Aquaculture oyster floats; tax credit for purchase of floats. (HB126)

Introduced By

Del. Jason Miyares (R-Virginia Beach) with support from co-patron Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Tax credit for purchase of aquaculture oyster floats. Establishes an individual nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, but before January 1, 2025, for the purchase price of aquaculture oyster floats purchased during the taxable year. The amount of credit allowed under this section shall not exceed $500. The total amount of tax credits available under this section for a calendar year shall not exceed $50,000. If the amount of the credit exceeds the taxpayer's tax liability for the taxable year in which the aquaculture oyster floats were purchased, the amount that exceeds the tax liability may be carried over for credit against the income taxes of the taxpayer in the next five taxable years. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
12/16/2019Committee
12/16/2019Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100857D
12/16/2019Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
01/15/2020Referred from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
01/15/2020Referred to Committee on Finance
01/16/2020Assigned Finance sub: Subcommittee #1
01/18/2020Impact statement from TAX (HB126)
01/20/2020Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (7-Y 2-N)
02/11/2020Left in Finance

Comments

Carl Zulick writes:

Can you explain how subcommittees fail a bill? I don't understand if there were 7 yes and 2 no, why did it fail? What does it mean to be "Left in Finance"?

This is a great bill. Maryland has had a similar tax credit for years. The Federal and State government are spending a lot of money in attempt to clean the Chesapeake Bay. This bill would reimburse homeowners for the cost of putting oysters in the bay. Each oyster can clean up to 50,000 gallons of water a day! They live several years, but have been on the decline in the bay for several reasons. It seems like this bill would be very cost effective! If you go around the bay and our tributaries in VA, you can see that a very small percentage of homeowners who own piers have oyster floats. If we can encourage people to get them, we can easily help clean the water of the bay, with lasting effect.

Other efforts such as reforestation, natural shorelines, water treatment, control of agricultural runoff, industrial pollution control, etc are helping but not enough. This has got to be a cheaper solution than the other efforts, but at the very least, in conjunction with other efforts, we will make faster progress.

Carl Zulick writes:

If this bill is introduced again, there are several non-profit organizations and citizens I know of that would support it. How can I help?