II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3491 

To cut taxes for innovative businesses that produce renewable chemicals. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2012 

Ms. STABENOW introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To cut taxes for innovative businesses that produce renewable 

chemicals. 

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 ‘‘Qualifying Renewable 

5 Chemical Production Tax Credit Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE 

7 CHEMICALS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

11 section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 45S. CREDIT FOR PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE 

2 CHEMICALS. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 

4 renewable chemicals production credit for any taxable year 

5 is an amount (determined separately for each renewable 

6 chemical produced by the taxpayer) equal to $0.15 per 

7 pound of eligible content of renewable chemical produced 

8 by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The credit determined under sub10 section (a) with respect to any renewable chemical pro11 duced by any taxpayer during any taxable year shall not 

12 exceed the credit amount allocated by the Secretary to the 

13 taxpayer with respect to such chemical for such taxable 

14 year under subsection (e). 

15 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CONTENT.—For purposes of this sec16 tion— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible content’ 

18 means, with respect to any renewable chemical, the 

19 biobased content percentage of the total mass of or20 ganic carbon in such chemical. 

21 ‘‘(2) BIOBASED CONTENT PERCENTAGE.—The 

22 term ‘biobased content percentage’ means, with re23 spect to any renewable chemical, the biobased con24 tent of such chemical (expressed as a percentage) 

25 determined by testing representative samples using 


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1 the American Society for Testing and Materials 

2 (ASTM) D6866. 

3 ‘‘(d) RENEWABLE CHEMICAL.—For purposes of this 

4 section— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘renewable chem6 ical’ means any chemical which— 

7 ‘‘(A) is produced by the taxpayer in the 

8 United States (or in a territory or possession of 

9 the United States) from renewable biomass, 

10 ‘‘(B) is sold, or used, by the taxpayer— 

11 ‘‘(i) for the production of polymers, 

12 plastics, or formulated products, or 

13 ‘‘(ii) as polymers, plastics, or formu14 lated products, and 

15 ‘‘(C) is not sold or used for the production 

16 of any food, feed, or fuel. 

17 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term shall not in18 clude any chemical if— 

19 ‘‘(A) the biobased content percentage of 

20 such chemical is less than 25 percent, 

21 ‘‘(B) 10,000,000 pounds or more of such 

22 chemical was produced during calendar year 

23 2000 from renewable biomass, 

24 ‘‘(C) such chemical is not either the prod25 uct of, or reliant upon, biological conversion, 


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1 thermal conversion, or a combination of biologi2 cal and thermal conversion, of renewable bio3 mass, or 

4 ‘‘(D) such chemical is composed of renew5 able chemicals that are eligible for a credit 

6 under this section. 

7 ‘‘(3) RENEWABLE BIOMASS.—The term ‘renew8 able biomass’ has the meaning given such term in 

9 section 9001(12) of the Farm Security and Rural 

10 Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8101(12)). 

11 ‘‘(e) ALLOCATION OF CREDIT AMOUNTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

13 after enactment of this section, the Secretary, in 

14 consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall 

15 establish a program to allocate credit amounts under 

16 this section to applicants for taxable years. 

17 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) AGGREGATE LIMITATION.—The total 

19 amount of credits that may be allocated under 

20 such program shall not exceed $500,000,000. 

21 ‘‘(B) TAXPAYER LIMITATION.—The 

22 amount of credits that may be allocated to any 

23 taxpayer for any taxable year under such pro24 gram shall not exceed $25,000,000. For pur25 poses of the preceding sentence, all persons 


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1 treated as a single employer under subsection 

2 (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection (m) or 

3 (o) of section 414, shall be treated as one per4 son. 

5 ‘‘(3) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In determining 

6 which taxpayers to make allocations of credit 

7 amount under this section, the Secretary shall take 

8 into consideration— 

9 ‘‘(A) the number of jobs created and main10 tained (directly and indirectly) in the United 

11 States (including territories and possessions of 

12 the United States) as result of such allocation 

13 during the credit period and thereafter, 

14 ‘‘(B) the degree to which the production of 

15 the renewable chemical demonstrates reduced 

16 dependence on imported feedstocks, petroleum, 

17 non-renewable resources, or other fossil fuels, 

18 ‘‘(C) the technological innovation involved 

19 in the production method of the renewable 

20 chemical, 

21 ‘‘(D) the energy efficiency and reduction in 

22 lifecycle greenhouse gases of the renewable 

23 chemical or of the production method of the re24 newable chemical, and 


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1 ‘‘(E) whether there is a reasonable expec2 tation of commercial viability. 

3 ‘‘(4) REDISTRIBUTION.—If a credit amount al4 located to a taxpayer for a taxable year with respect 

5 to any renewable chemical (determined without re6 gard to this paragraph) exceeds the amount of the 

7 credit with respect to such chemical determined 

8 under this section on the taxpayer’s return for such 

9 taxable year— 

10 ‘‘(A) the credit amount allocated to such 

11 taxpayer for such taxable year with respect to 

12 such renewable chemical shall be treated as 

13 being the amount so determined on the tax14 payer’s return, and 

15 ‘‘(B) such excess may be reallocated by the 

16 Secretary consistent with the requirements of 

17 paragraphs (2)(B) and (3). 

18 ‘‘(5) DISCLOSURE OF ALLOCATIONS.—The Sec19 retary shall, upon making an allocation of credit 

20 amount under this section, publicly disclose the iden21 tity of the applicant and the amount of the credit 

22 with respect to such applicant. 

23 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any other pro24 vision of this section, the Secretary may not allocate any 

25 credit amount under this section to any taxable year which 


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1 begins more than 5 years after the date of the enactment 

2 of this section.’’. 

3 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

4 CREDIT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 38 

6 of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the 

7 end of paragraph (35), by striking the period at the 

8 end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and 

9 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(37) the renewable chemicals production credit 

11 determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

12 (2) CREDIT ALLOWABLE AGAINST ALTERNATIVE

13 MINIMUM TAX.—Subparagraph (B) of section 

14 38(c)(4) of such Code is amended by redesignating 

15 clauses (vii) through (ix) as clauses (viii) through 

16 (x), respectively, and by inserting after clause (vi) 

17 the following new clause: 

18 ‘‘(vii) the credit determined under sec19 tion 45S,’’. 

20 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

22 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol23 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Credit for production of renewable chemicals.’’. 

24 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 this section shall apply to chemicals produced after the 


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1 date of the enactment of this Act, in taxable years ending 

2 after such date. 

Æ 


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