I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3397 

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

certain disaster resilient property. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2015 

Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, and Mr. DEFAZIO) 

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 

a credit for owning certain disaster resilient property. 

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 ‘‘Disaster Savings and 

5 Resilient Construction Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISASTER RESILIENT PROPERTY TAX CREDIT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

9 1986 is amended by inserting after section 30D the fol10 lowing new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 30E. DISASTER RESILIENT PROPERTY. 

2 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be allowed as a 

3 credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for the tax4 able year an amount equal to the applicable amount for 

5 each qualified building placed in service during the taxable 

6 year. 

7 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes of sub8 section (a)— 

9 ‘‘(1) COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.—In the case of a 

10 qualified commercial property, the applicable amount 

11 is the lesser of— 

12 ‘‘(A) 1 percent of the cost of the building, 

13 or 

14 ‘‘(B) $25,000 per building. 

15 ‘‘(2) RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY.—In the case of 

16 a qualified residential property, the applicable 

17 amount is the lesser of— 

18 ‘‘(A) 1 percent of the cost of the property 

19 (or construction cost for rehabilitation of the 

20 property), or 

21 ‘‘(B) $3,000 per property. 

22 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED BUILDING.—For purposes of sub23 section (a)— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified build25 ing’ means a building— 


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1 ‘‘(A) owned by the taxpayer in a disaster 

2 area determined as a result of a federally de3 clared major disaster, 

4 ‘‘(B) the construction of which began after 

5 the date of such disaster in that area, 

6 ‘‘(C) which— 

7 ‘‘(i) is qualified commercial property 

8 placed in service for commercial purposes, 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(ii) is qualified residential property is 

11 placed in service for residential purposes, 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(D) for which a certificate of occupancy is 

14 issued before the end of the 3-year period be15 ginning on the date of such disaster declaration 

16 in that area. 

17 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.—The 

18 term ‘qualified commercial property’ means a build19 ing that is— 

20 ‘‘(A) located in the United States, 

21 ‘‘(B) defined in the scope of the 2009 or 

22 later International Building Code published by 

23 the International Code Council, and 

24 ‘‘(C) designed and constructed to meet re25 silient construction requirements. 


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1 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY.— 

2 The term ‘qualified residential property’ means a 

3 building that is— 

4 ‘‘(A) located in the United States, 

5 ‘‘(B) defined in the scope of the 2009 or 

6 later International Residential Code published 

7 by the International Code Council, and 

8 ‘‘(C) designed and constructed to meet re9 silient construction requirements. 

10 ‘‘(d) RESILIENT CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 For purposes of this section— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The resilient construction 

13 requirements with respect to a property are that the 

14 property is designed and constructed to— 

15 ‘‘(A) resist hazards brought on by a major 

16 disaster and continues to provide its primary 

17 functions after a major disaster, 

18 ‘‘(B) reduce the magnitude or duration of 

19 a disruptive event, and 

20 ‘‘(C) have the absorptive capacity, adaptive 

21 capacity, and recoverability to withstand a po22 tentially disruptive event. 

23 ‘‘(2) TREATED AS MEETING RESILIENCY RE24 QUIREMENTS.—For purposes of paragraph (1)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of a qualified commercial 

2 property, the property shall be treated as meet3 ing the requirements specified in paragraph (1) 

4 if the property is a building which— 

5 ‘‘(i) was designed to meet the require6 ments of the 2009 or later International 

7 Building Code published by the Inter8 national Code Council and received the In9 surance Institute for Business and Home 

10 Safety FORTIFIED for Safer Business 

11 designation, or 

12 ‘‘(ii) was designed and built in a juris13 diction that requires commercial buildings 

14 to meet the requirements of the 2009 or 

15 later International Building Code pub16 lished by the International Code Council 

17 with amendments that are equivalent or 

18 more restrictive than the requirements de19 scribed in FORTIFIED for Safer Business 

20 Standards published by the Insurance In21 stitute for Business and Home Safety and 

22 received a certificate of occupancy (or 

23 other documentation stating that it has 

24 met the requirements of the building code) 

25 from the jurisdiction, and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of a qualified residential 

2 property, the property shall be treated as meet3 ing the requirements specified in paragraph (1) 

4 if the property is a building which was designed 

5 to meet the requirements of the 2009 or later 

6 International Residential Code published by the 

7 International Code Council, and meets one of 

8 the following requirements: 

9 ‘‘(i) The building received the Insur10 ance Institute for Business and Home 

11 Safety as FORTIFIED for Safer Living 

12 designation. 

