I 

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113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 656 

To provide $4,000,000,000 in new funding through bonding to empower 

States to undertake significant residential and commercial structure demolition projects in urban and other targeted areas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2013 

Mr. JOYCE (for himself, Ms. FUDGE, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 

and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To provide $4,000,000,000 in new funding through bonding 

to empower States to undertake significant residential 

and commercial structure demolition projects in urban 

and other targeted areas, 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 ‘‘Restore our Neighbor5 hoods Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT TO HOLDERS OF QUALIFIED URBAN DEMO2 LITION BONDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart I of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 54G. QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION BONDS. 

8 ‘‘(a) QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION BOND.—For 

9 purposes of this subchapter, the term ‘qualified urban 

10 demolition bond’ means any bond issued as part of an 

11 issue if— 

12 ‘‘(1) 100 percent of the available project pro13 ceeds of such issue are to be used for expenditures 

14 incurred after the date of the enactment of this sec15 tion for 1 or more qualified projects pursuant to an 

16 allocation of such proceeds to such project or 

17 projects by a qualified issuer, 

18 ‘‘(2) the bond is issued by a qualified issuer 

19 and is in registered form (within the meaning of sec20 tion 149(a)), 

21 ‘‘(3) the qualified issuer designates such bond 

22 for purposes of this section, 

23 ‘‘(4) the term of each bond which is part of 

24 such issue does not exceed 30 years, 


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1 ‘‘(5) such bond is issued during the 5-year pe2 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

3 section, and 

4 ‘‘(6) the issue meets the requirements of sub5 section (e). 

6 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF BONDS DES7 IGNATED.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The maximum aggregate 

9 face amount of bonds which may be designated 

10 under subsection (a) by a State shall not exceed the 

11 qualified urban demolition bond limitation amount 

12 allocated to such State under paragraph (3). 

13 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION

14 BOND LIMITATION AMOUNT.—There is a national 

15 qualified urban demolition bond limitation amount of 

16 $4,000,000,000. 

17 ‘‘(3) ALLOCATION TO STATES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The national qualified 

19 urban demolition bond limitation shall be allo20 cated by the Secretary among the States on the 

21 following basis and in such manner so as to en22 sure that all of such limitation amount is allo23 cated before the date which is 3 months after 

24 the date of the enactment of this section: 


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1 ‘‘(i) $2,000,000,000 to be allocated 

2 among the qualified States in accordance 

3 with subparagraph (B), and 

4 ‘‘(ii) $2,000,000,000 to be equally al5 located among all States. 

6 ‘‘(B) FORMULA FOR ALLOCATION AMONG

7 QUALIFIED STATES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The amount allo9 cated to a State under subparagraph (A)(i) 

10 shall be an amount equal to the amount 

11 specified in subparagraph (A)(i) multiplied 

12 by the ratio that the nonseasonal vacant 

13 properties in the State bears to the total 

14 nonseasonal vacant properties of all quali15 fied States. 

16 ‘‘(ii) NONSEASONAL VACANT PROP17 ERTIES.—For purposes of clause (i), non18 seasonal vacant properties shall be deter19 mined by the Secretary on the basis of 

20 2010 decennial census. 

21 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATION OF LIMITATION AMOUNT BY

22 STATES.—The limitation amount allocated to a 

23 State under paragraph (3) shall be allocated by the 

24 State to qualified issuers within such State. 


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1 ‘‘(5) REALLOCATION OF UNUSED ISSUANCE

2 LIMITATION.—If at the end of the 2-year period be3 ginning on the date of the enactment of this section, 

4 the national qualified urban demolition bond limita5 tion amount under paragraph (2) exceeds the total 

6 amount of qualified urban demolition bonds issued 

7 during such period, such excess shall be reallocated 

8 among the qualified States in such manner as the 

9 Secretary determines appropriate so as to ensure to 

10 the extent possible that all of such limitation amount 

11 is issued in the form of qualified urban demolition 

12 bonds before the end of the 5-year period beginning 

13 on the date of the enactment of this section. 

14 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED PROJECT.—For purposes of this sec15 tion, the term ‘qualified project’ means the direct and indi16 rect demolition costs properly attributable to any project 

17 proposed and approved by a qualified issuer, but does not 

18 include costs of operation or maintenance with respect to 

19 such project. 

20 ‘‘(d) APPLICABLE CREDIT RATE.—In lieu of section 

21 54A(b)(3), for purposes of section 54A(b)(2), the applica22 ble credit rate with respect to an issue under this section 

23 is the rate equal to an average market yield (as of the 

24 day before the date of sale of the issue) on outstanding 


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1 long-term corporate debt obligations (determined in such 

2 manner as the Secretary prescribes). 

3 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO EXPENDI4 TURES.—In lieu of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 

5 54A(d)— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An issue shall be treated as 

7 meeting the requirements of this subsection if, as of 

8 the date of issuance, the qualified issuer reasonably 

9 expects— 

10 ‘‘(A) at least 100 percent of the available 

11 project proceeds of such issue are to be spent 

12 for 1 or more qualified projects within the 5- 

13 year expenditure period beginning on such date, 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(B) to incur a binding commitment with 

16 a third party to spend at least 10 percent of the 

17 proceeds of such issue with respect to such 

18 projects within the 12-month period beginning 

19 on such date. 

