The bill did not pass the House unscathed. Twenty-one amendments were filed with the bill. Most were rejected, but amendments that passed along with the bill would:
•Give three-year income tax exemptions to people from another state to buy or build a home in a rural area.
•Give three-year income tax exemptions to Oklahoma medical school graduates who buy or build a home and set up a practice in a rural county of fewer than 200,000 people or a community of fewer than 50,000 people.
•Reduce the tax break to the Sonics from 15 years to 10 years.
•Allocate some of the state sales and income tax revenue generated by the Sonics to a fund to help rural areas, with all counties except Oklahoma and Tulsa eligible to receive money.
•Expand the Quality Jobs Act to include defense contractors in the Lawton area.
Three days before NBA owners are expected to begin considering the Seattle SuperSonics' proposed move to Oklahoma City, the House of Representatives approved a measure that would give the team owners financial incentives.
The measure, Senate Bill 1819, withstood a barrage of amendments being attached to it Monday and passed, 66-32. It now goes to the Senate, which is expected to take up the measure this week. The NBA owners meet Thursday and Friday in New York.
Resistance to the bill came mostly from rural House members and several Republicans from the Oklahoma City area who said they oppose granting tax breaks to a professional sports team owned by millionaires. Tax incentives from the state's Quality Jobs Act should be reserved for manufacturing jobs, they said.
Rep. Darrell Gilbert, D-Tulsa, asked why legislators should act on the measure before the NBA owners voted, saying it seemed to make more sense to see whether the team would move here without the state tax breaks.
House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, who carried the bill in the House, said the tax breaks are part of the financing plan that was put together by the owners of the Sonics and presented last month when a group of owners visited Oklahoma City.
Not approving the deal could jeopardize the team's move to Oklahoma City, he said.
"It's very possible they could reject the proposal and ask for a resubmission of the application,” Benge said.
The bill would expand the state's Quality Jobs program to include major league teams. For the Sonics, it would amount to about $4 million a year.
Benge said the NBA team would generate about $1.5 million in state and local sales tax revenue.
