H.C.R. 1 Enrolled

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING RESOURCES FOR
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
1998 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Ron Bigelow
Patrice Arent

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATURE AND THE GOVERNOR
EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF THE PRIVATE
ACTIVITY BOND CAP AND LOW-INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDITS ALLOCATED TO
UTAH BY THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS.
Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
WHEREAS the policy of the state of Utah is to assure the health, safety, and welfare of its
citizens;
WHEREAS an adequate supply of tax-exempt private activity bond volume cap is essential
and critically important in financing affordable, decent first-time home ownership opportunities
in this state and the nation, as well as several other critically important purposes that contribute
to the well being of the citizens of the state;
WHEREAS an adequate supply of low-income housing tax credits is essential and
critically important to financing affordable, decent, rental housing units that contribute to the well
being of the citizens of the state;
WHEREAS the United States Congress, in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, established
restrictions on tax-exempt private activity municipal bonds, effective January 1, 1988, that
imposed a limit, based on each state's population, not to exceed the greater of $50 per capita or
$150,000,000 per calendar year, but failed to include an automatic inflationary multiplier to ensure
that the purchasing power of this resource did not become diluted;
WHEREAS because of Utah's relatively small population, the amount of tax-exempt
private activity bonding for this state has been limited to $150,000,000 each calendar year, an
inadequate amount to meet the tax-exempt private activity financing demands of the state of Utah
and its agencies and political subdivisions;

WHEREAS the United States Congress, in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, established
restrictions on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that imposed a limit based on each state's
population to be equal to $1.25 per capita per calendar year, but failed to include an automatic
inflationary multiplier to ensure that the purchasing power of this resource did not become diluted;
WHEREAS since 1987 the effects of annual inflation have diluted the purchasing power of
Utah's tax-exempt private activity bonding cap and the low-income housing tax credits by 44.6%,
thereby reducing the real purchasing value of Utah's share of this bonding resource from
$150,000,000 in 1987 to only $83,100,000 in 1996, and reducing the real purchasing value of Utah's
share of annual per capita amounts of the low-income housing tax credit resource from $1.25 per
capita in 1987 to only $0.69 per capita in 1996;
WHEREAS losing $66,900,000 in the real value of tax-exempt private activity bonding
resource along with $0.56 of annual per capita credits from the low-income housing tax credit
resource has been devastating to the ability of this state and the nation to provide adequate affordable
housing opportunities to its lower income constituents by reducing nearly in half the number of
single-family housing units and multifamily housing units available and affordable to the
ever-increasing number of lower-income, first-time home buyers and renters in Utah and, thus, has
caused many of these families to remain in substandard housing, among other negative impacts; and
WHEREAS if the state and its agencies and political subdivisions continue to be unable to
provide adequate levels of tax-exempt private activity bond financing and low-income housing tax
credit financing for these purposes the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the state of Utah
will be further negatively impacted:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
Governor concurring therein, urges the United States Congress to increase immediately the
tax-exempt private activity volume cap and the allocation of low-income housing tax credits
available to each state, including Utah, to levels that would fully restore the tax-exempt private
activity bond volume cap purchasing power and the low-income housing tax credit purchasing power
of each state, including Utah, to levels that would offset the diluted effects of inflation since 1987,
and to index increases for these resources to inflation in future years.

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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the leadership of the
majority and minority parties of the United States Congress, the President of the United States, and
the members of Utah's congressional delegation.

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