I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3857 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow issuance of taxexempt private activity bonds to finance certain surface transportation 

facilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2004 

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas (for himself, Mr. HERGER, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. 

SANDLIN, Mr. BURGESS, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. PAUL, 

Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. BONILLA, and Mr. HALL) 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 allow 

issuance of tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance 

certain surface transportation facilities. 

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 ‘‘Private Bonds for 

5 Modern Roads Act of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF BONDS FOR SURFACE TRANSPOR2 TATION FACILITIES AS EXEMPT FACILITY 

3 BONDS. 

4 (a) TREATMENT AS EXEMPT FACILITY BONDS.— 

5 Subsection (a) of section 142 of the Internal Revenue 

6 Code of 1986 (relating to exempt facility bond) is amend7 ed by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph (12), by strik8 ing the period at the end of paragraph (13) and inserting 

9 ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at the end the following new para10 graph: 

11 ‘‘(14) surface transportation facilities.’’. 

12 (b) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.—Sec13 tion 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

14 the following new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(l) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.— 

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

17 (a)(14), the term ‘surface transportation facilities’ 

18 means highway facilities and surface freight transfer 

19 facilities. 

20 ‘‘(2) HIGHWAY FACILITIES.—For purposes of 

21 this subsection, the term ‘highway facilities’ 

22 means— 

23 ‘‘(A) any surface transportation project eli24 gible for Federal assistance under title 23, 

25 United States Code (as in effect on the date of 

26 enactment of this subsection), and 
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1 ‘‘(B) any project for an international 

2 bridge or tunnel for which an international enti3 ty authorized under Federal or State law is re4 sponsible. 

5 ‘‘(3) SURFACE FREIGHT TRANSFER FACILI6 TIES.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 

7 ‘surface freight transfer facilities’ means any facility 

8 for the transfer of freight from truck to rail or rail 

9 to truck (including any temporary storage facility di10 rectly related to such transfer). 

11 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE FACE

12 AMOUNT OF TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An issue shall not be 

14 treated as an issue described in subsection 

15 (a)(14) unless— 

16 ‘‘(i) the Secretary of Transportation 

17 has allocated an amount to such issue 

18 under this paragraph, and 

19 ‘‘(ii) the aggregate face amount of 

20 bonds issued pursuant to such issue does 

21 not exceed such amount. 

22 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—The Secretary of 

23 Transportation may allocate amounts to issues 

24 under this paragraph in such manner as the 

25 Secretary of Transportation determines appro-
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1 priate, except that the aggregate amount so al2 located shall not exceed $15,000,000,000. 

3 ‘‘(C) REFUNDING BONDS.—Subparagraph 

4 (A) shall not apply with respect to any bond the 

5 proceeds of which are used exclusively to refund 

6 a bond issued pursuant to subsection (a)(14) 

7 (or a bond which is a part of a series of 

8 refundings of a bond so issued) if the amount 

9 of the refunding bond does not exceed the out10 standing amount of the refunded bond.’’. 

11 (c) EXEMPTION FROM GENERAL STATE VOLUME

12 CAPS.—Paragraph (3) of section 146(g) of such Code (re13 lating to exception for certain bonds) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘or (13)’’ and inserting ‘‘(13), 

15 or (14)’’, and 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘and qualified public educational 

17 facilities’’ and inserting ‘‘qualified public educational 

18 facilities, and surface transportation facilities’’. 

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

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

21 the enactment of this Act. 

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