I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1396 
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 26, 2021 
Mr. BLUMENAUER 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 government- 
owned buildings. 
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 ‘‘Public Buildings Re-
newal Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOVERN-
MENT BUILDINGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 
end of paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end 
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of paragraph (15) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at 
the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(16) qualified government buildings.’’. 
(b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 
142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 
(a)(16), the term ‘qualified governmental buildings’ 
means any building or facility that consists of one 
or more of the following: 
‘‘(A) An elementary school or a secondary 
school (within the meanings given such terms 
by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 
of this subsection). 
‘‘(B) Facilities of a State college or univer-
sity used for educational purposes. 
‘‘(C) A library maintained for, and open 
to, the general public. 
‘‘(D) A Court of law. 
‘‘(E) A hospital, health care facilities, lab-
oratory facilities or research facilities. 
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‘‘(F) Public safety facilities (including po-
lice, fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster 
management, and ambulance or emergency 
medical service facilities and jails and correc-
tional facilities). 
‘‘(G) Offices for employees of a govern-
mental unit. 
Such term shall include any equipment, functionally 
related and subordinate facility, or land (and any 
real property rights appurtenant thereto) with re-
spect to any such building or facility. 
‘‘(2) SPECIFICALLY
EXCLUDED
FACILITIES.— 
Such term shall not include— 
‘‘(A) a building or facility the primary pur-
pose of which is one of the following: retail food 
and beverage services, or the provision of recre-
ation or entertainment, or 
‘‘(B) any building or facility that includes 
any of the following: any private or commercial 
golf course, country club, massage parlor, ten-
nis club, skating facility (including roller skat-
ing, skateboard, and ice skating), racquet 
sports facility (including any handball or 
racquetball court), hot tub facility, suntan facil-
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ity, racetrack, convention center, or sports sta-
dium or arena. 
‘‘(3) NATIONAL
LIMITATION
ON
AMOUNT
OF 
TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR QUALIFIED GOVERN-
MENTAL BUILDING.— 
‘‘(A) NATIONAL LIMITATION.—The aggre-
gate amount allocated by the Secretary under 
subparagraph 
(C) 
shall 
not 
exceed 
$5,000,000,000. 
‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LIMI-
TATION.—An issue shall not be treated as an 
issue described in subsection (a)(16) if the ag-
gregate face amount of bonds issued pursuant 
to such issue for any qualified governmental 
building (when added to the aggregate face 
amount of bonds previously so issued for such 
facility) exceeds the amount allocated to such 
qualified governmental building under subpara-
graph (C). 
‘‘(C) ALLOCATION BY THE SECRETARY.— 
The Secretary shall allocate a portion of the 
amount described in subparagraph (A) to a 
qualified governmental building if the Secretary 
determines that— 
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‘‘(i) the application for financing of 
such qualified governmental building meets 
the requirements set forth in subparagraph 
(D), and 
‘‘(ii) the amount of the allocation re-
quested, if allocated by the Secretary, 
would not cause the national limitation set 
forth in subparagraph (A) to be exceeded. 
‘‘(D) APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCING.—An 
application for financing a qualified govern-
mental building meets the requirements of this 
subparagraph if such application includes— 
‘‘(i) the amount of the allocation re-
quested, 
‘‘(ii) the name of the governmental 
unit that will own the project, together 
with complete contact information, 
‘‘(iii) a description of the project as a 
whole and the proposed organizational and 
legal structure of the project, 
‘‘(iv) a timeline showing the estimated 
start and completion dates for each major 
phase or milestone of project development 
and an indication of the current status of 
milestones on this timeline, including all 
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necessary permits and environmental ap-
provals, 
‘‘(v) 
a 
statement 
of 
anticipated 
sources and uses of funds for the project, 
‘‘(vi) a certification from the govern-
mental unit that will own the project that 
such governmental unit will use reasonable 
efforts to ensure that there is no net loss 
of jobs as a result of the project, and 
‘‘(vii) the following declaration signed 
by an individual who has personal knowl-
edge of the relevant facts and cir-
cumstances: ‘‘Under penalties of perjury, I 
declare that I have examined this docu-
ment and, to the best of my knowledge and 
belief, the document contains all the rel-
evant facts relating to the document, and 
such facts are true, correct, and complete.’’ 
‘‘(E) USE OF ALLOCATION IN A TIMELY 
MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 
Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 
not issued in the amount of such allocation 
after the date that is 2 years after the date of 
such allocation, then the unused portion of the 
allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the Sec-
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retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap-
plicant, grants an extension of such date. 
‘‘(4) EXCEPTION
FOR
CURRENT
REFUNDING 
BONDS.—Paragraph (4) shall not apply to any bond 
(or series of bonds) issued to refund a bond issued 
under subsection (a)(16) if— 
‘‘(A) the average maturity date of the issue 
of which the refunding bond is a part is not 
later than the average maturity date of the 
bonds to be refunded by such issue, 
‘‘(B) the amount of the refunding bond 
does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 
refunded bond, and 
‘‘(C) the refunded bond is redeemed not 
later than 90 days after the date of the 
issuance of the refunding bond. 
For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 
shall be determined in accordance with section 
147(b)(2)(A). 
‘‘(5) OFFICE
SPACE.—Subsection (b)(2) shall 
not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 
building. 
‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED-
IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred-
it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 
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any facility described in subsection (a)(16) which 
has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue. 
‘‘(7) APPLICATION
OF
DAVIS-BACON
ACT
RE-
QUIREMENTS.—If any proceeds of any issue are 
used for construction, alteration, or repair of any fa-
cility otherwise described in subsection (a)(16), such 
facility shall be treated for purposes of subsection 
(a) as described in such paragraph only if each enti-
ty that receives such proceeds to conduct such con-
struction, alteration, or repair agrees to comply with 
the provisions of subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 
40, United States Code with respect to such con-
struction, alteration, or repair.’’. 
(c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 
Section 142(b)(1)(A) of such Code is amended by striking 
‘‘or (12)’’ and inserting ‘‘(12), or (16)’’. 
(d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE 
ACTIVITY BONDS.—Section 146(g)(3) of such Code is 
amended by striking ‘‘or (15)’’ and inserting ‘‘(15), or 
(16)’’. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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