I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1251 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-exempt 

financing of certain government-owned buildings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSON of 

Connecticut, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. KIND, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. SUOZZI, 

Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. HURD of Texas) 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 

for the tax-exempt financing of certain governmentowned buildings. 

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 ‘‘Public Buildings Re5 newal Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOVERN7 MENT BUILDINGS. 

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

9 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 


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1 end of paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end 

2 of paragraph (15) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at 

3 the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(16) qualified government buildings.’’. 

5 (b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 

6 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 

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

10 (a)(16), the term ‘qualified governmental buildings’ 

11 means any building or facility that consists of one 

12 or more of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) An elementary school or a secondary 

14 school (within the meanings given such terms 

15 by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec16 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

17 8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 

18 of this subsection). 

19 ‘‘(B) Facilities of a State college or univer20 sity used for educational purposes. 

21 ‘‘(C) A library maintained for, and open 

22 to, the general public. 

23 ‘‘(D) A Court of law. 

24 ‘‘(E) A hospital, health care facilities, lab25 oratory facilities or research facilities. 


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1 ‘‘(F) Public safety facilities (including po2 lice, fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster 

3 management, and ambulance or emergency 

4 medical service facilities and jails and correc5 tional facilities). 

6 ‘‘(G) Offices for employees of a govern7 mental unit. 

8 Such term shall include any equipment, functionally 

9 related and subordinate facility, or land (and any 

10 real property rights appurtenant thereto) with re11 spect to any such building or facility. 

12 ‘‘(2) SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED FACILITIES.— 

13 Such term shall not include— 

14 ‘‘(A) a building or facility the primary pur15 pose of which is one of the following: retail food 

16 and beverage services, or the provision of recre17 ation or entertainment, or 

18 ‘‘(B) any building or facility that includes 

19 any of the following: any private or commercial 

20 golf course, country club, massage parlor, ten21 nis club, skating facility (including roller skat22 ing, skateboard, and ice skating), racquet 

23 sports facility (including any handball or 

24 racquetball court), hot tub facility, suntan facilVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1251.IH H1251

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1 ity, racetrack, convention center, or sports sta2 dium or arena. 

3 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF

4 TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR QUALIFIED GOVERN5 MENTAL BUILDING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) NATIONAL LIMITATION.—The aggre7 gate amount allocated by the Secretary under 

8 subparagraph (C) shall not exceed 

9 $5,000,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LIMI11 TATION.—An issue shall not be treated as an 

12 issue described in subsection (a)(16) if the ag13 gregate face amount of bonds issued pursuant 

14 to such issue for any qualified governmental 

15 building (when added to the aggregate face 

16 amount of bonds previously so issued for such 

17 facility) exceeds the amount allocated to such 

18 qualified governmental building under subpara19 graph (C). 

20 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION BY THE SECRETARY.— 

21 The Secretary shall allocate a portion of the 

22 amount described in subparagraph (A) to a 

23 qualified governmental building if the Secretary 

24 determines that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the application for financing of 

2 such qualified governmental building meets 

3 the requirements set forth in subparagraph 

4 (D), and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the amount of the allocation re6 quested, if allocated by the Secretary, 

7 would not cause the national limitation set 

8 forth in subparagraph (A) to be exceeded. 

9 ‘‘(D) APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCING.—An 

10 application for financing a qualified govern11 mental building meets the requirements of this 

12 subparagraph if such application includes— 

13 ‘‘(i) the amount of the allocation re14 quested, 

15 ‘‘(ii) the name of the governmental 

16 unit that will own the project, together 

17 with complete contact information, 

18 ‘‘(iii) a description of the project as a 

19 whole and the proposed organizational and 

20 legal structure of the project, 

21 ‘‘(iv) a timeline showing the estimated 

22 start and completion dates for each major 

23 phase or milestone of project development 

24 and an indication of the current status of 

25 milestones on this timeline, including all 


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1 necessary permits and environmental ap2 provals, 

3 ‘‘(v) a statement of anticipated 

4 sources and uses of funds for the project, 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(vi) the following declaration signed 

7 by an individual who has personal knowl8 edge of the relevant facts and cir9 cumstances: ‘‘Under penalties of perjury, I 

10 declare that I have examined this docu11 ment and, to the best of my knowledge and 

12 belief, the document contains all the rel13 evant facts relating to the document, and 

14 such facts are true, correct, and complete.’’ 

15 ‘‘(E) USE OF ALLOCATION IN A TIMELY

16 MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 

17 Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 

18 not issued in the amount of such allocation 

19 after the date that is 2 years after the date of 

20 such allocation, then the unused portion of the 

21 allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the Sec22 retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap23 plicant, grants an extension of such date. 

24 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CURRENT REFUNDING

25 BONDS.—Paragraph (4) shall not apply to any bond 


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1 (or series of bonds) issued to refund a bond issued 

2 under subsection (a)(16) if— 

3 ‘‘(A) the average maturity date of the issue 

4 of which the refunding bond is a part is not 

5 later than the average maturity date of the 

6 bonds to be refunded by such issue, 

7 ‘‘(B) the amount of the refunding bond 

8 does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 

9 refunded bond, and 

10 ‘‘(C) the refunded bond is redeemed not 

11 later than 90 days after the date of the 

12 issuance of the refunding bond. 

13 For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 

14 shall be determined in accordance with section 

15 147(b)(2)(A). 

16 ‘‘(5) OFFICE SPACE.—Subsection (b)(2) shall 

17 not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 

18 building. 

19 ‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED20 IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred21 it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 

22 any facility described in subsection (a)(16) which 

23 has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue.’’. 


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1 (c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 

2 Section 142(b)(1)(A) of such Code is amended by striking 

3 ‘‘or (12)’’ and inserting ‘‘(12), or (16)’’. 

4 (d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE

5 ACTIVITY BONDS.—Section 146(g)(3) of such Code is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘or (15)’’ and inserting ‘‘(15), or 

7 (16)’’. 

8 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 

10 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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