13 ‘‘(ii) The building received the Insur14 ance Institute for Business and Home 

15 Safety as FORTIFIED for Existing 

16 Homes designation, silver level. 

17 ‘‘(iii) It was designed and built in a 

18 jurisdiction that requires residential build19 ings to meet the requirements of the 2009 

20 or later International Building Code pub21 lished by the International Code Council 

22 with amendments that are equivalent or 

23 more restrictive than the requirements de24 scribed in FORTIFIED for Safer Living 

25 Builders Guide published by the Insurance 


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1 Institute for Business and Home Safety 

2 and received a certificate of occupancy (or 

3 other documentation stating that it has 

4 met the requirements of the building code) 

5 from the jurisdiction. 

6 ‘‘(3) ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY.—The term ‘ab7 sorptive capacity’ means the ability of the construc8 tion to endure a disruption without significant devi9 ation from normal operating performance. 

10 ‘‘(4) ADAPTIVE CAPACITY.—The term ‘adaptive 

11 capacity’ means the ability of the construction to 

12 adapt to a drastic change in normal operating condi13 tions. 

14 ‘‘(5) RECOVERABILITY.—The term 

15 ‘recoverability’ means the ability of the construction 

16 to recover quickly, and at low cost, from potentially 

17 disruptive events. 

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

19 section— 

20 ‘‘(1) CONSTRUCTION.—The term ‘construction’ 

21 includes new construction and reconstruction and re22 habilitation that meets resilient construction require23 ments. 

24 ‘‘(2) FEDERALLY DECLARED MAJOR DIS25 ASTER.—The term ‘federally declared major disVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:26 Aug 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3397.IH H3397

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1 aster’ means a disaster subsequently determined by 

2 the President of the United States to be a ‘major 

3 disaster’ that warrants assistance by the Federal 

4 Government under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

5 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. 

6 ‘‘(3) DISASTER AREA.—The term ‘disaster area’ 

7 means the area so determined to warrant such as8 sistance. 

9 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF

11 GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—So much of the credit 

12 which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any 

13 taxable year (determined without regard to this sub14 section) that is attributable to property of a char15 acter subject to an allowance for depreciation shall 

16 be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for such 

17 taxable year (and not allowed under subsection (a)). 

18 ‘‘(2) PERSONAL CREDIT.—For purposes of this 

19 title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for any 

20 taxable year (determined after application of para21 graph (1)) shall be treated as a credit allowable 

22 under subpart A for such taxable year. 

23 ‘‘(g) BASIS REDUCTION.—For purposes of this sub24 title, the basis of any property for which a credit is allowVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:26 Aug 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3397.IH H3397

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1 able under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the amount 

2 of such credit so allowed. 

3 ‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 

4 any property for which a certificate for occupancy is issued 

5 after December 31, 2019.’’. 

6 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

7 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik8 ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by striking the 

9 period at the end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 

10 and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(37) the portion of the disaster resilient prop12 erty credit to which section 30E(f)(1) applies.’’. 

13 (c) BASIS ADJUSTMENT.—Section 1016(a) of such 

14 Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para15 graph (30), by striking the period at the end of paragraph 

16 (31) and inserting a comma, by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end 

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

18 paragraph (37) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at 

19 the end the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(38) to the extent provided in section 30E(g), 

21 in the case of amounts with respect to which a credit 

22 has been allowed under section 30E.’’. 

23 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 


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1 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 30D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 30E. Disaster resilient property.’’. 

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

4 this section shall apply to property for which a certificate 

5 for occupancy is issued after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act. 

Æ 


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