20 ‘‘(2) RULES REGARDING CONTINUING COMPLI21 ANCE AFTER 5-YEAR DETERMINATION.—To the ex22 tent that less than 100 percent of the available 

23 project proceeds of such issue are expended by the 

24 close of the 5-year expenditure period beginning on 

25 the date of issuance, the qualified issuer shall reVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 Mar 12, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H656.IH H656

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1 deem all of the nonqualified bonds within 90 days 

2 after the end of such period. For purposes of this 

3 paragraph, the amount of the nonqualified bonds re4 quired to be redeemed shall be determined in the 

5 same manner as under section 142. 

6 ‘‘(f) RECAPTURE OF PORTION OF CREDIT WHERE

7 CESSATION OF COMPLIANCE.—If any bond which when 

8 issued purported to be a qualified urban demolition bond 

9 ceases to be such a bond, the qualified issuer shall pay 

10 to the United States (at the time required by the Sec11 retary) an amount equal to the sum of— 

12 ‘‘(1) the aggregate of the credits allowable 

13 under section 54A with respect to such bond (deter14 mined without regard to section 54A(c)) for taxable 

15 years ending during the calendar year in which such 

16 cessation occurs and each succeeding calendar year 

17 ending with the calendar year in which such bond is 

18 redeemed by the land bank, and 

19 ‘‘(2) interest at the underpayment rate under 

20 section 6621 on the amount determined under para21 graph (1) for each calendar year for the period be22 ginning on the first day of such calendar year. 

23 ‘‘(g) OTHER DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

24 For purposes of this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED ISSUER.—The term ‘qualified 

2 issuer’ means— 

3 ‘‘(A) a State-authorized land bank, or 

4 ‘‘(B) with respect a State that does not 

5 have one or more State-authorized land banks, 

6 the State or any political subdivision or instru7 mentality thereof. 

8 ‘‘(2) STATE-AUTHORIZED LAND BANK.—The 

9 term ‘State-authorized land bank’ means a special 

10 unit of government or public purpose corporation— 

11 ‘‘(A) expressly charged under State law 

12 with the reclamation, repurposing and redevel13 opment of vacant and abandoned land, 

14 ‘‘(B) enabled under State law to conduct 

15 large scale demolition projects, 

16 ‘‘(C) organized in a State which has en17 acted legislation allowing for the expedited tax 

18 foreclosure of vacant, abandoned, and tax delin19 quent property, and 

20 ‘‘(D) which may include a joint venture 

21 among 2 or more State-authorized land banks 

22 or among other entities with whom such special 

23 unit of government or public purpose corpora24 tion is authorized to enter into a joint venture. 


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1 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED STATE.—The term ‘qualified 

2 State’ means a State— 

3 ‘‘(A) in which at least 49 percent of the 

4 State’s total housing units in the State were 

5 built before 1980, according to the 2010 cen6 sus, and 

7 ‘‘(B) which meets 3 of the following 4 re8 quirements: 

9 ‘‘(i) The State ranks in the top 20 

10 among all States in percentage change in 

11 nonseasonal vacancies in the time period 

12 between the 2000 decennial census and the 

13 2010 decennial census. 

14 ‘‘(ii) The State ranks in the top 25 

15 among all States in unemployment rate 

16 (seasonally adjusted) for the most recent 

17 January through November period begin18 ning before the issuance of the qualified 

19 urban demolition bond. 

20 ‘‘(iii) The State ranks in the top 25 

21 among all States in percentages of mort22 gages in foreclosure for the 3rd quarter of 

23 2012. 

24 ‘‘(iv) The State ranks in the top 20 

25 among all States in the lowest percentage 


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1 change in population growth in the time 

2 period between the 2000 decennial census 

3 and the 2010 decennial census. 

4 ‘‘(4) CREDITS MAY BE TRANSFERRED.—Not5 withstanding in any law or rule of law shall be con6 strued to limit the transferability of the credit or 

7 bond allowed by this section through sale and repur8 chase agreements.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

10 (1) Paragraph (1) of section 54A(d) of such 

11 Code is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub12 paragraph (D), by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub13 paragraph (E), and by inserting after subparagraph 

14 (E) the following new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(E) a qualified urban demolition bond,’’. 

16 (2) Subparagraph (C) of section 54A(d)(2) is 

17 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (iv), 

18 by striking the period at the end of clause (v) and 

19 inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the end the fol20 lowing new clause: 

21 ‘‘(vi) in the case of a qualified urban demolition bond, 

22 a purpose specified in section 54G(a)(1).’’. 

23 (3) The table of sections for subpart I of part 

24 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 


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1 amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘Sec. 54G. Qualified urban demolition bonds.’’. 

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

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

5 the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. USE OF HARDEST HIT FUND AMOUNTS FOR DEMO7 LITION ACTIVITIES. 

8 (a) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any provision of 

9 title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 

10 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.), any regulation, guidance, 

11 order, or other directive of the Secretary of the Treasury, 

12 or any agreement (or amendment thereto) entered into 

13 under the Hardest Hit Fund program of the Secretary 

14 under such title I, any amounts of assistance that have 

15 been, or are, allocated for or provided to a State or State 

16 agency through the Hardest Hit Fund program may be 

17 used, without limitation, to demolish blighted structures. 

18 (b) FAILURE TO USE HHF AMOUNTS.—If, upon the 

19 expiration of the 24-month period beginning on the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act, any State or State agency 

21 is holding any amounts of assistance described in sub22 section (a) or any amounts of such assistance allocated 

23 for such State or State agency have not been disbursed 

24 to such State or agency, the Secretary shall remit to the 

25 Treasury an amount equal to 25 percent of the aggregate 


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1 amount, as of such date, of such held and undisbursed 

2 funds. The Secretary shall recapture from such State or 

3 State agency any amounts of such held funds necessary 

4 to carry out this subsection. 

Æ 


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