II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 932 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-exempt 

financing of certain government-owned buildings. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2019 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, 

and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

for the tax-exempt financing of certain governmentowned buildings. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Buildings Re5 newal Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOVERN7 MENT BUILDINGS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 


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1 end of paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end 

2 of paragraph (15) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at 

3 the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(16) qualified government buildings.’’. 

5 (b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 

6 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

10 (a)(16), the term ‘qualified governmental buildings’ 

11 means any building or facility that consists of one 

12 or more of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) An elementary school or a secondary 

14 school (within the meanings given such terms 

15 by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec16 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

17 8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 

18 of this subsection). 

19 ‘‘(B) A facility of a State college or univer20 sity used for educational purposes. 

21 ‘‘(C) A library maintained for, and open 

22 to, the general public. 

23 ‘‘(D) A court of law. 

24 ‘‘(E) A hospital or health care facility. 


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1 ‘‘(F) A laboratory or research facility used 

2 by a governmental unit. 

3 ‘‘(G) A public safety facility (including po4 lice, fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster 

5 management, and ambulance or emergency 

6 medical service facilities and jails and correc7 tional facilities). 

8 ‘‘(H) An office for employees of a govern9 mental unit. 

10 Such term shall include any equipment, functionally 

11 related and subordinate facility, or land (and any 

12 real property rights appurtenant thereto) with re13 spect to any such building or facility. 

14 ‘‘(2) SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED FACILITIES.— 

15 Such term shall not include— 

16 ‘‘(A) a building or facility the primary pur17 pose of which is one of the following: retail food 

18 and beverage services, or the provision of recre19 ation or entertainment, or 

20 ‘‘(B) any building or facility that includes 

21 any of the following: any private or commercial 

22 golf course, country club, massage parlor, ten23 nis club, skating facility (including roller skat24 ing, skateboard, and ice skating), racquet 

25 sports facility (including any handball or racVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S932.IS S932

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1 quetball court), hot tub facility, suntan facility, 

2 racetrack, convention center, or sports stadium 

3 or arena. 

4 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF

5 TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR QUALIFIED GOVERN6 MENTAL BUILDING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) NATIONAL LIMITATION.—The aggre8 gate amount allocated by the Secretary under 

9 subparagraph (C) shall not exceed 

10 $5,000,000,000. 

11 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LIMI12 TATION.—An issue shall not be treated as an 

13 issue described in subsection (a)(16) if the ag14 gregate face amount of bonds issued pursuant 

15 to such issue for any qualified governmental 

16 building (when added to the aggregate face 

17 amount of bonds previously so issued for such 

18 facility) exceeds the amount allocated to such 

19 qualified governmental building under subpara20 graph (C). 

21 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION BY THE SECRETARY.— 

22 The Secretary shall allocate, on a first come, 

23 first serve basis, a portion of the amount de24 scribed in subparagraph (A) to a qualified govVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S932.IS S932

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1 ernmental building if the Secretary determines 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(i) the application for financing of 

4 such qualified governmental building meets 

5 the requirements set forth in subparagraph 

6 (D), and 

7 ‘‘(ii) the amount of the allocation re8 quested, if allocated by the Secretary, 

9 would not cause the national limitation set 

10 forth in subparagraph (A) to be exceeded. 

11 ‘‘(D) APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCING.—An 

12 application for financing a qualified govern13 mental building meets the requirements of this 

14 subparagraph if such application includes— 

15 ‘‘(i) the amount of the allocation re16 quested, 

17 ‘‘(ii) the name of the governmental 

18 unit that will own the project, together 

19 with complete contact information, 

20 ‘‘(iii) a description of the project as a 

21 whole and the proposed organizational and 

22 legal structure of the project, 

23 ‘‘(iv) a timeline showing the estimated 

24 start and completion dates for each major 

25 phase or milestone of project development 


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1 and an indication of the current status of 

2 milestones on this timeline, including all 

3 necessary permits and environmental ap4 provals, 

5 ‘‘(v) a statement of anticipated 

6 sources and uses of funds for the project, 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(vi) the following declaration signed 

9 by an individual who has personal knowl10 edge of the relevant facts and circumstan11 ces: ‘‘Under penalties of perjury, I declare 

12 that I have examined this document and, 

13 to the best of my knowledge and belief, the 

14 document contains all the relevant facts re15 lating to the document, and such facts are 

16 true, correct, and complete.’’ 

17 ‘‘(E) USE OF ALLOCATION IN A TIMELY

18 MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 

19 Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 

20 not issued in the amount of such allocation 

21 after the date that is 2 years after the date of 

22 such allocation, then the unused portion of the 

23 allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the Sec24 retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap25 plicant, grants an extension of such date. 


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1 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CURRENT REFUNDING

2 BONDS.—Paragraph (3) shall not apply to any bond 

3 (or series of bonds) issued to refund a bond issued 

4 under subsection (a)(16) if— 

5 ‘‘(A) the average maturity date of the issue 

6 of which the refunding bond is a part is not 

7 later than the average maturity date of the 

8 bonds to be refunded by such issue, 

9 ‘‘(B) the amount of the refunding bond 

10 does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 

11 refunded bond, and 

12 ‘‘(C) the refunded bond is redeemed not 

13 later than 90 days after the date of the 

14 issuance of the refunding bond. 

15 For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 

16 shall be determined in accordance with section 

17 147(b)(2)(A). 

18 ‘‘(5) OFFICE SPACE.—Subsection (b)(2) shall 

19 not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 

20 building. 

21 ‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED22 IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred23 it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 

24 any facility described in subsection (a)(16) which 

25 has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue.’’. 


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1 (c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 

2 Section 142(b)(1)(A) of such Code is amended by striking 

3 ‘‘or (12)’’ and inserting ‘‘(12), or (16)’’. 

4 (d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE

5 ACTIVITY BONDS.—Section 146(g)(3) of such Code is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘or (15)’’ and inserting ‘‘(15), or 

7 (16)’’. 

8 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 

10 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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