II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1233 

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

income tax to facilitate the accelerated development and deployment 

of advanced safety systems for commercial motor vehicles. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 20 (legislative day, JUNE 16), 2011 

Ms. STABENOW 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 credit against income tax to facilitate the accelerated 

development and deployment of advanced safety systems 

for commercial motor vehicles. 

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 ‘‘Commercial Motor Ve5 hicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR ADVANCED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE 

2 SAFETY SYSTEMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D 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. 45S. CREDIT FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ADVANCED 

8 SAFETY SYSTEMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—For purposes of sec10 tion 38, the commercial vehicle advanced safety system 

11 credit determined under this section is an amount equal 

12 to 50 percent of the cost of any qualified commercial vehi13 cle advanced safety system placed in service by the tax14 payer during the taxable year. 

15 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) PER SYSTEM.—The credit allowable under 

17 subsection (a) for each qualified commercial vehicle 

18 advanced safety system shall not exceed $1,500. 

19 ‘‘(2) PER VEHICLE.—The credit allowable 

20 under subsection (a) with respect to property for 

21 each qualified commercial vehicle shall not exceed— 

22 ‘‘(A) $3,500, reduced by 

23 ‘‘(B) the aggregate amount of credit al24 lowed to the taxpayer under this section with 

25 respect to such vehicle for all prior taxable 

26 years. 


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1 ‘‘(3) PER TAXPAYER.—The credit allowable 

2 under subsection (a) to the taxpayer for the taxable 

3 year shall not exceed $350,000. 

4 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ADVANCED

5 SAFETY SYSTEM.—For purposes of this section, the term 

6 ‘qualified commercial vehicle advanced safety system’ 

7 means any property which is part of a system installed 

8 on a qualified commercial vehicle if— 

9 ‘‘(1)(A) such system is a brake stroke moni10 toring system, lane departure warning system, colli11 sion warning system, or vehicle stability system, or 

12 ‘‘(B) such system is specifically identified by 

13 the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier 

14 Safety Administration or the Administrator of the 

15 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 

16 the purposes of this paragraph as significantly en17 hancing the safety or security of the driver, vehicle, 

18 passengers, or load of a qualified commercial vehicle 

19 and such identification is in effect as of the date 

20 such system is placed in service by the taxpayer, 

21 ‘‘(2) such system is certified by the manufac22 turer of such system (before such vehicle is first 

23 used by the taxpayer for its intended purpose after 

24 installation of such system)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to be appropriate for the make, type, 

2 and model of the qualified commercial vehicle 

3 on which it is to be installed, and 

4 ‘‘(B) to function as designed if installed 

5 properly, 

6 ‘‘(3) in the case of a system which is not in7 stalled by the manufacturer of the qualified commer8 cial vehicle or by an installer authorized by the man9 ufacturer of such system, such system is certified by 

10 the installer of such system to be properly installed 

11 and functioning on the vehicle before such vehicle is 

12 first used by the taxpayer for its intended purpose 

13 after installation of such system, 

14 ‘‘(4) the original use of such system begins with 

15 the taxpayer, and 

16 ‘‘(5) depreciation (or amortization in lieu of de17 preciation) is allowable with respect to such system. 

18 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.—For pur19 poses of this section, the term ‘qualified commercial vehi20 cle’ means any highway motor vehicle if— 

21 ‘‘(1) such vehicle— 

22 ‘‘(A) is to be used to transport persons or 

23 property in commerce, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) has a gross combination weight rat2 ing or a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 

3 pounds or more, or 

4 ‘‘(C) the seating capacity of which is at 

5 least 15 individuals (not including the driver), 

6 ‘‘(2) the seating capacity of such vehicle is at 

7 least 11 individuals (not including the driver) and 

8 such vehicle is reasonably expected to be used as a 

9 school bus (as defined in section 4221(d)(7)(C)), or 

10 ‘‘(3) such vehicle is reasonably expected to be 

11 used as an intercity or local bus (as defined in sec12 tion 4221(d)(7)(B)). 

13 ‘‘(e) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

14 section— 

15 ‘‘(1) BRAKE STROKE MONITORING SYSTEM.— 

16 The term ‘brake stroke monitoring system’ means 

17 any onboard-monitoring system for air-braked vehi18 cles that— 

19 ‘‘(A) uses electronic sensors to determine if 

20 the brakes are out of adjustment, not oper21 ational, or not fully releasing, and 

22 ‘‘(B) displays warnings to the driver show23 ing the existence and exact location and nature 

24 of the problem. 


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1 ‘‘(2) LANE DEPARTURE WARNING SYSTEM.— 

2 The term ‘lane departure warning system’ means 

3 any system that alerts a driver (including audio, vis4 ual, and tactile warnings) of unintended movement 

5 out of the lane of travel or of an object or vehicle 

6 in the adjacent lane blind spot. 

