Related to state taxation and finance and other related matters, by creating, modifying, and eliminating tax credits and tax incentive programs, providing for penalties, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions

DIVISION I —— ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS —— TAX CREDIT LIMITS. Under the bill, the authority shall not authorize for any one fiscal year an aggregate amount of tax credits for business development programs in excess of $110 million for allocation among the business programs as follows: (1) for tax credits for investments in an innovation fund and the seed investor tax credit the authority shall allocate a total of $10 million; (2) for the renewable chemical production tax credit and the sustainable aviation fuel production tax credit the authority shall allocate a total of $10 million; (3) for the research and development tax credit the authority shall allocate $40 million; and (4) for the business incentives for growth program for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the authority shall not allocate more than $50 million. DIVISION II —— ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS —— TAX CREDIT LIMITS —— CONFORMING CHANGES.354(6)(d). DIVISION III —— BUSINESS INCENTIVES FOR GROWTH PROGRAM. The bill creates a business incentives for growth program (BIG program), effective January 1, 2026, to provide tax incentives to eligible businesses. The qualifications for an eligible business are provided in the bill. Applications for the BIG program shall be submitted to the authority. For a proposed project that will result in elevated water consumption by the business, the application must be accompanied by a water conservation and waste reduction plan. The terms of, and aggregate value of, a tax incentive may be negotiated between an eligible business and the authority, but the aggregate value of the tax incentives that any one eligible business may receive shall not exceed percent of the eligible business’s qualifying investment. The board may authorize any combination of tax incentives available for an eligible business. An eligible business that is approved by the authority to participate in the BIG program shall enter into an agreement with the authority specifying the criteria for successful completion of the program requirements. The requirements for the program agreement are detailed in the bill. An eligible business issued a tax incentive under the BIG program shall be entitled to a refund of certain sales and use taxes, after filing a claim with the department of revenue as detailed in the bill. A contractor or subcontractor that willfully makes a false report of taxes paid is guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor, and shall be liable for payment of the tax and any applicable penalty and interest. An eligible business may not receive a tax credit certificate until the eligible business’s project, or a portion of the project, has been placed in service. The department of revenue shall remit the tax credit to the eligible business over five tax years. If within five years of the date the authority issues an eligible business a tax credit, the eligible business sells, disposes of, razes, or otherwise renders unusable all or a part of the land, buildings, or other structures for which the tax credit was claimed, the tax liability of the eligible business for that year shall be increased by the amounts de