I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7979 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for owning 
certain disaster resilient property. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 7, 2020 
Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. REED, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) 
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 
a credit for owning certain disaster resilient property. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Savings and 
Resilient Construction Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. DISASTER RESILIENT PROPERTY TAX CREDIT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by inserting after section 30D the fol-
lowing new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 30E. DISASTER RESILIENT PROPERTY. 
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be allowed as a 
credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for the tax-
able year an amount equal to the applicable amount for 
each qualified building placed in service during the taxable 
year. 
‘‘(b) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes of sub-
section (a)— 
‘‘(1) COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.—ln the case of a 
qualified commercial property, the applicable amount 
is the lesser of— 
‘‘(A) 1 percent of the cost of the building, 
or 
‘‘(B) $25,000 per building. 
‘‘(2) RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY.—ln the case of a 
qualified residential property, the applicable amount 
is the lesser of— 
‘‘(A) 1 percent of the cost of the property, 
or 
‘‘(B) $3,000 per property. 
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED BUILDING.—For purposes of sub-
section (a)— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified build-
ing’ means a building— 
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‘‘(A) owned by the taxpayer in a disaster 
area determined as a result of a federally de-
clared major disaster, 
‘‘(B) the construction of which began after 
the date of such disaster in that area, 
‘‘(C) which— 
‘‘(i) is qualified commercial property 
placed in service for commercial purposes, 
or 
‘‘(ii) is qualified residential property 
placed in service for residential purposes, 
and 
‘‘(D) for which a certificate of occupancy is 
issued before the end of the 3-year period be-
ginning on the date of such disaster declaration 
in that area. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.—The 
term ‘qualified commercial property’ means a build-
ing that is— 
‘‘(A) located in the United States, 
‘‘(B) defined in the scope of the most re-
cent International Building Code published by 
the International Code Council, and 
‘‘(C) designed and constructed to meet re-
silient construction requirements. 
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‘‘(3) QUALIFIED
RESIDENTIAL
PROPERTY.— 
The term ‘qualified residential property’ means a 
building that is— 
‘‘(A) located in the United States, 
‘‘(B) defined in the scope of the most re-
cent International Residential Code published 
by the International Code Council, and 
‘‘(C) designed and constructed to meet re-
silient construction requirements. 
‘‘(d) RESILIENT CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS.— 
For purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The resilient construction 
requirements with respect to a property are that the 
property is designed and constructed to— 
‘‘(A) resist hazards brought on by a major 
disaster and continues to provide its primary 
functions after a major disaster, 
‘‘(B) reduce the magnitude or duration of 
a disruptive event, and 
‘‘(C) have the absorptive capacity, adaptive 
capacity, and recoverability to withstand a po-
tentially disruptive event. 
‘‘(2) TREATED
AS
MEETING
RESILIENCY
RE-
QUIREMENTS.—For purposes of paragraph (1)— 
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‘‘(A) in the case of a qualified commercial 
property, the property shall be treated as meet-
ing the requirements specified in paragraph (1) 
if the property is a building which— 
‘‘(i) was designed to meet the require-
ments of the most recent International 
Building Code published by the Inter-
national Code Council and meets the FOR-
TIFIED Commercial Wind Standard pub-
lished by the Insurance Institute for Busi-
ness and Home Safety, or the most recent 
International Wildland Urban Interface 
Code published by the International Code 
Council, 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a substantial ren-
ovation, such renovation meets the require-
ments of— 
‘‘(I) 
the 
most 
recent 
Inter-
national Building Code published by 
the International Code Council and 
the FORTIFIED Commercial Wind 
Standard published by the Insurance 
Institute for Business and Home 
Safety, or 
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‘‘(II) the most recent Inter-
national Wildland Urban Interface 
Code published by the International 
Code Council, or 
‘‘(iii) in the case of a qualified com-
mercial property in a high seismic hazard 
zone, was designed and built to achieve a 
reduction in the earthquake risks relative 
to code-designed buildings by minimizing 
building damage and promoting contin-
gency planning for utility disruption and 
other threats to functional recovery that 
are described in the U.S. Resiliency Coun-
cil Rating System with specific design cri-
teria achieving the Platinum or Gold rat-
ing, and 
‘‘(B) in the case of a qualified residential 
property, the property shall be treated as meet-
ing the requirements specified in paragraph (1) 
if— 
‘‘(i) 
the 
property 
is 
a 
building 
which— 
‘‘(I) was designed to meet the re-
quirements of the most recent Inter-
national Residential Code published 
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by the International Code Council, 
and received a FORTIFIED Roof, 
FORTIFIED Silver, or FORTIFIED 
Gold designation from the Insurance 
Institute for Business and Home 
Safety, or 
‘‘(II) was designed to meet or ex-
ceed the requirements of the most re-
cent Standard for Residential Con-
struction in High-Wind Regions or 
International Wildland Urban Inter-
face Code published by the Inter-
national Code Council, or 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a substantial ren-
ovation, such renovation meets— 
‘‘(I) the requirements of the most 
recent International Residential Code 
published by the International Code 
Council and the requirements of the 
FORTIFIED Roof Standards pub-
lished by the Insurance Institute for 
Business and Home Safety, or 
‘‘(II) the requirements of the 
most recent Standard for Residential 
Construction in High-Wind Regions 
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or 
International 
Wildland 
Urban 
Interface Code published by the Inter-
national Code Council. 
