Not so Good News CDN's Legislative Priorities stalled, but will be back
Expansion of CITC program, no tax credit legislation considered this year:
One of CDN's policy priorities was to expand the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program from $1.75 million to $3 million in tax credits. We thank Delegate Hixson and Senator King for sponsoring HB843 and SB494 which would have done that.
In FY 2014, there were $3.9 million in applications for the CITC program, so there is definitely demand. CITC is administered by DHCD, and enables eligilble nonprofits to apply for these credits. They are then able to give them to their donors as an incentive for giving. Anyone giving $500 or more in a donation can get � of that back in a state tax credit.
This year, given the budget environment, no tax credit bills were considered. There were about 30 tax credit bills, including ours, that received a hearing, but no vote. CDN is still determining whether we go for this next year.
The CITC program is still in existence with the original $1.75 million.
Limited Liability Companies Transparency died in committee:
Another of CDN's policy priorites would have made Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) more transparent. HB351 (Delegate Lafferty) required that new LLCs add a company representatives name and address on the organizing documents. The company representative must be a live person (employee or manager) of the company. The issue is that there are several occasions where communities or individuals contact LLCs to address a delapitated property, or even to get paid (in the case of businesses owned by LLCs), and yet there is no way to find the actual owner of the LLC to resolve these issues.
The Sub-committee of the Economic Matters Committee considered this legislation and voted it down for several reasons. We will be back next year with a bill that will answer the concerns and questions the sub-committee had, and are confident in success next year. The legislation will likely involve changes to the resident agent including what is a resident agent and his/her responsibilities.
Homeowner's Insurance of Last Resort Notice sent to summer study:
The last of CDN's policy priorities would have enabled homeowners to know about the insurance of last resort, the JIA. HB647(Delegate Lafferty) required insurance companies who deny, cancel or non-renew a homeowner or business to notify them of the Joint Insurance Association (JIA), who can provide the insurance. At the moment, insurance companies are not required to notify clients they deny about the opportunity for insurance of last resort from the JIA. Amendments were drafted to clarify the notification is for complete denial, not partial denial of coverage, and include brokers as well as insurance agents. Another amendment was to include all insurers, not just private insurers.
This legislation was sent to summer study because there were a series of bills about insurance companies and notice, and so ours is included in that larger conversation.