I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4999 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require fairness and diversity 

in opportunity zone investment. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself and Mr. RUSH) 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 require 

fairness and diversity in opportunity zone investment. 

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

3 SECTION 1. OPPORTUNITY ZONE FAIRNESS AND INCLU4 SION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1400Z–2(d) of the Inter6 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(4) OPPORTUNITY FUND FAIRNESS AND IN9 CLUSION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A fund shall not be 

2 treated as a qualified opportunity fund for pur3 poses of this section unless such fund— 

4 ‘‘(i) meets the investment advisory 

5 board requirements of subparagraph (B), 

6 ‘‘(ii) meets the investment diversity 

7 requirements of subparagraph (C), 

8 ‘‘(iii) meets the affordable housing in9 vestment requirements of subparagraph 

10 (D), and 

11 ‘‘(iv) with respect to each investment 

12 in an opportunity zone, assesses, and pre13 pares a written report detailing, how such 

14 investment will affect different racial and 

15 ethnic groups within the zone and submits 

16 such report to the Committee on Ways and 

17 Means of the House of Representatives, 

18 the Committee on Finance of the Senate, 

19 and the Joint Committee on Taxation. 

20 ‘‘(B) INVESTMENT ADVISORY BOARD.— 

21 The requirements of this subparagraph shall 

22 not be treated as met with respect to any fund 

23 unless such fund has, for each qualified oppor24 tunity zone within which the fund invests in 


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1 qualified opportunity zone property, an invest2 ment advisory board which— 

3 ‘‘(i) is appointed by the local govern4 ment of the jurisdiction within which the 

5 zone to which such advisory board relates 

6 is located, and 

7 ‘‘(ii) advises the fund in directing in8 vestments in the zone for the benefit of the 

9 zone. 

10 ‘‘(C) INVESTMENT DIVERSITY REQUIRE11 MENTS.—The requirements of this subpara12 graph shall not be treated as met with respect 

13 to any fund unless— 

14 ‘‘(i) at least 30 percent of the fund’s 

15 qualified opportunity zone property is 

16 qualified opportunity zone property with 

17 respect to an opportunity zone within a 

18 county, or local jurisdiction, the population 

19 of which is 200,000 or less, 

20 ‘‘(ii) at least 50 percent of the fund’s 

21 qualified opportunity zone property con22 sists of interests in partnerships, and stock 

23 of corporations, which are— 

24 ‘‘(I) small business concerns 

25 owned and controlled by women (withVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4999.IH H4999

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1 in the meaning of section 3(n) of the 

2 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 632(n)), or 

4 ‘‘(II) small business concerns 

5 owned and controlled by socially and 

6 economically disadvantaged individ7 uals under section 8(d)(3)(C) of such 

8 Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)), and 

9 ‘‘(iii) at least 40 percent of the fund’s 

10 qualified opportunity zone property con11 sists of— 

12 ‘‘(I) stock in corporations, inter13 ests in a partnerships, or other prop14 erty, the value of each of which does 

15 not exceed $20 million, and 

16 ‘‘(II) stock in corporations, or in17 terests in partnerships, the price-earn18 ings ratio of each of which is under 5. 

19 ‘‘(D) AFFORDABLE HOUSING INVESTMENT

20 REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements of this 

21 subparagraph shall not be treated as met with 

22 respect to any fund unless in the case of any 

23 investment in qualified opportunity zone prop24 erty which consists of a residential property 

25 project, at least 20 percent of the units in the 


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1 project are occupied by individuals whose in2 come is— 

3 ‘‘(i) not more than 30 percent of area 

4 median gross income, or 

5 ‘‘(ii) not more than 200 percent of the 

6 poverty line (as defined in section 673 of 

7 the Community Services Block Grant Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 9902)) for a family of the size 

9 involved. 

10 ‘‘(E) INVESTMENT MEASUREMENT.—For 

11 purposes of this paragraph, percentages of 

12 qualified opportunity zone property held by a 

13 qualified opportunity fund shall be determined 

14 under rules similar to the rules of paragraph 

15 (1). 

16 ‘‘(F) FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENT.— 

17 In the case of a qualified opportunity fund 

18 which fails to meet any of the requirements of 

19 this paragraph, subsection (b) shall be applied 

20 by substituting the date of such failure for ‘De21 cember 31, 2026’ in paragraph (1)(B) there22 of.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act. 

Æ 


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