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A bill that would provide tax credits for property owners seeking to rehabilitate historic homes received final legislative approval when it was passed yesterday by the Senate.

The bill, part of legislative Democrats’ Back to Work package of jobs and economic development bills, was passed by a vote of 38 to 0. It would create a tax credit of 25 percent for a property owner’s outlay in rehabilitating a historic property; the credit would be capped at $25,000 per property over a ten-year period for homeowners but it would have no cap for businesses.

Plenty of properties in Jersey City would be affected by the law. Qualifying properties would be required to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, either individually or as part of a historic district. The bill also allows credits for properties designated by the State Historic Preservation Office or other organizations as contributing to a district’s historic significance.

The state senators who introduced the measure say the proposal has helped create construction jobs in the 31 other states that have similar programs, pointing to Maryland, Virginia and Rhode Island as particular success stories.

“In state after state, the facts show that historic preservation tax credits put people back to work, help governments strengthen their bottom line and create sustainable, livable communities,” Sen. Barbara Buono says in a statement. “It is well past time that New Jersey use this tool to revitalize our own neighborhoods. If we continue to let the historic homes that line our streets crumble, we are allowing the history of our state to crumble.”

Under the bill, homeowners would be required to invest up to 60 percent on the rehabilitation costs in the interior of a building, and would have to make the building their principal residence for one full year following the end of construction; rehabilitation costs would have to be at least 50 percent of the equalized assessed value of the structure. Businesses seeking the tax credit would be required to have eligible rehabilitation expenditures of either $5,000 or the property’s adjusted basis of the structure used for federal income tax purposes, whichever is greater.

“Few things are worse than seeing a wonderful old building in a historic district sitting vacant and lifeless,” Sen. Shirley Turner says in a statement. “This tax credit is vital to repurposing buildings that others thought had lost their purpose. It will reinvigorate the building trades and safeguard our state’s history. These renovated buildings can be the anchor from which entire cities and towns can re-energize.”

The bill has been sent to the governor’s office for his signature.