I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 960 

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 7, 2017 

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. 

CURBELO of Florida, Mr. HURD, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. PERRY, 

Mr. RENACCI, and Mr. KIND) 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. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOV4 ERNMENT BUILDINGS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a) of the Internal 

6 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

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

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

9 the end the following new paragraph: 


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

2 (b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 

3 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 

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

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

8 means any building or facility that consists of one 

9 or more of the following: 

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

11 school (within the meanings given such terms 

12 by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec13 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 

15 of this subsection). 

16 ‘‘(B) Facilities of a State college or univer17 sity used for educational purposes. 

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

19 to, the general public. 

20 ‘‘(D) A Court of law. 

21 ‘‘(E) A hospital, health care facilities, lab22 oratory facilities or research facilities. 

23 ‘‘(F) Public safety facilities (including po24 lice, fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster 

25 management, and ambulance or emergency 


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1 medical service facilities and jails and correc2 tional facilities). 

3 ‘‘(G) Offices for employees of a govern4 mental unit. 

5 Such term shall include any equipment, functionally 

6 related and subordinate facility, or land (and any 

7 real property rights appurtenant thereto) with re8 spect to any such building or facility. 

9 ‘‘(2) SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED FACILITIES.— 

10 Such term shall not include— 

11 ‘‘(A) a building or facility the primary pur12 pose of which is one of the following: retail food 

13 and beverage services, or the provision of recre14 ation or entertainment, or 

15 ‘‘(B) any building or facility that includes 

16 any of the following: any private or commercial 

17 golf course, country club, massage parlor, ten18 nis club, skating facility (including roller skat19 ing, skateboard, and ice skating), racquet 

20 sports facility (including any handball or 

21 racquetball court), hot tub facility, suntan facil22 ity, racetrack, convention center, or sports sta23 dium or arena. 


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1 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF

2 TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR QUALIFIED GOVERN3 MENTAL BUILDING.— 

4 ‘‘(A) NATIONAL LIMITATION.—The aggre5 gate amount allocated by the Secretary under 

6 subparagraph (C) shall not exceed 

7 $5,000,000,000. 

8 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LIMI9 TATION.—An issue shall not be treated as an 

10 issue described in subsection (a)(16) if the ag11 gregate face amount of bonds issued pursuant 

12 to such issue for any qualified governmental 

13 building (when added to the aggregate face 

14 amount of bonds previously so issued for such 

15 facility) exceeds the amount allocated to such 

16 qualified governmental building under subpara17 graph (C). 

18 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION BY THE SECRETARY.— 

19 The Secretary shall allocate a portion of the 

20 amount described in subparagraph (A) to a 

21 qualified governmental building if the Secretary 

22 determines that— 

23 ‘‘(i) the application for financing of 

24 such qualified governmental building meets 


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1 the requirements set forth in subparagraph 

2 (D), and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the amount of the allocation re4 quested, if allocated by the Secretary, 

5 would not cause the national limitation set 

6 forth in subparagraph (A) to be exceeded. 

7 ‘‘(D) APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCING.—An 

8 application for financing a qualified govern9 mental building meets the requirements of this 

10 subparagraph if such application includes— 

11 ‘‘(i) the amount of the allocation re12 quested, 

13 ‘‘(ii) the name of the governmental 

14 unit that will own the project, together 

15 with complete contact information, 

16 ‘‘(iii) a description of the project as a 

17 whole and the proposed organizational and 

18 legal structure of the project, 

19 ‘‘(iv) a timeline showing the estimated 

20 start and completion dates for each major 

21 phase or milestone of project development 

22 and an indication of the current status of 

23 milestones on this timeline, including all 

24 necessary permits and environmental ap25 provals, 


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1 ‘‘(v) a statement of anticipated 

2 sources and uses of funds for the project, 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(vi) the following declaration signed 

5 by an individual who has personal knowl6 edge of the relevant facts and cir7 cumstances: ‘Under penalties of perjury, I 

8 declare that I have examined this docu9 ment and, to the best of my knowledge and 

10 belief, the document contains all the rel11 evant facts relating to the document, and 

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

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

14 MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 

15 Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 

16 not issued in the amount of such allocation 

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

18 such allocation, then the unused portion of the 

19 allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the Sec20 retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap21 plicant, grants an extension of such date. 

22 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CURRENT REFUNDING

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

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

25 under subsection (a)(16) if— 


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

2 of which the refunding bond is a part is not 

3 later than the average maturity date of the 

4 bonds to be refunded by such issue, 

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

6 does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 

7 refunded bond, and 

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

9 later than 90 days after the date of the 

10 issuance of the refunding bond. 

11 For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 

12 shall be determined in accordance with section 

13 147(b)(2)(A). 

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

15 not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 

16 building. 

17 ‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED18 IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred19 it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 

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

21 has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue 

22 for so long as such bonds are outstanding.’’. 

23 (c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 

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

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


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1 (d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE

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

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

4 (16)’’. 

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

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

7 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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