‘‘(3) ABSORPTIVE
CAPACITY.—The term ‘ab-
sorptive capacity’ means the ability of the construc-
tion to endure a disruption without significant devi-
ation from normal operating performance. 
‘‘(4) ADAPTIVE CAPACITY.—The term ‘adaptive 
capacity’ means the ability of the construction to 
adapt to a drastic change in normal operating condi-
tions. 
‘‘(5) 
RECOVERABILITY.—.The 
term 
‘recoverability’ means the ability of the construction 
to recover quickly, and at low cost, from potentially 
disruptive events. 
‘‘(e) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
section: 
‘‘(1) CONSTRUCTION.—The term ‘construction’ 
includes new construction and reconstruction and re-
habilitation that meets resilient construction require-
ments. 
‘‘(2) 
FEDERALLY
DECLARED
MAJOR
DIS-
ASTER.—The term ‘federally declared major dis-
aster’ means a disaster subsequently determined by 
the President to be a ‘major disaster’ that warrants 
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assistance by the Federal Government under the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act. 
‘‘(3) DISASTER AREA.—The term ‘disaster area’ 
means the area so determined to warrant such as-
sistance. 
‘‘(4) MOST
RECENT
EDITIONS.—The term 
‘most recent’ means, with respect to relevant na-
tional consensus-based codes, and specifications and 
standards referenced therein, either of the two most 
recent published editions, including, if any, amend-
ments made by State, local, tribal, or territorial gov-
ernments during the adoption process, that incor-
porate the latest natural hazard-resistant designs 
and establish criteria for the design, construction, 
and maintenance of structures and facilities that 
may be eligible for assistance under this section for 
the purposes of protecting the health, safety, and 
general welfare of a building’s users against disas-
ters. 
‘‘(f) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.— 
‘‘(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF 
GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—So much of the credit 
which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any 
taxable year (determined without regard to this sub-
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section) that is attributable to property of a char-
acter subject to an allowance for depreciation shall 
be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for such 
taxable year (and not allowed under subsection (a)). 
‘‘(2) PERSONAL CREDIT.—For purposes of this 
title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for any 
taxable year (determined after application of para-
graph (1)) shall be treated as a credit allowable 
under subpart A for such taxable year. 
‘‘(g) BASIS REDUCTION.—For purposes of this sub-
title, the basis of any property for which a credit is allow-
able under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the amount 
of such credit so allowed. 
‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 
any property for which a certificate for occupancy is issued 
after December 31, 2022.’’. 
(b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 
CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), by striking the 
period at the end of paragraph (32) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 
and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(33) the portion of the disaster resilient prop-
erty credit described in section 30E(f)(1).’’. 
(c) BASIS ADJUSTMENT.—Section 1016(a) of such 
Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
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graph (37), by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
(38) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(39) to the extent provided in section 30E(g), 
in the case of amounts with respect to which a credit 
has been allowed under section 30E.’’. 
(d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 30D the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 30E. Disaster resilient property.’’. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to property for which a certificate 
of occupancy is issued after the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
Æ 
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