I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1931

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat spaceports like airports

under the exempt facility bond rules.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 22, 2001

Mr. WELDON of Florida (for himself, Mr. ORTIZ, Mrs. CAPPS, Mrs. MEEK of

Florida, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SHAW, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. FOLEY, Mr.

CALVERT, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr. MCINNIS,

and Mrs. THURMAN) 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 treat

spaceports like airports under the exempt facility bond rules.

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 ‘‘Spaceport Equality

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER EX2 EMPT FACILITY BOND RULES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 142(a)

4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exempt

5 facility bonds) is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(1) airports and spaceports,’’.

7 (b) TREATMENT OF GROUND LEASES.—Paragraph

8 (1) of section 142(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of

9 1986 (relating to certain facilities must be governmentally

10 owned) is amended by adding at the end the following new

11 subparagraph:

12 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPACEPORT

13 GROUND LEASES.—For purposes of subpara14 graph (A), spaceport property which is located

15 on land owned by the United States and which

16 is used by a governmental unit pursuant to a

17 lease (as defined in section 168(h)(7)) from the

18 United States shall be treated as owned by such

19 unit if—

20 ‘‘(i) the lease term (within the mean21 ing of section 168(i)(3)) is at least 15

22 years, and

23 ‘‘(ii) such unit would be treated as

24 owning such property if such lease term

25 were equal to the useful life of such prop26 erty.’’.
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1 (c) DEFINITION OF SPACEPORT.—Section 142 of the

2 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at

3 the end the following new subsection:

4 ‘‘(k) SPACEPORT.—

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

6 (a)(1), the term ‘spaceport’ means—

7 ‘‘(A) any facility directly related and essen8 tial to servicing spacecraft, enabling spacecraft

9 to launch or reenter, or transferring passengers

10 or space cargo to or from spacecraft, but only

11 if such facility is located at, or in close prox12 imity to, the launch site or reentry site, and

13 ‘‘(B) any other functionally related and

14 subordinate facility at or adjacent to the launch

15 site or reentry site at which launch services or

16 reentry services are provided, including a

17 launch control center, repair shop, maintenance

18 or overhaul facility, and rocket assembly facil19 ity.

20 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—For purposes of

21 paragraph (1)—

22 ‘‘(A) SPACE CARGO.—The term ‘space

23 cargo’ includes satellites, scientific experiments,

24 other property transported into space, and any
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1 other type of payload, whether or not such

2 property returns from space.

3 ‘‘(B) SPACECRAFT.—The term ‘spacecraft’

4 means a launch vehicle or a reentry vehicle.

5 ‘‘(C) OTHER TERMS.—The terms ‘launch’,

6 ‘launch site’, ‘launch services’, ‘launch vehicle’,

7 ‘payload’, ‘reenter’, ‘reentry services’, ‘reentry

8 site’, and ‘reentry vehicle’ shall have the respec9 tive meanings given to such terms by section

10 70102 of title 49, United States Code (as in ef11 fect on the date of enactment of this sub12 section).’’.

13 (d) EXCEPTION FROM FEDERALLY GUARANTEED

14 BOND PROHIBITION.—Paragraph (3) of section 149(b) of

15 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exceptions)

16 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub17 paragraph:

18 ‘‘(E) EXCEPTION FOR SPACEPORTS.—

19 Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any exempt fa20 cility bond issued as part of an issue described

21 in paragraph (1) of section 142(a) to provide a

22 spaceport in situations where—

23 ‘‘(i) the guarantee of the United

24 States (or an agency or instrumentality

25 thereof) is the result of payment of rent,
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1 user fees, or other charges by the United

2 States (or any agency or instrumentality

3 thereof), and

4 ‘‘(ii) the payment of the rent, user

5 fees, or other charges is for, and condi6 tioned upon, the use of the spaceport by

7 the United States (or any agency or in8 strumentality thereof).’’.

9 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for

10 section 142(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is

11 amended by inserting ‘‘, SPACEPORT,’’ after ‘‘AIRPORT’’.

12 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

13 this section shall apply to obligations issued after the date

14 of the enactment of this Act.

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