§40-9B-13. Disaster recovery tax incentive protection.

(a) This section shall be known as the Disaster Recovery Tax Incentive Protection Act of 2011.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) DISASTER REPLACEMENT PROPERTY. Private use industrial property obtained by a private user to repair or replace private use industrial property on which tax abatements were in existence at the time of a natural disaster, that was damaged or destroyed by the natural disaster.

(2) GOVERNING BODY. The governing body of a municipality, a county, or a public industrial authority which may grant tax abatements with respect to private use industrial property under Section 40-9B-4, subject to the geographical or jurisdictional or other limitations of Section 40-9B-5.

(3) NATURAL DISASTER. A catastrophe caused by nature, or regardless of cause, a fire, flood, or explosion, which is declared by the President of the United States or the Governor of the State of Alabama to be a major disaster.

(4) REPLACED PROPERTY. Private use industrial property that was damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster, and on which tax abatements were in existence at the time of the disaster.

(c) Tax abatements that may otherwise be granted pursuant to this chapter shall not be subject to disqualification solely because the underlying transactions or property relate to the repair or replacement of property damaged by a natural disaster and not to new construction. This expansion of Alabama's abatement law applies to transactions entered into or property acquired after the tornado outbreaks of April 2011. Ad valorem tax abatements in existence prior to the onset of a natural disaster, shall not be disallowed due to an interruption of a qualifying business activity at the site directly attributable to the natural disaster.

(d) Any tax abatements granted on replaced property shall continue to apply to disaster replacement property obtained by a private user if any of the following conditions are met:

(1) Where such disaster replacement property is located at a different site than the replaced property, but not within the jurisdiction of a different governing body, then no new approval of the governing body shall be required to transfer the previously granted tax abatements on the replaced property to the disaster replacement property so long as the cost of the disaster replacement property does not exceed the cost of the replaced property by more than 25 percent. However, the private user shall provide written notice to the abatement granting authority, to the assessing official of the county where the property is located, and to the Department of Revenue of the change in location of the private use industrial property or the disaster replacement property not later than October 1, 2012, or the first October 1 following the change in location of such property, whichever is later. The user shall also file the appropriate tax returns on October 1 of that year and each year thereafter, as required by law.

(2) Where disaster replacement property is located within the jurisdiction of a governing body different from the replaced property, then the private user shall obtain the approval from the appropriate governing body for the continuation of the ad valorem tax abatement, with such approval to be requested in accordance with Sections 40-9B-5 and 40-9B-6.

(3) If the cost of the disaster replacement property exceeds the cost of the replaced property by more than 25 percent, then the private user shall obtain governing body approval under the procedures outlined in Sections 40-9B-5 and 40-9B-6 for the abatement of any taxes on the amount of the investment that is greater than 25 percent more than the cost of the replaced property. No new approval is required on the amount of the new investment not greater than 25 percent more than the cost of the replaced property, provided that no new governing body is affected by such continuation of the tax abatements.

(Act 2011-709, p. 2191, §§1, 2(a); Act 2012-524, p. 1552, §1.)