Commerce Honors Senator Coleman for Work on Incentive Legislation

The Oklahoma Department of Commerce (Commerce) honored Senator Bill Coleman for his work to support economic development and community growth. During the 2021 legislative session, Coleman, alongside Representative Kyle Hilbert, authored SB 609, which modernized Oklahoma’s Ad Valorem Tax Exemption.

“We know that incentives bring value to our state by encouraging growth – both from companies coming to our state and from Oklahoma companies expanding their operations,” said Brent Kisling, Commerce Executive Director. “We appreciate leaders in the legislature like Sen. Coleman who led efforts to modernize some of our incentive programs based on recommendations from the Incentive Evaluation Commission and insight from the Commerce team.”

Using recommendations of the Incentive Evaluation Commission, SB 609 modernized qualifications for the Five-Year Ad Valorem Exemption to reduce costs of the incentive to the state. The Ad Valorem Exemption allows a qualifying company to be exempt for 5 years from ad valorem taxes upon completion of new or expanded facilities. This incentive is available for manufacturing, research and development, warehouse and distribution, and certain computer/data processing services, refineries or aircraft repair companies.