Existing law contains the Windsor Park Environmental Justice Act, which establishes a program for the relocation of persons residing in the Windsor Park neighborhood of the City of North Las Vegas whose residences have been damaged by the sinking of the ground beneath the residences. (Chapter 531, Statutes of Nevada 2023, at page 3538) Under the Act, the Housing Division of the Department of Business and Industry is required to establish and administer a program by which the owner of a single-family residence in the Windsor Park neighborhood who owns the residence on July 1, 2023, may exchange the residence in the Windsor Park neighborhood for a new residence constructed in accordance with the Act. (Section 9 of chapter 531, Statutes of Nevada 2023, at page 3540) This bill makes revisions to the Act.
Section 1 of this bill requires the Housing Division to: (1) adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of the Act, including, without limitation, regulations governing certain specific topics; and (2) provide quarterly reports to the Interim Finance Committee concerning the implementation of the provisions of the Act.
Section 2 of this bill clarifies the boundaries of the Windsor Park neighborhood for the purposes of determining the owners of single-family residences or vacant lots who are eligible to participate in the program.
Section 3 of this bill: (1) requires that, to be eligible to participate in the program, an owner of a single-family residence or vacant lot in the Windsor Park neighborhood must have owned that single-family residence or lot on December 31, 2023, rather than July 1, 2023; (2) authorizes a person who is the owner of a vacant lot in the Windsor Park neighborhood and who was the owner, or is the descendant of the former owner, of a single-family residence that was formerly located on that vacant lot in the Windsor Park neighborhood to participate in the program by exchanging the vacant lot for another vacant lot in an area as near as reasonably practicable to the Windsor Park neighborhood; (3) authorizes a person who resides in the Windsor Park neighborhood to establish that he or she is the owner of a single-family residence or a vacant lot in the Windsor Park neighborhood, and, thus, is eligible to participate in the program, by executing an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, or presenting certain other documentation to establish inheritance or ownership of the property; (4) establishes the number of new single-family residences to be constructed; (5) provides that until July 1, 2057, a single-family residence acquired pursuant to the Act is entitled to an abatement of a certain amount of property taxes levied on the single-family residence; (6) provides an exemption from taxes on the transfer of real property for certain transfers of a single-family residence pursuant to the Act; (7) requires the Housing Division to file a lien on the single-family residence acquired pursuant to the Act to secure repayment of certain amounts if the new residence is sold within 5 years after the filing of the lien; (8) authorizes a mortgage on a single-family residence in the Windsor Park neighborhood to be transferred to the new residence acquired under the Act; (9) limits the amount of any assistance provided to pay off a mortgage on a single-family residence in the Windsor Park neighborhood to the payoff amount on May 25, 2025, unless certain circumstances exist authorizing an additional amount to be paid off; (10) requires the closing of the transaction for the exchange of a single-family residence or vacant lot under the Act to be an escrow process with the issuance of certain title insurance and provides for the payment of certain fees and charges associated with such a transaction; (11) expresses the intent of the Legislature that because of the circumstances existing in the Windsor Park neighborhood, for the purposes of federal income taxation, the exchange of a single-family residence under the Act be considered an involuntary exchange as a result of the destruction, in whole or in part, of the single-family residence or a threatened requisition or condemnation; (12) requires the entity selected to develop and construct a single-family residence pursuant to the Act to be engaged to perform certain additional work related to the project, without formal bidding under existing state law, including, without limitation, demolishing the homes in the Windsor Park neighborhood for the purposes of creating the public park required under the Act; and (13) authorizes that entity to retain or reuse existing infrastructure rather than demolish such infrastructure under certain circumstances.
Section 4 of this bill removes the requirement for the Housing Division to pay moving expenses and restitution to owners of single-family residences in the Windsor Park neighborhood from certain Community Development Block Grant funds transferred to the Housing Division and, instead, authorizes those funds to be used by the Housing Division to pay relocation expenses for certain owners and tenants.
Section 5 of this bill provides that money appropriated from the State General Fund for the purposes of the Act reverts at the end of the 2025-2027 biennium rather than at the end of the 2023-2025 biennium.
Section 6 of this bill appropriates $25,000,000 from the State General Fund to the Housing Division for the purposes of the Act.