essential services on a pro rata

basis according to the assessed value of the property serviced. The municipality in which the

property lies is hereby authorized to charge a sum equal to not more than twenty-five percent

(25%) of all taxes that would have been collected had the property been taxable. For the purposes

of this section, “essential services” shall include, but, not be limited to, police, fire and rescue.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to limit or decrease appropriations to

municipalities as provided under section 45-13-5.1 or in any other source of law.

     SECTION 2. Section 44-3-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-3 entitled "Property

Subject to Taxation" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     44-3-3. Property exempt. -- The following property is exempt from taxation.

      (1) Property belonging to the state except as provided in section 44-4-4.1;

      (2) Lands ceded or belonging to the United States;

      (3) Bonds and other securities issued and exempted from taxation by the government of

the United States, or of this state;

      (4) Real estate, used exclusively for military purposes, owned by chartered or

incorporated organizations approved by the adjutant general, and composed of members of the

national guard, the naval militia, or the independent chartered military organizations;

      (5) Buildings for free public schools, buildings for religious worship, and the land upon

which they stand and immediately surrounding them, to an extent not exceeding five (5) acres so

far as the buildings and land are occupied and used exclusively for religious or educational

purposes;

      (6) Dwellings houses and the land on which they stand, not exceeding one acre in size,

or the minimum lot size for zone in which the dwelling house is located, whichever is the greater,

owned by or held in trust for any religious organization and actually used by its officiating clergy;

provided, further that in the town of Charlestown, where the property previously described in this

paragraph is exempt in total, along with dwelling houses and the land on which they stand in

Charlestown, not exceeding one acre in size, or the minimum lot size for zone in which the

dwelling house is located, whichever is the greater, owned by or held in trust for any religious

organization and actually used by its officiating clergy, or used as a convent, nunnery, or retreat

center by its religious order.

      (7) Intangible personal property owned by, or held in trust for, any religious or charitable

organization, if the principal or income is used or appropriated for religious or charitable

purposes;

      (8) Buildings and personal estate owned by any corporation used for a school, academy,

or seminary of learning, and of any incorporated public charitable institution, and the land upon

which the buildings stand and immediately surrounding them to an extent not exceeding one acre,

so far as they are used exclusively for educational purposes, but no property or estate whatever is

hereafter exempt from taxation in any case where any part of its income or profits or of the

business carried on there is divided among its owners or stockholders; provided, however, that

unless any private nonprofit corporation organized as a college or university located in the town

of Smithfield reaches a memorandum of agreement with the town of Smithfield, the town of

Smithfield shall bill the actual costs for police, fire, and rescue services supplied, unless

otherwise reimbursed, to said corporation commencing March 1, 2014;

      (9) Estates, persons, and families of the president and professors for the time being of

Brown University for not more than ten thousand dollars ($ 10,000) for each officer, the officer's

estate, person, and family included, but only to the extent that any person had claimed and

utilized the exemption prior to, and for a period ending either on or after December 31, 1996;

      (10) (9) Property especially exempt by charter unless the exemption has been waived in

whole or in part., provided, however, that no property or estate owned by any non-profit hospital

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facility with licensed bed capacity of over five hundred (500) is hereafter exempt from taxation in

any case where any of the property's income or profits are derived from any activity not involving

healthcare or any part of the property's income or profits or of the business carried on there is

divided among its owners or stockholders, even if the non-healthcare activity in question, or the

income or profit derived therefrom, are related or deemed necessary for the accomplishments of

the purposes of the exempt healthcare institution.

      (11) (10) Lots of land exclusively for burial grounds;

      (12) (11) Property, real and personal, held for or by an incorporated library, society, or

any free public library, or any free public library society, so far as the property is held exclusively

for library purposes, or for the aid or support of the aged poor, or poor friendless children, or the

poor generally, or for a hospital for the sick or disabled;

      (13) (12) Real or personal estate belonging to or held in trust for the benefit of

incorporated organizations of veterans of any war in which the United States has been engaged,

the parent body of which has been incorporated by act of congress, to the extent of four hundred

thousand dollars ($ 400,000) if actually used and occupied by the association; provided, that the

city council of the city of Cranston may by ordinance exempt the real or personal estate as

previously described in this subdivision located within the city of Cranston to the extent of five

hundred thousand dollars ($500,000);

