148.853 Legislative findings -- Qualifications for incentives -- Incentives available.
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<![CDATA[ Page 1 of 4 148.853 Legislative findings -- Qualifications for incentives -- Incentives available. (1) The General Assembly finds and declares that: (a) The general welfare and material well-being of the citizens of the Commonwealth depend in large measure upon the development of tourism in <br>the Commonwealth; (b) It is in the best interest of the Commonwealth to provide incentives for the creation of new tourism attractions and the expansion of existing tourism <br>attractions within the Commonwealth in order to advance the public purposes <br>of relieving unemployment by preserving and creating jobs that would not <br>exist if not for the incentives offered by the authority to approved companies, <br>and by preserving and creating sources of tax revenues for the support of <br>public services provided by the Commonwealth; (c) The authorities granted by KRS 148.851 to 148.860 are proper governmental and public purposes for which public moneys may be expended; and (d) That the creation or expansion of tourism development projects is of paramount importance mandating that the provisions of KRS 139.536 and <br>KRS 148.851 to 148.860 be liberally construed and applied in order to <br>advance public purposes. (2) To qualify for incentives provided in KRS 139.536 and 148.851 to 148.860, the following requirements shall be met: <br>(a) For a tourism attraction project: 1. The total eligible costs shall exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000); 2. In any year, including the first year of operation, the tourism attraction <br>project shall be open to the public at least one hundred (100) days; and 3. In any year following the third year of operation, the tourism attraction <br>project shall attract at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its visitors from <br>among persons who are not residents of the Commonwealth; (b) For an entertainment destination center project: 1. The total eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000); 2. The facility shall contain a minimum of two hundred thousand (200,000) <br>square feet of building space adjacent or complementary to an existing <br>tourism attraction project or a major convention facility; 3. The incentives shall be dedicated to a public infrastructure purpose that <br>shall relate to the entertainment destination center project; 4. In any year, including the first year of operation, the entertainment <br>destination center project shall: <br>a. Be open to the public at least one hundred (100) days per year; b. Maintain at least one (1) major theme restaurant and at least three <br>(3) additional entertainment venues, including but not limited to <br>live entertainment, multiplex theaters, large-format theater, motion <br>simulators, family entertainment centers, concert halls, virtual Page 2 of 4 reality or other interactive games, museums, exhibitions, or other <br>cultural and leisure-time activities; and c. Maintain a minimum occupancy of sixty percent (60%) of the total <br>gross area available for lease with entertainment and food and <br>drink options not including the retail sale of tangible personal <br>property; and 5. In any year following the third year of operation, the entertainment <br>destination center project shall attract at least twenty-five percent (25%) <br>of its visitors from among persons who are not residents of the <br>Commonwealth; (c) For a theme restaurant destination attraction project: 1. The total eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000); 2. In any year, including the first year of operation, the attraction shall: <br>a. Be open to the public at least three hundred (300) days per year <br>and for at least eight (8) hours per day; and b. Generate no more than fifty percent (50%) of its revenue through <br>the sale of alcoholic beverages; 3. In any year following the third year of operation, the theme restaurant <br>destination attraction project shall attract a minimum of fifty percent <br>(50%) of its visitors from among persons who are not residents of the <br>Commonwealth; and 4. The theme restaurant destination attraction project shall: <br>a. At the time of final approval, offer a unique dining experience that <br>is not available in the Commonwealth within a one hundred (100) <br>mile radius of the attraction; b. In any year, including the first year of operation, maintain seating <br>capacity of four hundred fifty (450) guests and offer live music or <br>live musical and theatrical entertainment during the peak business <br>hours that the facility is in operation and open to the public; or c. Within three (3) years of the completion date, the attraction shall <br>obtain a top two (2) tier rating by a nationally accredited service <br>and shall maintain a top two (2) tier rating through the term of the <br>agreement; (d) For a lodging facility project: 1. a. The eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000) <br>unless the provisions of subdivision b. of this subparagraph apply. b. i. If the lodging facility is an integral part of a major convention or sports facility, the eligible costs shall exceed six million dollars ($6,000,000); and ii. If the lodging facility includes five hundred (500) or more guest rooms, the eligible costs shall exceed ten million dollars ($10,000,000); and Page 3 of 4 2. In any year, including the first year of operation, the lodging facility <br>shall: <br>a. Be open to the public at least one hundred (100) days; and b. Attract at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its visitors from <br>among persons who are not residents of the Commonwealth; and (e) An expansion of any tourism development project shall in all cases be treated as a new stand-alone project. (3) The incentives offered under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act shall be as follows: <br>(a) An approved company may be granted a sales tax incentive based on the Kentucky sales tax imposed on sales generated by or arising at the tourism <br>development project; and (b) 1. For a tourism development project other than a lodging facility project <br>described in KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f): <br>a. A sales tax incentive shall be allowed to an approved company <br>over a period of ten (10) years, except as provided in subparagraph <br>4. of this paragraph; and b. The sales tax incentive shall not exceed the lesser of the total <br>amount of the sales tax liability of the approved company and its <br>lessees or a percentage of the approved costs as specified by the <br>agreement, not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%); 2. For a lodging facility project described in KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f): <br>a. A sales tax incentive shall be allowed to the approved company <br>over a period of twenty (20) years; and b. The sales tax incentive shall not exceed the lesser of total amount <br>of the sales tax liability of the approved company and its lessees or <br>a percentage of the approved costs as specified by the agreement, <br>not to exceed fifty percent (50%); 3. Any unused incentives from a previous year may be carried forward to <br>any succeeding year during the term of the agreement until the entire <br>specified percentage of the approved costs has been received through <br>sales tax incentives; and 4. If the approved company is an entertainment destination center that has <br>dedicated at least thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) of the incentives <br>provided under the agreement to a public infrastructure purpose, the <br>agreement may be amended to extend the term of the agreement up to <br>two (2) additional years if the approved company agrees to: <br>a. Reinvest in the original entertainment destination project one <br>hundred percent (100%) of any incentives received during the <br>extension that were outstanding at the end of the original term of <br>the agreement; and Page 4 of 4 b. Report to the authority at the end of each fiscal year the amount of <br>incentives received during the extension and how the incentives <br>were reinvested in the original entertainment destination project. Effective: June 26, 2009 <br>History: Amended 2009 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 37, effective June 26, 2009. -- Repealed, reenacted, and amended 2001 Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 3, effective <br>June 21, 2001. -- Created 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 335, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1996. Formerly codified as KRS 154.29-020. <br>Legislative Research Commission Note (6/26/2009). In codification, the Reviser of Statutes has corrected a manifest clerical or typographical error in 2009 (1st Extra. <br>Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 37, subsection (3)(b)1. and 2. (this statute), by replacing an <br>incorrect reference to "KRS 148.851(13)(e) or (f)" with the correct reference to <br>"KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f)." Legislative Research Commission Note (1/25/2009). This is former KRS 154.29-020 as amended by 2001 Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 3, and renumbered by the Reviser of <br>Statutes under KRS 7.136(1). ]]>