Subjects spent nuclear fuel located in a decommissioned nuclear power plant to taxation as business personal property.

S1561

SENATE, No. 1561

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator CARMEN F. AMATO, JR.

District 9 (Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Subjects spent nuclear fuel located in a
decommissioned nuclear power plant to taxation as business personal property.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning business personal property and amending
R.S.54:4-1.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� R.S.54:4-1 is amended to
read as follows:

���� 54:4-1. All property real and
personal within the jurisdiction of this State not expressly exempted from
taxation or expressly excluded from the operation of this chapter shall be
subject to taxation annually under this chapter.� Such property shall be valued
and assessed at the taxable value prescribed by law.� Land in agricultural or
horticultural use which is being taxed under the "Farmland Assessment Act
of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), shall be valued and
assessed as provided by that act.� An executory contract for the sale of land,
under which the vendee is entitled to or does take possession thereof, shall be
deemed, for the purpose of this act, a mortgage of said land for the unpaid
balance of purchase price.

���� Personal property taxable
under this chapter shall include, however, only the machinery, apparatus or
equipment of a petroleum refinery that is directly used to manufacture
petroleum products from crude oil in any of the series of petroleum refining
processes commencing with the introduction of crude oil and ending with refined
petroleum products, but shall exclude items of machinery, apparatus or
equipment which are located on the grounds of a petroleum refinery but which
are not directly used to refine crude oil into petroleum products
,

[
and
]
the tangible
goods and chattels, exclusive of inventories, used in business of local
exchange telephone, telegraph and messenger systems, companies, corporations or
associations that were subject to tax as of April 1, 1997 under P.L.1940, c.4
(C.54:30A-16 et seq.) as amended,
and spent nuclear fuel located in a
decommissioned nuclear power plant,
and shall not include any intangible
personal property whatsoever whether or not such personalty is evidenced by a
tangible or intangible chose in action except as otherwise provided by
R.S.54:4-20.� As used in this section, "local exchange telephone
company" means a telecommunications carrier providing dial tone and access
to 51% of a local telephone exchange.� Property omitted from any assessment may
be assessed by the county board of taxation, or otherwise, within such time and
in such manner as shall be provided by law.� Real property taxable under this
chapter means all land and improvements thereon and includes personal property
affixed to the real property or an appurtenance thereto, unless:

���� a.� (1)� The personal property
so affixed can be removed or severed without material injury to the real
property;

���� (2)� The personal property so
affixed can be removed or severed without material injury to the personal
property itself; and

���� (3)� The personal property so
affixed is not ordinarily intended to be affixed permanently to real property;
or

���� b.��� The personal property so
affixed is machinery, apparatus, or equipment used or held for use in business
and is neither a structure nor machinery, apparatus or equipment the primary
purpose of which is to enable a structure to support, shelter, contain, enclose
or house persons or property.� For purposes of this subsection, real property
shall include pipe racks, and piping and electrical wiring up to the point of
connections with the machinery, apparatus, or equipment of a production process
as defined in this section.

���� c.��� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.2004, c.42).

���� Real property, as defined
herein, shall not be construed to affect any transaction or security interest
provided for under the provisions of chapter 9 of Title 12A of the New Jersey
Statutes (N.J.S.12A:9-101 et seq.).� The provisions of this section shall not
be construed to repeal or in any way alter any exemption from, or any exception
to, real property taxation or any definition of personal property otherwise
provided by statutory law.

���� The Director of the Division
of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury may adopt rules and regulations
pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act,"
P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) as may be deemed necessary to implement
and administer the provisions of this act.

(cf: P.L.2004, c.42, s.13)

���� 2.� This act shall take effect
immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would amend
R.S.54:4-1 to make spent nuclear fuel that is located in a decommissioned
nuclear power plant business personal property that is subject to property
taxation pursuant to chapter 4 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.