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H.C.R. 3 Enrolled
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 CREDITS ALLOCATED TO UTAH BY THE
UNITED STATES CONGRESS AND TO INDEX INCREASES TO INFLATION IN FUTURE
YEARS.
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
in financing affordable, decent first-time home ownership opportunities in Utah and throughout the
nation;
WHEREAS, an adequate supply of low-income housing tax credits is critical 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 the 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 50.2%,
thereby reducing the real purchasing value of Utah's share of this bonding resource from
$150,000,000 in 1987 to only $74,000,000 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 $0.62 per capita in 1999;
WHEREAS, losing $75,300,000 in the real value of tax-exempt private activity bonding
resource along with $0.63 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 caused many
of these families to remain in substandard housing; 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 will be
further negatively impacted:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
Governor concurring therein, urge the United States Congress to immediately increase the tax-exempt
private activity volume cap and the allocation of low-income housing tax credits available to 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 the states to levels that would offset the
diluted effects of inflation since 1987, and to index increases for these resources to inflation in future
years.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the leadership of the
majority and minority parties of the United States Congress and the members of Utah's congressional
delegation.
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