Editor’s Note: Information contained in this article was up to date at the time of publication. The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber remains engaged on legislation that could impact metro-area businesses. As the session enters its final three weeks, the Chamber is working to protect and expand policies most conducive to business growth and expansion. One piece of legislation the Chamber helped defeat would have required voters to approve all tax increment finance (TIF) districts within the entire jurisdiction (city/county) of the TIF. TIFs allow municipalities and counties to use tax money generated by new development to pay for public improvements in the TIF development area. “It’s hard to explain to voters what a TIF is and why they are a critically important economic development tool for cities and counties,” said Mark VanLandingham, the Chamber’s senior vice president of government relations and policy. “Some voters may believe a TIF is a tax increase, but it’s not. We were pleased to see this economic development tool protected this year.” Another notable victory was protecting the use of eminent domain to implement important economic development programs such as MAPS and turnpike construction. Legislation that would have strictly restricted the use of eminent domain by governmental entities did not advance this session. Another Chamber priority has been to enhance economic development tools the state and municipalities can use to expand industries, create jobs and improve quality of life. Tourism is a growth area where this focus applies. As Oklahoma’s third-largest industry, tourism continues to grow rapidly across the state with a record- breaking $10.1 billion in direct visitor spending in 2021. Visit Oklahoma City, a division of the Chamber and formerly the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau, is on the frontline of promoting tourism in the Oklahoma City metro. 2023 OKLAHOMA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: CHAMBER CLAIMS SEVERAL VICTORIES
Legislation seeking to increase the annual funding cap on the Tourism Development Act (TDA) from $15 million to $30 million, was not heard in the full Senate after being passed by the House and a Senate committee. However, the bill is alive and can be advanced by the Senate next year. If passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, the legislation will make Oklahoma even more attractive to developers seeking to strengthen the state’s tourism sector. The TDA allows developers to receive a partial rebate of state sales tax it generates for a limited period for new tourism projects where at least 25% of revenues come from out-of-state visitors.
“If this becomes law, there are several tourism projects in the pipeline that are likely to move forward,” said VanLandingham. Another economic development bill the Chamber supports includes favorable revision of the Filmed in Oklahoma Act. The bill would provide filmmakers with up to a 20% rebate on out-of-state crews and a 30% rebate on in-state crews. Film industry officials believe these revisions are necessary to ensure Oklahoma has an available workforce for larger film productions. Finally, the Chamber and its partners, including the Chamber-created Oklahomans for Business and Property Owners’ Rights coalition, successfully lobbied to defeat irresponsible firearms legislation which would have eliminated the property rights of business owners and event hosts to prohibit firearms. Legislation to allow firearms at the Oklahoma State Fair did not advance this year. For additional details on these and other legislative efforts, check out the latest issue of the Chamber publication, “The Business Advocate,” at okcbusinessadvocate.com.
11
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online