I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4440 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax benefits for 
the Gulf Opportunity Zone and certain areas affected by Hurricanes 
Rita and Wilma, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 6, 2005 
Mr. MCCRERY (for himself, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. SHAW, Mr. BRADY of Texas, 
Mr. JINDAL, Mr. BAKER, and Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania) 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 
tax benefits for the Gulf Opportunity Zone and certain 
areas affected by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as other-
wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference 
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; etc. 
TITLE I—ESTABLISHMENT OF GULF OPPORTUNITY ZONE 
Sec. 101. Tax benefits for Gulf Opportunity Zone. 
Sec. 102. Federal guarantee of certain State bonds. 
TITLE II—TAX BENEFITS RELATED TO HURRICANES RITA AND 
WILMA 
Sec. 201. Extension of certain emergency tax relief for Hurricane Katrina to 
Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. 
TITLE III—OTHER PROVISIONS 
Sec. 301. Secretarial authority to extend period during which traveling expenses 
are treated as incurred away from home in case of major dis-
aster. 
Sec. 302. Gulf Coast Recovery Bonds. 
TITLE I—ESTABLISHMENT OF 
GULF OPPORTUNITY ZONE 
SEC. 101. TAX BENEFITS FOR GULF OPPORTUNITY ZONE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter Y of chapter 1 is 
amended by adding at the end the following new part: 
‘‘PART II—TAX BENEFITS FOR GULF 
OPPORTUNITY ZONE 
‘‘Sec. 1400M. Definitions. 
‘‘Sec. 1400N. Tax benefits for Gulf Opportunity Zone. 
‘‘SEC. 1400M. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘For purposes of this part—
‘‘(1) GULF
OPPORTUNITY
ZONE.—The terms 
‘Gulf Opportunity Zone’ and ‘GO Zone’ mean that 
portion of the Hurricane Katrina disaster area de-
termined by the President to warrant individual or 
individual and public assistance from the Federal 
Government under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act by reason of 
Hurricane Katrina. 
‘‘(2) HURRICANE KATRINA DISASTER AREA.— 
The term ‘Hurricane Katrina disaster area’ means 
an area with respect to which a major disaster has 
been declared by the President before September 14, 
2005, under section 401 of such Act by reason of 
Hurricane Katrina. 
‘‘(3) RITA GO ZONE.—The term ‘Rita GO Zone’ 
means that portion of the Hurricane Rita disaster 
area determined by the President to warrant indi-
vidual or individual and public assistance from the 
Federal Government under such Act by reason of 
Hurricane Rita. 
‘‘(4) HURRICANE RITA DISASTER AREA.—The 
term ‘Hurricane Rita disaster area’ means an area 
with respect to which a major disaster has been de-
clared by the President, before October 6, 2005,
under section 401 of such Act by reason of Hurri-
cane Rita. 
‘‘(5) WILMA GO ZONE.—The term ‘Wilma GO 
Zone’ means that portion of the Hurricane Wilma 
disaster area determined by the President to war-
rant individual or individual and public assistance 
from the Federal Government under such Act by 
reason of Hurricane Wilma. 
‘‘(6) HURRICANE WILMA DISASTER AREA.—The 
term ‘Hurricane Wilma disaster area’ means an area 
with respect to which a major disaster has been de-
clared by the President, before November 14, 2005, 
under section 401 of such Act by reason of Hurri-
cane Wilma. 
‘‘SEC. 1400N. TAX BENEFITS FOR GULF OPPORTUNITY 
ZONE. 
‘‘(a) TAX-EXEMPT BOND FINANCING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this title— 
‘‘(A) any qualified Gulf Opportunity Zone 
Bond described in paragraph (2)(A)(i) shall be 
treated as an exempt facility bond, and 
‘‘(B) any qualified Gulf Opportunity Zone 
Bond described in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) shall be 
treated as a qualified mortgage bond.