7 ‘‘(3) COLLISION WARNING SYSTEM.—The term 

8 ‘collision warning system’ means any system that— 

9 ‘‘(A) monitors the roadway in front, to the 

10 side, or to the rear of the vehicle, 

11 ‘‘(B) warns the driver when a potential col12 lision risk exists by providing the driver with an 

13 audible, visual, or tactile notification, and 

14 ‘‘(C) may autonomously slow or redirect 

15 the vehicle. 

16 ‘‘(4) VEHICLE STABILITY SYSTEM.—The term 

17 ‘vehicle stability system’ means any active safety 

18 system that automatically intervenes when there is a 

19 high risk of rollover or directional instability. For 

20 purposes of the preceding sentence, active interven21 tions include automatically reducing vehicle speed or 

22 by selectively applying appropriate brakes to better 

23 align the vehicle to the appropriate path of travel. 

24 ‘‘(f) CONTROLLED GROUPS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec2 tion, all persons treated as a single employer under 

3 subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 or subsection (m) 

4 or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as a single tax5 payer. 

6 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF FOREIGN CORPORATIONS.— 

7 For purposes of paragraph (1), in applying sub8 sections (a) and (b) of section 52 to this section, sec9 tion 1563 shall be applied without regard to sub10 section (b)(2)(C) thereof. 

11 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) BASIS REDUCTION.—The basis of any 

13 property for which a credit is allowable under sub14 section (a) shall be reduced by the amount of such 

15 credit. 

16 ‘‘(2) RECAPTURE.—The Secretary shall, by reg17 ulations, provide for recapturing the benefit of any 

18 credit allowable under subsection (a) with respect to 

19 any property which ceases to be property eligible for 

20 such credit. 

21 ‘‘(3) PROPERTY USED OUTSIDE UNITED STATES

22 NOT QUALIFIED.—No credit shall be allowed under 

23 subsection (a) with respect to any property referred 

24 to in section 50(b)(1) or with respect to the portion 


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1 of the cost of any property taken into account under 

2 section 179. 

3 ‘‘(4) PROPERTY USED BY TAX-EXEMPT ENTI4 TY.—In the case of any qualified commercial vehicle 

5 advanced safety system the use of which is described 

6 in paragraph (3) or (4) of section 50(b) and which 

7 is not subject to a lease— 

8 ‘‘(A) the person who sold such property to 

9 the person or entity using such property shall 

10 be treated as the taxpayer that placed such 

11 property in service, but only if such person 

12 clearly discloses to such person or entity in a 

13 document the amount of any credit allowable 

14 under subsection (a) with respect to such prop15 erty (determined without regard to section 

16 38(c)), and 

17 ‘‘(B) paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection 

18 (c) shall not apply to such person with respect 

19 to such property. 

20 ‘‘(5) ELECTION NOT TO TAKE CREDIT.—No 

21 credit shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any 

22 qualified commercial vehicle advanced safety system 

23 if the taxpayer elects to not have this section apply 

24 to such system. 


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1 ‘‘(h) SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION.—No credit 

2 shall be allowed under subsection (a) unless the qualified 

3 commercial vehicle owner receives such documentation as 

4 the Secretary may require, including— 

5 ‘‘(1) at the time of purchase of the qualified ad6 vanced commercial vehicle advanced safety system— 

7 ‘‘(A) documentation that identifies— 

8 ‘‘(i) the type of each such system to 

9 be installed on the vehicle, and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the purchase date of the vehicle 

11 containing such system (or the installation 

12 date of such system in the case of installa13 tion after the date of the first retail sale 

14 of such vehicle), and 

15 ‘‘(B) the certification required under sub16 section (c)(2), and 

17 ‘‘(2) in the case of a system for which a certifi18 cation is required under subsection (c)(3), at the 

19 time of the installation of such system, the certifi20 cation required under subsection (c)(3). 

21 ‘‘(i) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 

22 property placed in service after December 31, 2016.’’. 

23 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

24 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of the Internal 

25 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at 


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1 the end of paragraph (35), by striking the period at the 

2 end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by add3 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(37) the commercial vehicle advanced safety 

5 system credit determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

6 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

7 (1) Section 1016(a) of the Internal Revenue 

8 Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

9 end of paragraph (36), by striking the period at the 

10 end of paragraph (37) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 

11 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(38) to the extent provided in section 

13 45S(g)(1).’’. 

14 (2) Subsection (m) of section 6501 of such 

15 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘45S(g)(5),’’ after 

16 ‘‘45H(g),’’. 

17 (3) The table of sections for subpart D of part 

18 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 

19 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec20 tion 45R the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Credit for commercial vehicle advanced safety systems.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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