II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1575 

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

taxpayers who remove lead-based hazards. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2017 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. CASEY, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) 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 

a tax credit for taxpayers who remove lead-based hazards. 

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; FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Home Lead Safety Tax Credit Act of 2017’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that: 

7 (1) Lead is a metal that can produce a wide 

8 range of health effects in humans when ingested. 

9 Children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning than 

10 adults. 


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1 (2) Lead poisoning is a serious, entirely pre2 ventable threat to a child’s intelligence, behavior, 

3 and learning. In severe cases, lead poisoning can re4 sult in death. 

5 (3) According to the Department of Housing 

6 and Urban Development, approximately 23,000,000 

7 housing units nationwide have at least 1 lead paint 

8 hazard. 

9 (4) While appropriated Federal lead abatement 

10 programs, such as the Lead Hazard Control and 

11 Healthy Homes grant programs, have helped reduce 

12 childhood lead poisoning, funding constraints have 

13 limited their impact to only about 200,000 homes as 

14 of 2016. 

15 (5) Childhood lead poisoning can be dramati16 cally reduced by the abatement or complete removal 

17 of all lead-based hazards. Empirical studies also 

18 have shown substantial reductions in lead poisoning 

19 when the affected properties have undergone ‘‘in20 terim control measures’’ that are less costly than 

21 abatement. 

22 (c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en23 courage the safe removal of lead hazards from homes and 

24 thereby decrease the number of children who suffer reVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Jul 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1575.IS S1575

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1 duced intelligence, learning difficulties, behavioral prob2 lems, and other health consequences due to lead poisoning. 

3 SEC. 2. HOME LEAD HAZARD REDUCTION ACTIVITY TAX 

4 CREDIT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub6 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

7 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol8 lowing new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 36C. HOME LEAD HAZARD REDUCTION ACTIVITY. 

10 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

12 there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax im13 posed by this subtitle for the taxable year an amount 

14 equal to 50 percent of the lead hazard reduction ac15 tivity cost paid or incurred by the taxpayer during 

16 the taxable year for each eligible dwelling unit. 

17 ‘‘(2) ELECTION TO APPLY COSTS TO PRIOR

18 YEAR.—For purposes of this section, a taxpayer may 

19 elect to treat any lead hazard reduction activity cost 

20 paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable 

21 year as having been paid or incurred during the pre22 ceding taxable year. 

23 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), 

25 the amount of the credit allowed under subsection 


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1 (a) for any eligible dwelling unit for any taxable year 

2 shall not exceed— 

3 ‘‘(A) $3,000 in the case of lead hazard re4 duction activity cost including lead abatement 

5 measures described in clauses (i), (ii), (iv), and 

6 (v) of subsection (c)(1)(A), or 

7 ‘‘(B) $1,000 in the case of lead hazard re8 duction activity cost including interim lead con9 trol measures described in clauses (i), (iii), (iv), 

10 and (v) of subsection (c)(1)(A). 

11 ‘‘(2) OTHER TAX CREDITS.—In the case of any 

12 credit against State or local tax liabilities which is 

13 allowable under the laws of any State or political 

14 subdivision thereof to a taxpayer with respect to any 

15 costs paid or incurred by the taxpayer which would 

16 otherwise qualify as lead hazard reduction activity 

17 costs under this section (referred to in this para18 graph as the ‘State or local tax credit amount’), the 

19 amount of the credit allowed under subsection (a) 

20 for any eligible dwelling unit for any taxable year 

21 (determined after application of paragraph (1)) shall 

22 not exceed an amount equal to the difference be23 tween— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the lead hazard reduction activity 

2 cost paid or incurred by the taxpayer during 

3 the taxable year for such unit, and 

4 ‘‘(B) the State or local tax credit amount. 

5 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION PER RESIDENCE.—The cumu6 lative amount of the credit allowed under subsection 

7 (a) for an eligible dwelling unit for all taxable years 

8 shall not exceed $4,000. 

9 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur10 poses of this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) LEAD HAZARD REDUCTION ACTIVITY

12 COST.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘lead hazard 

14 reduction activity cost’ means, with respect to 

15 any eligible dwelling unit— 

16 ‘‘(i) the cost for a certified risk asses17 sor to conduct an assessment to determine 

18 the presence of a lead-based hazard (as 

19 such terms are defined by the Secretary, in 

20 consultation with the Administrator of the 

21 Environmental Protection Agency), 

22 ‘‘(ii) the cost for performing lead 

23 abatement measures by a certified lead 

24 abatement supervisor (as such term is de25 fined by the Secretary, in consultation with 


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1 the Administrator of the Environmental 

2 Protection Agency), including the removal 

3 of paint, dust, or pipes, the permanent en4 closure or encapsulation of lead-based 

