I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1907

To permit State and local governments to transfer—by sale or lease—Federalaid facilities to the private sector without repayment of Federal grants,

provided the facility continues to be used for its original purpose, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 21, 1995

Mr. MCINTOSH (for himself and Mr. HORN) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To permit State and local governments to transfer—by sale

or lease—Federal-aid facilities to the private sector without repayment of Federal grants, provided the facility

continues to be used for its original purpose, and for

other purposes.

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 ‘‘Federal-aid Facility

5 Privatization Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this title:

3 (a) ‘‘Privatization’’ means the disposition or

4 transfer of an infrastructure asset, whether by sale,

5 lease, or similar arrangement, from a State or local

6 government to a private party.

7 (b) ‘‘Infrastructure asset’’ means any asset fi8 nanced in whole or in part by the Federal Govern9 ment and needed for the functioning of the economy.

10 Examples of such assets include, but are not limited

11 to: roads, tunnels, bridges, electricity supply facili12 ties, mass transit, rail transportation, airports,

13 ports, waterways, water supply and delivery facili14 ties, recycling and wastewater treatment facilities,

15 solid waste disposal facilities, housing, schools, pris16 ons, and hospitals.

17 (c) ‘‘Originally authorized purposes’’ means the

18 general objectives of the original grant program;

19 however, the term is not intended to include every

20 condition required for a grantee to have obtained the

21 original grant.

22 (d) ‘‘State and local governments’’ means the

23 government of any State of the United States, the

24 District of Columbia, any commonwealth, territory

25 or possession of the United States, and any county,

26 municipality, city, town, township, local public au-
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HR 1907 IH

1 thority, school district, special district, intrastate

2 district, regional or interstate government entity,

3 council of governments, and any agency of instru4 mentality of a local government, and any federally

5 recognized Indian Tribe.

6 SEC. 3. PRIVATIZATION INITIATIVES BY STATE AND LOCAL

7 GOVERNMENTS.

8 The head of each executive department and agency

9 shall undertake the following actions:

10 (a) Assist State and local governments in their

11 efforts to privatize their infrastructure assets.

12 (b) Approve requests from State and local gov13 ernments to privatize infrastructure assets and

14 waive or modify any grant assurance, consistent with

15 section 4.

16 SEC. 4. CRITERIA.

17 The head of an executive department or agency shall

18 approve a request if—

19 (a) the State or local government demonstrates

20 that a market mechanism, legally enforceable agree21 ment, or regulatory mechanism will ensure that the

22 infrastructure asset or assets continue to be used for

23 their originally authorized purposes, so long as need24 ed for those purposes; and
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1 (b) the private party purchasing or leasing the

2 infrastructure asset agrees to comply with all appli3 cable grant assurances.

4 SEC. 5. NO OBLIGATION TO REPAY FEDERAL GRANT

5 MONIES.

6 A State or local government shall have no obligation

7 to repay to any agency of the Federal government any fed8 eral grant monies received by the State or local govern9 ment in connection with the infrastructure asset that is

10 being privatized.

11 SEC. 6. USE OF PROCEEDS.

12 A State or local government may use proceeds from

13 the privatization of an infrastructure asset to the extent

14 permitted under applicable grant assurances and provi15 sions. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

16 State or local government shall be permitted to recover

17 its capital investment, an amount equal to its unreim18 bursed operating expenses in any infrastructure asset, and

19 a reasonable rate of return.

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