Section 1 of Article 10 of the Nevada Constitution authorizes the Legislature to constitute agricultural and open-space real property as a separate class for taxation purposes and provide a separate plan for the appraisal and valuation of such property for assessment purposes. Existing law constitutes such property as a separate class and provides for the partial deferred taxation of such property. (NRS 361A.090, 361A.280, 361A.283) Under existing law, an owner of real property may file an application for agricultural use assessment with the county assessor or the Department of Taxation, in certain circumstances, who, upon receipt of the application, is required to make an independent determination of the use of the owner's property. (NRS 361A.100, 361A.110, 361A.120) Further, under existing law, if the property is found to be agricultural real property, the county assessor is required to determine the value for agricultural use and assess it for taxes to be collected in the ensuing fiscal year at 35 percent of that value, utilizing certain classifications of agricultural real property defined by the Nevada Tax Commission determined on certain bases each year. (NRS 361A.130, 361A.140) Section 3 of this bill establishes that agrivoltaic purposes is an agricultural use for the purposes of determining the taxation of agricultural real property. Section 2 of this bill defines the term “agrivoltaic purposes” to mean a system under which solar energy production and agricultural use occurs in an integrated manner on the same piece of land and which incorporates designs, technologies or configurations conducive to integrating agricultural activities. Section 4 provides that land used for agrivoltaic purposes may be the current employment of real property in agricultural use only if, before July 1, 2025, the land was found to be agricultural real property and qualified for agricultural use assessment. Section 5 of this bill prohibits an owner of real property from applying to the county assessor for agricultural use assessment if the current employment of the real property in agricultural use includes land used for agrivoltaic purposes and the solar energy production use occurring on the land is receiving an abatement of taxes for certain purposes. Section 6 of this bill provides that if the agricultural real property includes land used for agrivoltaic purposes, the value of the land for agricultural use in a fiscal year for taxation purposes must be determined by considering the integrated use of the land for agricultural purposes and solar energy production. Section 3 of this bill applies the definitions in existing law and section 2 relating to taxes on agricultural real property and open space to the provisions of this bill.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 361A.030
Reprint 1: 361A.010, 361A.030, 361A.100, 361A.130
As Enrolled: 361A.010, 361A.030, 361A.100, 361A.130
BDR: 361A.030