Chapter 476 Oregon Laws 1999
Session Law
AN ACT
HB 2079
Relating to long term care
facility tax exemptions.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. The Legislative Assembly finds that owners
of long term care facilities who devote substantial proportions of those
facilities to providing long term care to residents eligible for medical
services under Medicaid provide an essential community service. The Legislative
Assembly declares that a property tax exemption will enable these essential
community provider long term care facilities to increase the quality of care
provided to facility residents. The Legislative Assembly further declares that
the quality of care is increased most efficiently when the full value of the
exemption is applied to increasing direct caregiver wages, physical plant
improvements and other expenditures that directly benefit the facility
residents and staff.
SECTION 2. (1) Real and personal property that is used
solely in the operations of a long term care facility that has been certified
for the tax year as an essential community provider long term care facility
under section 4 of this 1999 Act shall be exempt from ad valorem property
taxation.
(2)(a) In order for the long
term care facility to be exempt from taxation under this section, the owner of
the facility shall file with the county assessor a copy of a certificate issued
by the Senior and Disabled Services Division under section 4 of this 1999 Act,
certifying the facility as an essential community provider long term care
facility.
(b) The certificate must be
filed with the assessor on or before April 1 preceding the tax year for which
the exemption is being claimed.
(c) Notwithstanding
paragraph (b) of this subsection, a certificate may be filed with the assessor
on or before December 31 of the tax year if accompanied by a late filing fee of
the greater of $200 or one-tenth of one percent of the real market value of the
property to which the certificate applies.
(3) As used in this section
and section 1 of this 1999 Act, "long term care facility" means a
nursing facility, assisted living facility, residential care facility or adult
foster home as defined in ORS 443.705.
SECTION 2a. The exemption provided in section 2 of this
1999 Act applies only to the taxes of a taxing district the governing body of
which has adopted, by ordinance or resolution, the provisions of section 2 of
this 1999 Act.
SECTION 3. Section 2 of this 1999 Act applies to tax
years beginning on or after July 1, 2000.
SECTION 4. (1)(a) The owner of a long term care
facility seeking to have the facility be exempt from ad valorem property
taxation under section 2 of this 1999 Act shall apply to the Senior and
Disabled Services Division for certification of the facility as an essential
community provider long term care facility.
(b) The application shall be
made after the close of the calendar year for which the average percentage of
residents eligible for medical assistance under Medicaid is to be determined.
(2) The application shall be
in the form and shall contain the information prescribed by the division,
including but not limited to:
(a) The location of the long
term care facility; and
(b) A statement of the
number of residents of the long term care facility during the previous calendar
year and the number of those residents who were eligible for Medicaid.
(3) The division shall act
upon an application within 15 days after the date the application has been
filed with the division and all requested information has been provided by the
applicant.
(4) The division shall
certify a long term care facility as an essential community provider long term
care facility if the facility:
(a) Is a nursing facility,
assisted living facility or residential care facility and has an average residency
rate of 70 percent or more who are eligible for Medicaid; or
(b) Is an adult foster home
and has an average residency rate of 60 percent or more who are eligible for
Medicaid.
(5) The division shall send
the certification to the applicant. The certification shall state the tax year
for which the certification is valid.
(6) A certification under
this section shall be valid for the tax year beginning the July 1 immediately
following the calendar year in which the long term care facility met the Medicaid
eligibility residency rate set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
(7) As used in this section,
"long term care facility" means a nursing facility, assisted living
facility, residential care facility or adult foster home as defined in ORS
443.705.
SECTION 5. Sections 1 to 2a of this 1999 Act are added
to and made a part of ORS chapter 307.
Approved by the Governor
July 6, 1999
Filed in the office of
Secretary of State July 6, 1999
Effective date October 23,
1999
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