Senate Bill 149 was approved for AOC support in January, because it made an inconsequential change to statute that may prove beneficial in the future to counties’ housing needs. In 2005, the Legislature adopted ORS 307.022 to grant property tax exemptions to LLCs owned by nonprofit corporations, which like public bodies are exempt from property taxes. Life Flight Network is a not-for-profit medical transport service that had joined with the Oregon Health Sciences University and other medical non-profits to provide an emergency transport services network. The problem was that OHSU is considered a governmental entity, and was not specifically mentioned in ORS 307.022.

To resolve ongoing litigation, Life Flight sought to broaden the statute to permit tax-exempt LLCs to include a governmental body. AOC could envision such an arrangement between a non-profit and a county to provide housing, for example. But AOC wanted sideboards, which the Senate Finance & Revenue Committee provided.

SB 149A, now on the Senate Floor for passage, does not expand qualification standards for existing property tax exemptions. rather it expands the membership structure of an LLC that may qualify for existing exemptions and provides that the the exemption is to be determined to the least extent that would be received if any of the nonprofit owners of the LLC were the exclusive owner of the property.

Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Policy Director