Bill Text: NY A01520 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Discontinues the real property tax exemption for certain real property that is used for home games for certain professional sports teams in New York city beginning with the 2026 assessment roll.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - referred to real property taxation [A01520 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A01520-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1520

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 10, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, SIMONE, BORES, MAMDANI, STECK, ROSENTHAL,
          SIMON,  GONZALEZ-ROJAS,  RAGA,  FORREST,  LEVENBERG  --  read once and
          referred to the Committee on Real Property Taxation

        AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to  discontinuing
          the  real  property  tax  exemption for certain real property used for
          professional major league sports

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  intent. The legislature hereby declares that
     2  any provision in a lease, agreement  or  any  other  written  instrument
     3  requiring  that any taxes or their equivalent, set forth in such instru-
     4  ment in the form of any charges of any kind whatsoever, imposed  by  any
     5  taxing  authority,  shall  be  made  the  obligation of any person, sole
     6  proprietorship, partnership, firm, corporation, limited liability compa-
     7  ny, association, franchise, team, or any other entity,  other  than  the
     8  owner or owners of such property, shall be deemed void as against public
     9  policy.
    10    § 2. Section 429 of the real property tax law, as added by chapter 459
    11  of the laws of 1982, is amended to read as follows:
    12    §  429.  Real property used for professional major league sports. Real
    13  property within a city having a population of one million or more,  used
    14  by both a professional major league hockey team which is a member of the
    15  National  Hockey  League and a professional major league basketball team
    16  which is a member of the National Basketball Association to  play  their
    17  home  games  shall  be exempt from taxation to the extent said taxes are
    18  the obligation by lease or otherwise of the  owners  of  franchises  for
    19  such  teams,  provided  that  such owners enter into a written agreement
    20  with the chief executive officer of the municipality in which such prop-
    21  erty is located to play their home games within such municipality for  a
    22  period  of  at least ten consecutive years; provided however, that in no
    23  case shall the exemption granted by this section apply to any assessment

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02342-01-5
        A. 1520                             2

     1  roll issued after the two thousand twenty-five assessment roll. The  tax
     2  exemption  provided herein shall be granted to real property being used,
     3  in whole or in part, for the aforesaid purposes on the date such  agree-
     4  ment  is  executed and shall apply to taxes which become due and payable
     5  after the aforestated agreement is  executed  and  shall  continue  with
     6  respect  to  such property as long as both of said teams play their home
     7  games therein and no longer. Such exemption shall not apply with respect
     8  to any improvement to such property made after the date  such  agreement
     9  is  executed  which improvement is not used for the provision of facili-
    10  ties  or  services  related  to  sports,   entertainment,   expositions,
    11  conventions  or trade shows. If one or both of said teams shall cease to
    12  play their home games in said property at any time,  the  tax  exemption
    13  provided  herein  shall  cease immediately and such property shall imme-
    14  diately be restored to the tax rolls and  thereupon  become  subject  to
    15  taxation  and  shall  be taxed pro rata for the unexpired portion of the
    16  taxable year.
    17    § 3. The real property tax law is amended  by  adding  a  new  section
    18  429-a to read as follows:
    19    § 429-a. Expiration of major league sports exemption. The real proper-
    20  ty  tax exemption under section four hundred twenty-nine of this article
    21  shall expire upon the effective date of this section; provided  however,
    22  that the revenue and penalties collected by the New York city department
    23  of  finance  for such real property shall be remitted by the city of New
    24  York to the metropolitan transportation authority on a semiannual basis,
    25  to be deposited into the metropolitan transportation  authority  finance
    26  fund established under section one thousand two hundred seventy-h of the
    27  public authorities law.
    28    §  4.  This  act shall take effect immediately; provided however, that
    29  the provisions of this act shall apply  to  assessment  rolls  beginning
    30  with the 2026 assessment roll.