      (14) (13) Property, real and personal, held for or by the fraternal corporation, association,

or body created to build and maintain a building or buildings for its meetings or the meetings of

the general assembly of its members, or subordinate bodies of the fraternity, and for the

accommodation of other fraternal bodies or associations, the entire net income of which real and

personal property is exclusively applied or to be used to build, furnish, and maintain an asylum or

asylums, a home or homes, a school or schools, for the free education or relief of the members of

the fraternity, or the relief, support, and care of worthy and indigent members of the fraternity,

their wives, widows, or orphans, and any fund given or held for the purpose of public education,

almshouses, and the land and buildings used in connection therewith;

      (15) (14) Real estate and personal property of any incorporated volunteer fire engine

company or incorporated volunteer ambulance or rescue corps in active service;

      (16) (15) The estate of any person who in the judgment of the assessors is unable from

infirmity or poverty to pay the tax; providing, that in the town of Burrillville the tax shall

constitute a lien for five (5) years on the property where the owner is entitled to the exemption. At

the expiration of five (5) years, the lien shall be abated in full. Provided, if the property is sold or

conveyed or if debt secured by the property is refinanced during the five (5) year period, the lien

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immediately becomes due and payable; any person claiming the exemption aggrieved by an

adverse decision of an assessor shall appeal the decision to the local board of tax review, and

thereafter according to the provisions of section 44-5-26;

      (17) (16) Household furniture and family stores of a housekeeper in the whole, including

clothing, bedding, and other white goods, books, and all other tangible personal property items

which are common to the normal household;

      (18) (17) Improvements made to any real property to provide a shelter and fallout

protection from nuclear radiation, to the amount of one thousand five hundred dollars ($ 1,500);

provided, that the improvements meet applicable standards for shelter construction established

from time to time by the Rhode Island emergency management agency. The improvements are

deemed to comply with the provisions of any building code or ordinance with respect to the

materials or the methods of construction used and any shelter or its establishment is deemed to

comply with the provisions of any zoning code or ordinance;

      (19) (18) Aircraft for which the fee required by section 1-4-6 has been paid to the tax

administrator;

      (20) (19) Manufacturer's inventory

      (i) For the purposes of sections 44-4-10, 44-5-3, 44-5-20, and 44-5-38, a person is

deemed to be a manufacturer within a city or town within this state if that person uses any

premises, room, or place in it primarily for the purpose of transforming raw materials into a

finished product for trade through any or all of the following operations: adapting, altering,

finishing, making, and ornamenting; provided, that public utilities, non-regulated power

producers commencing commercial operation by selling electricity at retail or taking title to

generating facilities on or after July 1, 1997, building and construction contractors, warehousing

operations including distribution bases or outlets of out-of-state manufacturers, and fabricating

processes incidental to warehousing or distribution of raw materials such as alteration of stock for

the convenience of a customer, are excluded from this definition.

      (ii) For the purposes of sections 44-3-3, 44-4-10, and 44-5-38, the term "manufacturer's

inventory" or any similar term means and includes the manufacturer's raw materials, the

manufacturer's work in process, and finished products manufactured by the manufacturer in this

state, and not sold, leased, or traded by the manufacturer or its title or right to possession

divested; provided, that the term does not include any finished products held by the manufacturer

in any retail store or other similar selling place operated by the manufacturer whether or not the

retail establishment is located in the same building in which the manufacturer operates the

manufacturing plant.

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      (iii) For the purpose of section 44-11-2, a "manufacturer" is a person whose principal

business in this state consists of transforming raw materials into a finished product for trade

through any or all of the operations described in paragraph (i) of this subdivision. A person will

be deemed to be principally engaged if the gross receipts which that person derived from the

manufacturing operations in this state during the calendar year or fiscal year mentioned in section

44-11-1 amounted to more than fifty percent (50%) of the total gross receipts which that person

derived from all the business activities in which that person engaged in this state during the

taxable year. For the purpose of computing the percentage, gross receipts derived by a

manufacturer from the sale, lease, or rental of finished products manufactured by the

manufacturer in this state, even though the manufacturer's store or other selling place may be at a

different location from the location of the manufacturer's manufacturing plant in this state, are

deemed to have been derived from manufacturing.

      (iv) Within the meaning of the preceding paragraphs of this subdivision, the term

"manufacturer" also includes persons who are principally engaged in any of the general activities

coded and listed as establishments engaged in manufacturing in the standard industrial

classification manual prepared by the technical committee on industrial classification, office of

statistical standards, executive office of the president, United States bureau of the budget, as

revised from time to time, but eliminating as manufacturers those persons, who, because of their

limited type of manufacturing activities, are classified in the manual as falling within the trade

rather than an industrial classification of manufacturers. Among those thus eliminated, and

accordingly also excluded as manufacturers within the meaning of this paragraph, are persons

primarily engaged in selling, to the general public, products produced on the premises from which

they are sold, such as neighborhood bakeries, candy stores, ice cream parlors, shade shops, and

custom tailors, except, that a person who manufactures bakery products for sale primarily for

home delivery, or through one or more non-baking retail outlets, and whether or not retail outlets

are operated by person, is a manufacturer within the meaning of this paragraph.

