I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1396 

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 26, 2021 

Mr. BLUMENAUER 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 2021’’. 

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 

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


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

2 the end the following new paragraph: 

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

4 (b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 

5 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 

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

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

10 means any building or facility that consists of one 

11 or more of the following: 

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

13 school (within the meanings given such terms 

14 by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec15 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

16 8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 

17 of this subsection). 

18 ‘‘(B) Facilities of a State college or univer19 sity used for educational purposes. 

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

21 to, the general public. 

22 ‘‘(D) A Court of law. 

23 ‘‘(E) A hospital, health care facilities, lab24 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 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396

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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 ‘‘(vi) a certification from the govern6 mental unit that will own the project that 

7 such governmental unit will use reasonable 

8 efforts to ensure that there is no net loss 

9 of jobs as a result of the project, and 

10 ‘‘(vii) the following declaration signed 

11 by an individual who has personal knowl12 edge of the relevant facts and cir13 cumstances: ‘‘Under penalties of perjury, I 

14 declare that I have examined this docu15 ment and, to the best of my knowledge and 

16 belief, the document contains all the rel17 evant facts relating to the document, and 

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

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

20 MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 

21 Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 

22 not issued in the amount of such allocation 

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

24 such allocation, then the unused portion of the 

25 allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396

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1 retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap2 plicant, grants an extension of such date. 

3 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CURRENT REFUNDING

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

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

6 under subsection (a)(16) if— 

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

8 of which the refunding bond is a part is not 

9 later than the average maturity date of the 

10 bonds to be refunded by such issue, 

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

12 does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 

13 refunded bond, and 

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

15 later than 90 days after the date of the 

16 issuance of the refunding bond. 

17 For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 

18 shall be determined in accordance with section 

19 147(b)(2)(A). 

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

21 not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 

22 building. 

23 ‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED24 IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred25 it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 


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

2 has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue. 

3 ‘‘(7) APPLICATION OF DAVIS-BACON ACT RE4 QUIREMENTS.—If any proceeds of any issue are 

5 used for construction, alteration, or repair of any fa6 cility otherwise described in subsection (a)(16), such 

7 facility shall be treated for purposes of subsection 

8 (a) as described in such paragraph only if each enti9 ty that receives such proceeds to conduct such con10 struction, alteration, or repair agrees to comply with 

11 the provisions of subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 

12 40, United States Code with respect to such con13 struction, alteration, or repair.’’. 

14 (c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 

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

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

17 (d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE

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

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

20 (16)’’. 

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

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

23 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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