5 paint or pipes, the replacement of painted 

6 surfaces, windows, or fixtures, or the re7 moval or permanent covering of soil when 

8 lead-based hazards are present, 

9 ‘‘(iii) the cost for performing interim 

10 lead control measures to reduce exposure 

11 or likely exposure to lead-based hazards, 

12 including specialized cleaning, repairs, 

13 maintenance, painting, temporary contain14 ment, ongoing monitoring of lead-based 

15 hazards, and the establishment and oper16 ation of management and resident edu17 cation programs, but only if such measures 

18 are evaluated and completed by a certified 

19 lead abatement supervisor using accepted 

20 methods, are conducted by a qualified con21 tractor, and have an expected useful life of 

22 more than 10 years, 

23 ‘‘(iv) the cost for a certified lead 

24 abatement supervisor, those working under 

25 the supervision of such supervisor, or a 


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1 qualified contractor to perform all prepara2 tion, cleanup, disposal, and clearance test3 ing activities associated with the lead 

4 abatement measures or interim lead con5 trol measures, and 

6 ‘‘(v) costs incurred by or on behalf of 

7 any occupant of such dwelling unit for any 

8 relocation which is necessary to achieve oc9 cupant protection (as such term is defined 

10 by the Secretary, in consultation with the 

11 Administrator of the Environmental Pro12 tection Agency). 

13 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The term ‘lead hazard 

14 reduction activity cost’ does not include any 

15 cost to the extent such cost is funded by any 

16 grant, contract, or otherwise by another person 

17 or any governmental agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE DWELLING UNIT.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible 

20 dwelling unit’ means, with respect to any tax21 able year, any dwelling unit— 

22 ‘‘(i) placed in service before 1978, 

23 ‘‘(ii) located in the United States, and 

24 ‘‘(iii) the residents of which during 

25 the preceding taxable year have a cumuVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Jul 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1575.IS S1575

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1 lative adjusted gross income of less than 

2 $110,000. 

3 ‘‘(B) DWELLING UNIT.—The term ‘dwell4 ing unit’ has the meaning given such term by 

5 section 280A(f)(1). 

6 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED CONTRACTOR.—The term 

7 ‘qualified contractor’ means any contractor who has 

8 successfully completed a training course on lead safe 

9 work practices which has been approved by the De10 partment of Housing and Urban Development and 

11 the Environmental Protection Agency. 

12 ‘‘(4) DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED FOR CREDIT

13 ALLOWANCE.—No credit shall be allowed under sub14 section (a) with respect to any eligible dwelling unit 

15 for any taxable year unless, after lead hazard reduc16 tion activity is complete, a certified inspector (as 

17 such term is defined by the Secretary, in consulta18 tion with the Administrator of the Environmental 

19 Protection Agency) or certified risk assessor pro20 vides written documentation to the taxpayer that in21 cludes— 

22 ‘‘(A) evidence that— 

23 ‘‘(i) the eligible dwelling unit meets 

24 the lead hazard reduction criteria defined 

25 by the Secretary, in consultation with the 


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1 Administrator of the Environmental Pro2 tection Agency, or 

3 ‘‘(ii) the eligible dwelling unit meets 

4 lead hazard evaluation criteria established 

5 under an authorized State or local pro6 gram, and 

7 ‘‘(B) documentation showing that the lead 

8 hazard reduction activity meets the require9 ments of this section. 

10 ‘‘(5) BASIS REDUCTION.—The basis of any 

11 property for which a credit is allowable under sub12 section (a) shall be reduced by the amount of such 

13 credit. 

14 ‘‘(6) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Any deduction al15 lowable for costs taken into account in computing 

16 the amount of the credit for lead-based abatement 

17 shall be reduced by the amount of such credit attrib18 utable to such costs. 

19 ‘‘(d) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of any 

20 taxable year beginning in a calendar year after 2018, each 

21 of the dollar amounts in subsections (b) and (c)(2)(A)(iii) 

22 shall be increased by an amount equal to— 

23 ‘‘(1) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

24 ‘‘(2) the cost-of-living adjustment determined 

25 under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which 


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1 the taxable year begins, determined by substituting 

2 ‘calendar year 2017’ for ‘calendar year 1992’ in sub3 paragraph (B) thereof. Any increase determined 

4 under the preceding sentence shall be rounded to the 

5 nearest multiple of $100.’’. 

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

7 (1) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

8 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ after 

9 ‘‘36B’’. 

10 (2) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

11 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev12 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting before 

13 the item relating to section 37 the following new 

14 item: 

‘‘Sec. 36C. Home lead hazard reduction activity.’’. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to lead hazard reduction activity 

17 costs incurred after December 31, 2017, in taxable years 

18 ending after that date. 

Æ 


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