§24.1. Incentive expenditure programs forecast

A. The Revenue Estimating Conference shall establish a forecast of incentive expenditures for each fiscal year, beginning for Fiscal Year 2016-2017, hereinafter referred to as the "incentive expenditure forecast", which shall be derived and revised only as provided in this Section. The incentive expenditure forecast shall include a forecast of the amount of payments from and reductions of current tax collections to be granted by each of the incentive expenditure programs including the incentive benefit statutes listed in R.S. 39:2(15.1) for the forecasted year. The forecast shall be an amount that is no less than the estimated amount of payments from and reductions of current tax collections which will be made by each of the incentive expenditure programs including the incentive benefit statutes listed in R.S. 39:2(15.1) for the forecasted fiscal year.

B. The incentive expenditure forecast shall be derived and based upon the assumption that the current law and current administrative procedures will remain in effect for the forecast period.

C. The department which administers the incentive benefit program shall give a report on the incentive expenditure program at each meeting of the conference and shall notify the conference when the incentive expenditure forecast is not sufficient to meet the requirements of current law or current administrative procedures. The conference may revise the forecast as necessary.

D. The incentive expenditure forecast shall be a separate forecast and shall not be included in the estimates of the money to be received by the state general fund and dedicated funds for the current and next fiscal years which are available for appropriation.

E.(1) The Revenue Estimating Conference may utilize whatever staff, information, and technical expertise which it may determine is required to derive or revise the incentive expenditure forecast. The conference may request and shall receive from all public officers, departments, agencies, and authorities of the state such assistance and data as will enable the conference to fulfill its duties.

(2) Each agency of the state, including the Department of Revenue, the Department of Economic Development, and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which administers an incentive expenditure program shall furnish the Revenue Estimating Conference, legislative fiscal office, and the division of administration data reflecting the program's operations and shall prepare a report setting forth the dollar amount of incentive expenditures for each incentive benefit program administered by the respective department, agency, or authority. In order for such information to be included in the incentive expenditure forecast for the next fiscal year, such reports shall include data beginning July first of each fiscal year through the date of the report and the report shall be due monthly. An initial report detailing historical participation and applicable dollar amounts of incentive expenditures shall also be provided. The initial historical report and subsequent monthly reports shall be developed in consultation with the Revenue Estimating Conference, the legislative fiscal office, and the division of administration.

(3) In addition to the data required to be submitted in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, each agency of the state, including the Department of Revenue, the Department of Economic Development, and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which administers an incentive expenditure program as defined in R.S. 39:2(15.1) shall submit to the Revenue Estimating Conference, the legislative fiscal office, and the division of administration, upon request, an estimate of incentive expenditures for each of the incentive expenditure programs including the tax benefit statutes listed in R.S. 39:2(15.1) administered by the respective agency. Such estimates shall be an amount that is no less than the estimated amount of reductions of and payments to be made from current tax collections for each incentive expenditure program for the current fiscal year. The participants of the conference shall work in conjunction with the respective agency to finalize all estimates for presentation to the conference.

(4) In developing the estimate of incentive expenditures for each of the tax benefit programs listed in R.S. 39:2(15.1), each agency of the state, including the Department of Revenue, the Department of Economic Development, and the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which administers an incentive expenditure program, shall coordinate and implement procedures for developing the estimate of the incentive expenditures for submission to the Revenue Estimating Conference, the legislative fiscal office, and the division of administration. Such procedures shall include consideration of, but not be limited to:

(a) The statutory guidelines for the incentive expenditure program.

(b) Any application process for the incentive expenditure program.

(c) Estimates of the timeline from any application process through approval of the application and the claiming of the tax benefit by a taxpayer.

(d) Historical data on the actual amount of reductions of and payments made from tax collections for the incentive expenditure program.

(e) Projections of tax revenue or budgetary savings to be generated for state or local government as a result of the incentive expenditure.

(5) The participants of the conference shall work in conjunction with the respective agency or agencies to implement all procedures.

F. The incentive expenditure forecast shall be determined by the Revenue Estimating Conference through a process to be decided by the conference except that any final action establishing an incentive expenditure forecast shall be taken pursuant only to a unanimous decision by all of the conference principals.

Acts 2015, No. 169, §1, eff. July 1, 2015; Acts 2017, No. 401, §1, eff. July 1, 2017.