II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3823 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat spaceports like airports 

for purposes of exempt facility bond rules. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2024 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. LUJA ́N) 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 treat spaceports like airports for purposes of exempt facility bond 

rules. 

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 ‘‘Secure U.S. Leader5 ship in Space Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS ARE TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER 

7 EXEMPT FACILITY BOND RULES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a)(1) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(1) airports and spaceports,’’. 


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1 (b) TREATMENT OF GROUND LEASES.—Section 

2 142(b)(1) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

3 the following new subparagraph: 

4 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPACEPORT

5 GROUND LEASES.—For purposes of subpara6 graph (A), spaceport property located on land 

7 leased by a governmental unit from the United 

8 States shall not fail to be treated as owned by 

9 a governmental unit if the requirements of this 

10 paragraph are met by the lease and any sub11 leases of the property.’’. 

12 (c) DEFINITION OF SPACEPORT.—Section 142 of 

13 such Code is amended by adding at the end the following 

14 new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(p) SPACEPORT.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

17 (a)(1), the term ‘spaceport’ means any facility lo18 cated at or in close proximity to a launch site or re19 entry site used for— 

20 ‘‘(A) manufacturing, assembling, or repair21 ing spacecraft, space cargo, other facilities de22 scribed in this paragraph, or any component of 

23 the foregoing, 

24 ‘‘(B) flight control operations, 


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1 ‘‘(C) providing launch services and reentry 

2 services, or 

3 ‘‘(D) transferring crew, spaceflight partici4 pants, or space cargo to or from spacecraft. 

5 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—For purposes of 

6 paragraph (1)— 

7 ‘‘(A) SPACE CARGO.—The term ‘space 

8 cargo’ includes satellites, scientific experiments, 

9 other property transported into space, and any 

10 other type of payload, whether or not such 

11 property returns from space. 

12 ‘‘(B) SPACECRAFT.—The term ‘spacecraft’ 

13 means a launch vehicle or a reentry vehicle. 

14 ‘‘(C) OTHER TERMS.—The terms ‘launch’, 

15 ‘launch site’, ‘crew’, ‘space flight participant’, 

16 ‘launch services’, ‘launch vehicle’, ‘payload’, ‘re17 enter’, ‘reentry services’, ‘reentry site’, a ‘re18 entry vehicle’ shall have the respective meanings 

19 given to such terms by section 50902 of title 

20 51, United States Code (as in effect on the date 

21 of enactment of this subsection). 

22 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC USE REQUIREMENT.—Notwith23 standing any other provision of law, a facility shall 

24 not be required to be available for use by the general 


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1 public to be treated as a spaceport for purposes of 

2 this section. 

3 ‘‘(4) MANUFACTURING FACILITIES AND INDUS4 TRIAL PARKS ALLOWED.—With respect to space5 ports, subsection (c)(2)(E) shall not apply to space6 port porperty described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 

7 (d) EXCEPTION FROM FEDERALLY GUARANTEED

8 BOND PROHIBITION.—Section 149(b)(3) of such Code is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara10 graph: 

11 ‘‘(F) EXCEPTION FOR SPACEPORTS.—A 

12 bond shall not be treated as federally guaran13 teed merely because of the payment of rent, 

14 user fees, or other charges by the United States 

15 (or any agency or instrumentality thereof) in 

16 exchange for the use of the spaceport by the 

17 United States (or any agency or instrumentality 

18 thereof).’’. 

19 (e) EXCLUSION FROM STATE CEILING.—Section 

20 146(g) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

21 end of paragraph (5), by striking the period and inserting 

22 ‘‘, and’’ at the end of paragraph (6), and by inserting after 

23 paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(7) any exempt facility bond issued as part of 

25 an issue 95 percent or more of the net proceeds of 


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1 which are to be used to provide a spaceport (as de2 fined in section 142).’’. 

3 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 

4 section 142(c) of such Code is amended by inserting 

5 ‘‘SPACEPORTS,’’ after ‘‘AIRPORTS,’’. 

6 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to obligations issued after the date 

8 of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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