I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 644

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

under the exempt facility bond rules. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2003

Mr. WELDON of Florida 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER EX7 EMPT FACILITY BOND RULES. 

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

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

10 facility bonds) is amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘(1) airports and spaceports,’’. 

2 (b) TREATMENT OF GROUND LEASES.—Paragraph 

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

4 1986 (relating to certain facilities must be governmentally 

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

6 subparagraph: 

7 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPACEPORT

8 GROUND LEASES.—For purposes of subpara9 graph (A), spaceport property which is located 

10 on land owned by the United States and which 

11 is used by a governmental unit pursuant to a 

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

13 United States shall be treated as owned by such 

14 unit if—

15 ‘‘(i) the lease term (within the mean16 ing of section 168(i)(3)) is at least 15 

17 years, and 

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

19 owning such property if such lease term 

20 were equal to the useful life of such prop21 erty.’’. 

22 (c) DEFINITION OF SPACEPORT.—Section 142 of the 

23 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 

24 the end the following new subsection: 

25 ‘‘(l) SPACEPORT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

2 (a)(1), the term ‘spaceport’ means—

3 ‘‘(A) any facility directly related and essen4 tial to servicing spacecraft, enabling spacecraft 

5 to launch or reenter, or transferring passengers 

6 or space cargo to or from spacecraft, but only 

7 if such facility is located at, or in close prox8 imity to, the launch site or reentry site, and 

9 ‘‘(B) any other functionally related and 

10 subordinate facility at or adjacent to the launch 

11 site or reentry site at which launch services or 

12 reentry services are provided, including a 

13 launch control center, repair shop, maintenance 

14 or overhaul facility, and rocket assembly facil15 ity. 

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

17 paragraph (1)—

18 ‘‘(A) SPACE CARGO.—The term ‘space 

19 cargo’ includes satellites, scientific experiments, 

20 other property transported into space, and any 

21 other type of payload, whether or not such 

22 property returns from space. 

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

24 means a launch vehicle or a reentry vehicle. 
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1 ‘‘(C) OTHER TERMS.—The terms ‘launch’, 

2 ‘launch site’, ‘launch services’, ‘launch vehicle’, 

3 ‘payload’, ‘reenter’, ‘reentry services’, ‘reentry 

4 site’, and ‘reentry vehicle’ shall have the respec5 tive meanings given to such terms by section 

6 70102 of title 49, United States Code (as in ef7 fect on the date of enactment of this sub8 section).’’. 

9 (d) EXCEPTION FROM FEDERALLY GUARANTEED

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

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

12 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(E) EXCEPTION FOR SPACEPORTS.—

15 Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any exempt fa16 cility bond issued as part of an issue described 

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

18 spaceport in situations where—

19 ‘‘(i) the guarantee of the United 

20 States (or an agency or instrumentality 

21 thereof) is the result of payment of rent, 

22 user fees, or other charges by the United 

23 States (or any agency or instrumentality 

24 thereof), and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the payment of the rent, user 

2 fees, or other charges is for, and condi3 tioned upon, the use of the spaceport by 

4 the United States (or any agency or in5 strumentality thereof).’’. 

6 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 

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

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

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

10 this section shall apply to obligations issued after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act.

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