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED
GULF
OPPORTUNITY
ZONE 
BOND.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 
‘qualified Gulf Opportunity Zone Bond’ means any 
bond issued as part of an issue if— 
‘‘(A)(i) 95 percent or more of the net pro-
ceeds (as defined in section 150(a)(3)) of such 
issue are to be used for qualified project costs, 
or 
‘‘(ii) such issue meets the requirements of 
a qualified mortgage issue, except as otherwise 
provided in this subsection, 
‘‘(B) such bond is issued by the State of 
Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi, or any po-
litical subdivision thereof, 
‘‘(C) such bond is designated for purposes 
of this section by— 
‘‘(i) in the case of a bond which is re-
quired under State law to be approved by 
the bond commission of such State, such 
bond commission, and 
‘‘(ii) in the case of any other bond, 
the Governor of such State, and 
‘‘(D) such bond is issued after the date of 
the enactment of this section and before Janu-
ary 1, 2011.
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON BONDS.— 
‘‘(A) AGGREGATE AMOUNT DESIGNATED.— 
The maximum aggregate face amount of bonds 
which may be designated under this subsection 
with respect to any State shall not exceed the 
product of $2,500 multiplied by the portion of 
the State population which is in the Gulf Op-
portunity Zone (as determined on the basis of 
the most recent census estimate of resident 
population released by the Bureau of Census 
before August 28, 2005). 
‘‘(B) MOVABLE
PROPERTY.—No bonds 
shall be issued which are to be used for movable 
fixtures and equipment. 
‘‘(4) QUALIFIED
PROJECT
COSTS.—For pur-
poses of this subsection, the term ‘qualified project 
costs’ means the cost of acquisition, construction, re-
construction, and renovation of— 
‘‘(A) nonresidential real property and 
qualified residential rental property (as defined 
in section 142(d)) located in the Gulf Oppor-
tunity Zone, and 
‘‘(B) public utility property (as defined in 
section 168(i)(10)) located in the Gulf Oppor-
tunity Zone.
‘‘(5) SPECIAL RULES.—In applying this title to 
any qualified Gulf Opportunity Zone Bond, the fol-
lowing modifications shall apply: 
‘‘(A) Section 142(d)(1) (defining qualified 
residential rental project) shall be applied— 
‘‘(i) by substituting ‘60 percent’ for 
‘50 percent’ in subparagraph (A) thereof, 
and 
‘‘(ii) by substituting ‘70 percent’ for 
‘60 percent’ in subparagraph (B) thereof. 
‘‘(B) Section 143 (relating to mortgage 
revenue bonds: qualified mortgage bond and 
qualified veterans’ mortgage bond) shall be ap-
plied— 
‘‘(i) by treating only residences in the 
Gulf Opportunity Zone as owner-occupied 
residences, 
‘‘(ii) by treating any residence in the 
Gulf Opportunity Zone as a targeted area 
residence, and 
‘‘(iii) by substituting ‘$150,000’ for 
‘$15,000’ in subsection (k)(4) thereof. 
‘‘(C) Except as provided in section 143, re-
payments of principal on financing provided by
the issue of which such bond is a part may not 
be used to provide financing. 
‘‘(D) Section 146 (relating to volume cap) 
shall not apply. 
‘‘(E) Section 147(d)(2) (relating to acqui-
sition of existing property not permitted) shall 
be applied by substituting ‘50 percent’ for ‘15 
percent’ each place it appears. 
‘‘(F) Section 148(f)(4)(C) (relating to ex-
ception from rebate for certain proceeds to be 
used to finance construction expenditures) shall 
apply to the available construction proceeds of 
bonds which are part of an issue described in 
paragraph (2)(A)(i). 
‘‘(G) Section 57(a)(5) (relating to tax-ex-
empt interest) shall not apply. 
‘‘(6) SEPARATE
ISSUE
TREATMENT
OF
POR-
TIONS
OF
AN
ISSUE.—This subsection shall not 
apply to the portion of an issue which (if issued as 
a separate issue) would be treated as a qualified 
bond or as a bond that is not a private activity bond 
(determined without regard to paragraph (1)), if the 
issuer elects to so treat such portion. 
‘‘(b) ADVANCE REFUNDINGS OF CERTAIN TAX-EX-
EMPT BONDS.—