GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 415*

Short Title:  Exempt Child Care Property.	(Public)

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors: Senators Kinnaird; Ballance, Carter, Dalton, Foxx, Garrou, Hagan, Harris, Lucas, Metcalf, and Weinstein.

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  Finance.

─────────────────────────────────────── 

March 18, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EXEMPT NONPROFIT CHILD CARE CENTERS FROM PROPERTY TAX.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 105-278.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105-278.4.  Property used for educational purposes.
(a)	Buildings. – Buildings, the land they actually occupy, and additional land reasonably necessary for the convenient use of the building are exempt from taxation if all of the following conditions are met:
(1)	The property is owned by an educational institution.
(2)	The owner is not organized or operated for profit and no officer, shareholder, member, or employee of the owner or any other person is entitled to receive pecuniary profit from the owner's operations except reasonable compensation for services.
(3)	The property is of a kind commonly employed in the performance of those activities naturally and properly incident to the operation of an educational institution such as the owner.
(4)	The property is used wholly and exclusively for educational purposes by the owner, or is occupied gratuitously by another nonprofit educational institution and used by the occupant wholly and exclusively for nonprofit educational purposes.
(b)	Land. – Land (exclusive of improvements); and improvements other than buildings, the land actually occupied by the improvements, and additional land reasonably necessary for the convenient use of the improvements is exempt from taxation if all of the following conditions are met:
(1)	The property is owned by an educational institution that owns real property entitled to exemption under subsection (a) of this section.
(2)	The property is of a kind commonly employed in the performance of those activities naturally and properly incident to the operation of an educational institution such as the owner.
(3)	The property is used wholly and exclusively for educational purposes by the owner, or is occupied gratuitously by another nonprofit educational institution and used by the occupant wholly and exclusively for nonprofit educational purposes.
(c)	Partial Exemption. – Notwithstanding the exclusive-use requirements of subsections (a) and (b) of this section, if part of a property that otherwise meets the requirements of one of those subsections is used for a purpose that would require exemption if the entire property were so used, the valuation of the part so used is exempt from taxation.
(d)	Incidental Public Use. – The fact that a building or facility is incidentally available to and patronized by the general public, so long as there is no material amount of business or patronage with the general public, does not defeat the exemption granted by this section.
(e)	Personal Property. – Personal property owned by a church, a religious body, or an educational institution is exempt from taxation if both of the following conditions are met:
(1)	The owner is not organized or operated for profit, and no officer, shareholder, member, or employee of the owner, or any other person is entitled to receive pecuniary profit from the owner's operations except reasonable compensation for services.
(2)	The property is used wholly and exclusively for educational purposes by the owner, or is held gratuitously by a church, religious body, or nonprofit educational institution other than the owner and used wholly and exclusively for nonprofit educational purposes by the possessor.
(f)	Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	Child care center. – Defined in G.S. 110-86.
(2)	Educational institution. – A university, a college, a school, a seminary, an academy, an industrial school, a public library, a museum, a child care center, or a similar institution.
(3)	Educational purpose. – A purpose that has as its objective the education or instruction of human beings; it comprehends the transmission of information and the training or development of the knowledge or skills of individual persons. The operation of a child care center is an educational purpose. The operation of a golf course, a tennis court, a sports arena, a similar sport property, or a similar recreational sport property for the use of students or faculty is also an educational purpose, regardless of the extent to which the property is also available to and patronized by the general public."
Section 2.  This act is effective for taxes imposed for taxable years beginning on or after July 1, 1999.  Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 105-282.1(a), an application for the benefit provided in this act for the 1999-2000 tax year shall be considered timely if it is filed on or before September 1, 1999.