I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5167 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for qualified 

environmental justice programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. SEWELL

of Alabama, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. MOORE, 

Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. DELBENE, and Ms. JUDY CHU of California) 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 

a credit for qualified environmental justice programs. 

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 ‘‘Creating Opportunities 

5 in Research for Environmental Justice Act of 2019’’ or 

6 the ‘‘CORE Justice Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM 

2 CREDIT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 36C. QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRO8 GRAMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli10 gible educational institution, there shall be allowed as a 

11 credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for any tax12 able year an amount equal to the applicable percentage 

13 of the amounts paid or incurred by such taxpayer during 

14 such taxable year which are necessary for a qualified envi15 ronmental justice program. 

16 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRO17 GRAM.—For purposes of this section— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified envi19 ronmental justice program’ means a program con20 ducted by one or more eligible educational institu21 tions that is designed to address, or improve data 

22 about, qualified environmental stressors for the pri23 mary purpose of improving, or facilitating the im24 provement of, health and economic outcomes of indi25 viduals residing in low-income areas or areas popuVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167

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1 lated disproportionately by racial or ethnic minori2 ties. 

3 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSOR.— 

4 The term ‘qualified environmental stressor’ means, 

5 with respect to an area, a contamination of the air, 

6 water, soil, or food with respect to such area or a 

7 change relative to historical norms of the weather 

8 conditions of such area. 

9 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—For 

10 purposes of this section, the term ‘eligible educational in11 stitution’ means an institution of higher education (as 

12 such term is defined in section 101 or 102(c) of the High13 er Education Act of 1965) that is eligible to participate 

14 in a program under title IV of such Act. 

15 ‘‘(d) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGE.—For purposes of 

16 this section, the term ‘applicable percentage’ means— 

17 ‘‘(1) in the case of a program involving material 

18 participation of faculty and students of an institu19 tion described in section 371(a) of the Higher Edu20 cation Act of 1965, 30 percent , and 

21 ‘‘(2) in all other cases, 20 percent. 

22 ‘‘(e) CREDIT ALLOCATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

25 allocate credit dollar amounts under this section 


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1 to eligible educational institutions, for qualified 

2 environmental justice programs, that— 

3 ‘‘(i) submit applications at such time 

4 and in such manner as the Secretary may 

5 provide, and 

6 ‘‘(ii) are selected by the Secretary 

7 under subparagraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(B) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Sec9 retary, after consultation with the Secretary of 

10 Energy, the Secretary of Education, the Sec11 retary of Health and Human Services, and the 

12 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

13 Agency, shall select applications on the basis of 

14 the following criteria: 

15 ‘‘(i) The extent of participation of fac16 ulty and students of an institution de17 scribed in section 371(a) of the Higher 

18 Education Act of 1965. 

19 ‘‘(ii) The extent of the expected effect 

20 on the health or economic outcomes of in21 dividuals residing in areas within the 

22 United States that are low-income areas or 

23 areas populated disproportionately by ra24 cial or ethnic minorities. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) The creation or significant ex2 pansion of qualified environmental justice 

3 programs. 

4 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the 

6 credit determined under this section for any 

7 taxable year to any eligible educational institu8 tion for any qualified environmental justice pro9 gram shall not exceed the excess of— 

10 ‘‘(i) the credit dollar amount allocated 

11 to such institution for such program under 

12 this subsection, over 

13 ‘‘(ii) the credits previously claimed by 

14 such institution for such program under 

15 this section. 

16 ‘‘(B) FIVE-YEAR LIMITATION.—No 

17 amounts paid or incurred after the 5-year pe18 riod beginning on the date a credit dollar 

19 amount is allocated to an eligible educational 

20 institution for a qualified environmental justice 

21 program shall be taken into account under sub22 section (a) with respect to such institution for 

23 such program. 


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1 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION LIMITATION.—The total 

2 amount of credits that may be allocated under 

3 the program shall not exceed— 

4 ‘‘(i) $1,000,000,000 for each of 2020, 

5 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and 

6 ‘‘(ii) $0 for each subsequent year. 

7 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible educational in9 stitution that has been allocated credit dollar 

10 amounts under this section for a qualified environ11 mental justice project for a taxable year shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) make publicly available the applica13 tion submitted to the Secretary under sub14 section (e) with respect to such project, and 

15 ‘‘(B) submit an annual report to the Sec16 retary that describes the amounts paid or in17 curred for, and expected impact of, such 

18 project. 

19 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—In the case of an 

20 eligible educations institution that has failed to com21 ply with the requirements of this subsection, the 

22 credit dollar amount allocated to such institution 

23 under this section is deemed to be $0. 


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1 ‘‘(g) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—The Secretary, upon 

2 making an allocation of credit dollar amounts under this 

3 section, shall publicly disclose— 

4 ‘‘(1) the identity of the eligible educational in5 stitution receiving the allocation, and 

6 ‘‘(2) the amount of such allocation.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is 

9 amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 

10 (2) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 

11 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

12 ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

15 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in16 serting after the item relating to section 36B the following 

17 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 36C. Qualified environmental justice programs.’’. 

18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this subsection shall take effect on the date of the enact20 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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