[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1251 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1251
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-
exempt financing of certain government-owned buildings.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 14, 2019
Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. Larson of
Connecticut, Mr. Marchant, Mr. Kind, Mrs. Walorski, Mr. Suozzi, Mr.
Zeldin, Mr. Tonko, and Mr. Hurd of Texas) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-
exempt financing of certain government-owned buildings.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Public Buildings Renewal Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.
(a) In General.--Section 142(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (14), by
striking the period at the end of paragraph (15) and inserting ``,
or'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(16) qualified government buildings.''.
(b) Qualified Government Buildings.--Section 142 of such Code is
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(n) Qualified Governmental Buildings.--
``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(16), the
term `qualified governmental buildings' means any building or
facility that consists of one or more of the following:
``(A) An elementary school or a secondary school
(within the meanings given such terms by section 14101
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 8801), as in effect on the date of the
enactment of this subsection).
``(B) Facilities of a State college or university
used for educational purposes.
``(C) A library maintained for, and open to, the
general public.
``(D) A Court of law.
``(E) A hospital, health care facilities,
laboratory facilities or research facilities.
``(F) Public safety facilities (including police,
fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster management,
and ambulance or emergency medical service facilities
and jails and correctional facilities).
``(G) Offices for employees of a governmental unit.
Such term shall include any equipment, functionally related and
subordinate facility, or land (and any real property rights
appurtenant thereto) with respect to any such building or
facility.
``(2) Specifically excluded facilities.--Such term shall
not include--
``(A) a building or facility the primary purpose of
which is one of the following: retail food and beverage
services, or the provision of recreation or
entertainment, or
``(B) any building or facility that includes any of
the following: any private or commercial golf course,
country club, massage parlor, tennis club, skating
facility (including roller skating, skateboard, and ice
skating), racquet sports facility (including any
handball or racquetball court), hot tub facility,
suntan facility, racetrack, convention center, or
sports stadium or arena.
``(3) National limitation on amount of tax-exempt financing
for qualified governmental building.--
``(A) National limitation.--The aggregate amount
allocated by the Secretary under subparagraph (C) shall
not exceed $5,000,000,000.
``(B) Enforcement of national limitation.--An issue
shall not be treated as an issue described in
subsection (a)(16) if the aggregate face amount of
bonds issued pursuant to such issue for any qualified
governmental building (when added to the aggregate face
amount of bonds previously so issued for such facility)
exceeds the amount allocated to such qualified
governmental building under subparagraph (C).
``(C) Allocation by the secretary.--The Secretary
shall allocate a portion of the amount described in
subparagraph (A) to a qualified governmental building
if the Secretary determines that--
``(i) the application for financing of such
qualified governmental building meets the
requirements set forth in subparagraph (D), and
``(ii) the amount of the allocation
requested, if allocated by the Secretary, would
not cause the national limitation set forth in
subparagraph (A) to be exceeded.
``(D) Applications for financing.--An application
for financing a qualified governmental building meets
the requirements of this subparagraph if such
application includes--
``(i) the amount of the allocation
requested,
``(ii) the name of the governmental unit
that will own the project, together with
complete contact information,
``(iii) a description of the project as a
whole and the proposed organizational and legal
structure of the project,
``(iv) a timeline showing the estimated
start and completion dates for each major phase
or milestone of project development and an
indication of the current status of milestones
on this timeline, including all necessary
permits and environmental approvals,
``(v) a statement of anticipated sources
and uses of funds for the project, and
``(vi) the following declaration signed by
an individual who has personal knowledge of the
relevant facts and circumstances: ``Under
penalties of perjury, I declare that I have
examined this document and, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, the document contains all
the relevant facts relating to the document,
and such facts are true, correct, and
complete.''
``(E) Use of allocation in a timely manner.--If,
following an allocation by the Secretary under
subparagraph (C), bonds are not issued in the amount of
such allocation after the date that is 2 years after
the date of such allocation, then the unused portion of
the allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the
Secretary, upon a showing of good cause by the
applicant, grants an extension of such date.
``(4) Exception for current refunding bonds.--Paragraph (4)
shall not apply to any bond (or series of bonds) issued to
refund a bond issued under subsection (a)(16) if--
``(A) the average maturity date of the issue of
which the refunding bond is a part is not later than
the average maturity date of the bonds to be refunded
by such issue,
``(B) the amount of the refunding bond does not
exceed the outstanding amount of the refunded bond, and
``(C) the refunded bond is redeemed not later than
90 days after the date of the issuance of the refunding
bond.
For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity shall be
determined in accordance with section 147(b)(2)(A).
``(5) Office space.--Subsection (b)(2) shall not apply with
respect to any qualified governmental building.
``(6) No depreciation or investment credit.--No
depreciation, amortization, or business credit under section 38
shall be allowed with respect to any facility described in
subsection (a)(16) which has been financed by the net proceeds
of the issue.''.
(c) Governmentally Owned Requirement.--Section 142(b)(1)(A) of such
Code is amended by striking ``or (12)'' and inserting ``(12), or
(16)''.
(d) Exemption From Volume Cap on Private Activity Bonds.--Section
146(g)(3) of such Code is amended by striking ``or (15)'' and inserting
``(15), or (16)''.
(e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to bonds issued after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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