      (v) The term "Person" means and includes, as appropriate, a person, partnership, or

corporation.

      (vi) The department of revenue shall provide to the local assessors any assistance that is

necessary in determining the proper application of the definitions in this subdivision.

      (21) (20) Real and tangible personal property acquired to provide a treatment facility

used primarily to control the pollution or contamination of the waters or the air of the state, as

defined in chapter 12 of title 46 and chapter 25 of title 23, respectively, the facility having been

constructed, reconstructed, erected, installed, or acquired in furtherance of federal or state

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requirements or standards for the control of water or air pollution or contamination, and certified

as approved in an order entered by the director of environmental management. The property is

exempt as long as it is operated properly in compliance with the order of approval of the director

of environmental management; provided, that any grant of the exemption by the director of

environmental management in excess of ten (10) years is approved by the city or town in which

the property is situated. This provision applies only to water and air pollution control properties

and facilities installed for the treatment of waste waters and air contaminants resulting from

industrial processing; furthermore, it applies only to water or air pollution control properties and

facilities placed in operation for the first time after April 13, 1970;

      (22) (21) New manufacturing machinery and equipment acquired or used by a

manufacturer and purchased after December 31, 1974. Manufacturing machinery and equipment

is defined as:

      (i) Machinery and equipment used exclusively in the actual manufacture or conversion

of raw materials or goods in the process of manufacture by a manufacturer as defined in

subdivision (20) of this section, and machinery, fixtures, and equipment used exclusively by a

manufacturer for research and development or for quality assurance of its manufactured products;

      (ii) Machinery and equipment which is partially used in the actual manufacture or

conversion of raw materials or goods in process of manufacture by a manufacturer as defined in

subdivision (20) of this section, and machinery, fixtures, and equipment used by a manufacturer

for research and development or for quality assurance of its manufactured products, to the extent

to which the machinery and equipment is used for the manufacturing processes, research and

development or quality assurance. In the instances where machinery and equipment is used in

both manufacturing and/or research, and development, and/or quality assurance activities and

non-manufacturing activities, the assessment on machinery and equipment is prorated by

applying the percentage of usage of the equipment for the manufacturing, research, and

development and quality assurance activity to the value of the machinery and equipment for

purposes of taxation, and the portion of the value used for manufacturing, research, and

development, and quality assurance is exempt from taxation. The burden of demonstrating this

percentage usage of machinery and equipment for manufacturing and for research, and

development and/or quality assurance of its manufactured products rests with the manufacturer;

and

      (iii) Machinery and equipment described in section 44-18-30(7) and (22) that was

purchased after July 1, 1997; provided that the city or town council of the city or town in which

the machinery and equipment is located adopts an ordinance exempting the machinery and

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equipment from taxation. For purposes of this subsection, city councils and town councils of any

municipality may by ordinance wholly or partially exempt from taxation the machinery and

equipment discussed in this subsection for the period of time established in the ordinance and

may by ordinance establish the procedures for taxpayers to avail themselves of the benefit of any

exemption permitted under this section; provided, that the ordinance does not apply to any

machinery or equipment of a business, subsidiary or any affiliated business which locates or

relocates from a city or town in this state to another city or town in the state.

      (23) (22) Precious metal bullion, meaning any elementary metal which has been put

through a process of melting or refining, and which is in a state or condition that its value

depends upon its content and not its form. The term does not include fabricated precious metal

which has been processed or manufactured for some one or more specific and customary

industrial, professional, or artistic uses;

      (24) (23) Hydroelectric power generation equipment, which includes, but is not limited

to, turbines, generators, switchgear, controls, monitoring equipment, circuit breakers,

transformers, protective relaying, bus bars, cables, connections, trash racks, headgates, and

conduits. The hydroelectric power generation equipment must have been purchased after July 1,

1979, and acquired or used by a person or corporation who owns or leases a dam and utilizes the

equipment to generate hydroelectric power;

      (25) (24) Subject to authorization by formal action of the council of any city or town,

any real or personal property owned by, held in trust for, or leased to an organization incorporated

under chapter 6 of title 7, as amended, or an organization meeting the definition of "charitable

trust" set out in section 18-9-4, as amended, or an organization incorporated under the not for

profits statutes of another state or the District of Columbia, the purpose of which is the

conserving of open space, as that term is defined in chapter 36 of title 45, as amended, provided

the property is used exclusively for the purposes of the organization;

