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Go‑Biz webinar explains Opportunity Zones 2.0 and urges tribal participation
Summary
California’s Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go‑Biz) hosted a webinar to explain Opportunity Zones 2.0, outline state selection priorities, and invite tribal governments to submit local authority recommendations ahead of the U.S. Treasury nomination deadline.
Brian Coleman, project financing manager on Go‑Biz’s Ready team, opened the webinar by saying the state is seeking tribal input as it selects census tracts for Opportunity Zones 2.0: “the decisions … will help shape where significant amounts of private investment will be directed across California over the coming decade.”
The session summarized how Opportunity Zones work under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and highlighted changes under OC 2.0. Coleman explained that qualified opportunity funds let investors defer capital gains and potentially exclude appreciation after long holds; he gave the standard OC example that reinvested gains held 10 years could avoid federal tax on growth. Coleman also cited an industry estimate that OC 1.0 attracted “over 150 billion dollars in investment nation‑wide,” presented as an estimate rather than a verified figure.
Christina Snyder Ashtari, Tribal Affairs Secretary, told participants the state wants tribes to “engage in this new opportunity for opportunity zone designation,” noting tribes have long advocated for direct federal designations and that OC 2.0 offers an avenue to collaborate with local communities.
Go‑Biz emphasized that OC 2.0 made the program permanent and requires governors to nominate new census tracts every 10 years; Coleman said governors must submit nominations to the U.S. Treasury by Sept. 28. California officials reported the Treasury’s eligible list shows 2,469 eligible census tracts statewide and that California may nominate up to 618 tracts.
Key OC 2.0 policy changes covered in the webinar include a standard five‑year deferral, a 30% rural incentive for qualifying rural tracts, and new annual reporting and transparency requirements for investors and projects to the Treasury. The state said it will prioritize tracts that align with the Jobs First Regional Plan and the Statewide Economic Blueprint, those that can attract private investment in affordable housing, shovel‑ready or construction‑ready sites as defined by Go‑Biz, and tracts already receiving committed public investment.
Organizers repeatedly urged tribal engagement: Go‑Biz will publish resources on a dedicated webpage, host weekly office hours, and distribute the recording and materials to tribal lists. The webinar closed with an offer to follow up on questions about tribal boundaries and mapping resources.
