Senate Bill S8537

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8537

SPONSOR: MURPHY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation
to including spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors within the definition
of real property

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this legislation is to include spent fuel rods from
nuclear reactors within the definition of real property.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Subdivision 12 of section 102 of the Real Property Tax law is
amended by adding a new paragraph (j) to read as follows: (j) Spent fuel
rods from nuclear reactors which are pending further or final disposal.

Section 2. Establishes the effective date.

 
              

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

This portion is not applicable at this time.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, spent nuclear fuel rods are being housed at the Indian Point
Energy Center in Buchanan, New York and at other nuclear power plants
across the state and country. In the 95th Assembly District, rods came
from Con Edison, the New York Power Authority Generating Facilities, and
today from the power company, Entergy. For many years, the federal
Government has promised a site will be provided for the storage of these
rods. However, this site has still not been constructed, and may not be
for many more years to come.

Since the federal government has failed to locate a permanent home for
these spent fuel rods, places like the Indian Point Energy Center's
nuclear power plant have become the storage site for this nuclear waste.

The effect on property values because of this storage is obviously a
negative one. The host community bears the burden, and in the absence of
any ability to tax the rods, that burden is wholly uncompensated.

It is proposed that these rods are classified as real property, rather
than personal property or equipment. The value of the rods would be
determined by a government agency.

Nuclear rods are neither fish nor fowl; the uniqueness of these items
defies neat classification. They neither run this the land nor are
attached thereto. Like the land and buildings owned by the utility, the
rods clearly contributed value to the utility, for without the rods,
energy could not be produced or sold. This proposed legislation would
place a reasonable value on the rods, and enable the host community to
balance the adverse impact of the rods on property values with a finan-
cial benefit to the whole community. Fundamental fairness dictates this
result.

This bill will give utilities an incentive to seek rod storage sites
other than the utility plants themselves, since in order for the utility
to reduce its tax obligation to the host community, it merely has to
remove the rods from the site. The people of New York will benefit if
our state's utilities aggressively encourage the federal government to
comply with its agreement to store spent fuel rods or to reimburse the
utility for storage cost. In either event, the host community would no
longer unfairly bear the costs of this additional burden on its property
values.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A.6638-A and S.4551-A of 2001/2002
A.6611-A and S.4806-A of 1999/2000

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

No cost to the State; benefit to any local assessing authority that
hosts a facility at which spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors are
stored.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been
in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2019.