      (26) (25) Tangible personal property, the primary function of which is the recycling,

reuse, or recovery of materials (other than precious metals, as defined in section 44-18-30(24)(ii)

and (iii)), from or the treatment of "hazardous wastes", as defined in section 23-19.1-4, where the

"hazardous wastes" are generated primarily by the same taxpayer and where the personal property

is located at, in, or adjacent to a generating facility of the taxpayer. The taxpayer may, but need

not, procure an order from the director of the department of environmental management

certifying that the tangible personal property has this function, which order effects a conclusive

presumption that the tangible personal property qualifies for the exemption under this

subdivision. If any information relating to secret processes or methods of manufacture,

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production, or treatment is disclosed to the department of environmental management only to

procure an order, and is a "trade secret" as defined in section 28-21-10(b), it shall not be open to

public inspection or publicly disclosed unless disclosure is otherwise required under chapter 21 of

title 28 or chapter 24.4 of title 23;

      (27) (26) Motorboats as defined in section 46-22-2 for which the annual fee required in

section 46-22-4 has been paid;

      (28) (27) Real and personal property of the Providence performing arts center, a non-

business corporation as of December 31, 1986;

      (29) (28) Tangible personal property owned by, and used exclusively for the purposes of,

any religious organization located in the city of Cranston;

      (30) (29) Real and personal property of the Travelers Aid Society of Rhode Island, a

nonprofit corporation, the Union Mall Real Estate Corporation, and any limited partnership or

limited liability company which is formed in connection with, or to facilitate the acquisition of,

the Providence YMCA Building; and

      (31) (30) Real and personal property of Meeting Street Center or MSC Realty, Inc., both

not-for-profit Rhode Island corporations, and any other corporation, limited partnership, or

limited liability company which is formed in connection with, or to facilitate the acquisition of,

the properties designated as the Meeting Street National Center of Excellence on Eddy Street in

Providence, Rhode Island.

      (32) (31) The buildings, personal property and land upon which the buildings stand,

located on Pomham Island, East Providence, currently identified as Assessor's Map 211, Block

01, Parcel 001.00, which consists of approximately twenty-one thousand three hundred (21,300)

square feet and is located approximately eight hundred sixty feet (860'), more or less, from the

shore, and limited exclusively to these said buildings personal estate and land, provided that said

property is owned by a qualified 501(c)(3) organization, such as the American Lighthouse

Foundation, and is used exclusively for a lighthouse.

      (33) (32) The Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Centre building located in Monument

Square, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, so long as said Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Center is

owned by the Stadium Theatre Foundation, a Rhode Island nonprofit corporation.

      (34) (33) Real and tangible personal property of St. Mary Academy -- Bay View, located

in East Providence, Rhode Island.

      (35) (34) Real and personal property of East Bay Community Action Program and its

predecessor, Self Help, Inc; provided, that the organization is qualified as a tax exempt

corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

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      (36) (35) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of the

Columbus Club of East Providence, a Rhode Island charitable nonprofit corporation.

      (37) (36) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of the

Columbus Club of Barrington, a Rhode Island charitable nonprofit corporation.

      (38) (37) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of Lodge

2337 BPO Elks, a Rhode Island nonprofit corporation.

      (39) (38) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of the St.

Andrews Lodge No. 39, a Rhode Island charitable nonprofit corporation.

      (40) (39) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of the

Trustees of Methodist Health and Welfare service a/k/a United Methodist Elder Care, a Rhode

Island nonprofit corporation.

      (41) (40) Real and personal property, located on the first floor of 90 Leonard Avenue,

within the city of East Providence of the Zion Gospel Temple, Inc., a religious nonprofit

corporation.

      (42) (41) Real and personal property, located within the city of East Providence of the

Cape Verdean Museum Exhibit, a Rhode Island nonprofit corporation.

      (43) (42) The real and personal property owned by a qualified 501(c)(3) organization

that is affiliated and in good standing with a national congressionally chartered organization and

thereby adheres to that organization's standards and provides activities designed for recreational,

educational and character building purposes for children from ages six (6) years to seventeen (17)

years.

      (44) (43) Real and personal property of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and

Music School; provided, that the organization is qualified as a tax exempt corporation under

section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - TAXATION

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     This act would provide that no property owned by any non-profit hospital facility with

licensed bed capacity of over five hundred (500) would be exempt from taxation if the property’s

income were derived from activity not involving healthcare. It would also remove an exemption

for the president and professors of Brown University.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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