II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2012 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the Indian 

Employment Credit and the depreciation rules for business property 

on Indian reservations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 25, 2017 

Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Ms. HEITKAMP) 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 make 

permanent the Indian Employment Credit and the depreciation rules for business property on Indian reservations, 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 ‘‘Tribal Economic As5 sistance Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF INDIAN TRIBES AS STATES WITH 

2 RESPECT TO BOND ISSUANCE. 

3 (a) REPEAL OF ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENTAL FUNC4 TION REQUIREMENT.—Section 7871 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subsections (b) 

6 and (e). 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply to transactions after, and obliga9 tions issued in calendar years beginning after, the date 

10 of the enactment of this Act. 

11 SEC. 3. MAKING PERMANENT THE INDIAN EMPLOYMENT 

12 CREDIT AND DEPRECATION RULES FOR BUSI13 NESS PROPERTY ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS. 

14 (a) INDIAN EMPLOYMENT CREDIT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 45A of the Internal 

16 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking sub17 section (f). 

18 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

19 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin20 ning after December 31, 2016. 

21 (b) ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION FOR BUSINESS

22 PROPERTY ON AN INDIAN RESERVATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 168(j) of the Inter24 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

25 paragraph (9). 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 this subsection shall apply to property placed in service 

3 after December 31, 2016. 

4 SEC. 4. PRIORITY UNDER NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT FOR 

5 QUALIFIED LOW-INCOME COMMUNITY IN6 VESTMENTS ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f) of section 45D of 

8 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

11 at the end; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

13 period and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

15 subparagraph: 

16 ‘‘(C) which intends to make qualified low17 income community investments within a res18 ervation, including any such entity established 

19 by a tribe or an economic enterprise which in20 tends to make such investments within a res21 ervation.’’; and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of subpara25 graph (C) of paragraph (2), the terms ‘reservation’, 


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1 ‘tribe’, and ‘economic enterprise’ shall have the same 

2 meanings given such terms under section 3 of the 

3 Indian Financing Act of 1974 (25 U.S.C. 1452).’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply to calendar years beginning after 

6 December 31, 2017. 

7 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION TO ESTABLISH QUALIFIED INDIAN 

8 SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND ESCROW AC9 COUNT. 

10 (a) AUTHORIZATION TO ESTABLISH QUALIFIED IN11 DIAN SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND ESCROW AC12 COUNT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title II of the In14 dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

15 Act (25 U.S.C. 5351) is amended by adding at the 

16 end the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 204A. AUTHORIZATION TO ESTABLISH QUALIFIED IN18 DIAN SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND ES19 CROW ACCOUNT. 

20 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ESCROW ACCOUNT.—The term 

22 ‘Federal escrow account’ means the qualified Indian 

23 school construction bond escrow account established 

24 under subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED INDIAN SCHOOL CONSTRUC2 TION BOND.—The term ‘qualified Indian school con3 struction bond’ means a bond for which the Sec4 retary of the Interior has provided an allocation pur5 suant to the authority provided to the Secretary 

6 under section 54F(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue 

7 Code. 

8 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

9 the Secretary of the Interior. 

10 ‘‘(b) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to the authority grant11 ed under section 54F(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code 

12 of 1986, the Secretary shall establish a Federal qualified 

13 Indian school construction bond escrow account for the 

14 purpose of implementing such section. 

15 ‘‘(c) USE OF ESCROW ACCOUNT.—The Secretary 

16 shall use amounts available under the Federal escrow ac17 count to carry out a qualified Indian school construction 

18 bond program for schools funded by the Bureau of Indian 

19 Affairs, through which— 

20 ‘‘(1) the Secretary shall approve qualified 

21 school construction bonds to the extent that amounts 

22 are available in the Federal escrow account to sup23 port the bonds pursuant to paragraph (2); 

24 ‘‘(2) upon the Secretary’s approval of a request 

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1 retary shall deposit, from amounts available in the 

2 Federal escrow account, the amount described in 

3 paragraph (4) in an individual bond escrow account 

4 that shall be managed for such qualified school con5 struction bond; 

6 ‘‘(3) the funds for the individual bond escrow 

7 account shall be held by the Federal Government or 

8 in an insured depository institution, as defined in 

9 section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

10 U.S.C. 1813), and shall be invested in appropriate 

11 Treasury securities; and 

12 ‘‘(4) the amount of the funds provided for the 

13 individual bond escrow account shall be an amount 

14 sufficient to repay the face value of the bond in a 

15 15-year period, based on the investment required 

16 under paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(d) TRANSFER TO ESCROW ACCOUNT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall deposit 

19 in the Federal escrow account such sums as are 

20 made available to implement this section and section 

21 54F(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

22 ‘‘(2) OTHER FUNDS.—The Secretary may ac23 cept and deposit in the Federal escrow account 

24 amounts received to carry out this section from any 

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1 eral public agencies, Indian Tribes, nonprofit organi2 zations, and private sector entities.’’. 

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 204 

4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education As5 sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5351) is amended by strik6 ing ‘‘this part B’’ each place the term appears and 

7 inserting ‘‘this section’’. 

8 (b) USE OF BONDS FOR REASONABLE AND NEC9 ESSARY PRECONSTRUCTION COSTS.—Section 54F(d)(4) 

10 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by strik11 ing ‘‘Affairs.’’ and inserting ‘‘Affairs, which may include 

12 paying the reasonable and necessary predevelopment costs 

13 directly associated with such construction, rehabilitation, 

14 or repair.’’. 

Æ 


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