I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7470 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat spaceports like airports 
for purposes of exempt facility bond rules. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2024 
Mr. DUNN of Florida (for himself, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. 
VASQUEZ, and Mr. GIMENEZ) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat space-
ports like airports for purposes of exempt facility bond 
rules. 
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 ‘‘Secure U.S. Leader-
ship in Space Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS ARE TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER 
EXEMPT FACILITY BOND RULES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a)(1) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(1) airports and spaceports,’’. 
(b) TREATMENT
OF
GROUND
LEASES.—Section 
142(b)(1) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
SPACEPORT 
GROUND
LEASES.—For purposes of subpara-
graph (A), spaceport property located on land 
leased by a governmental unit from the United 
States shall not fail to be treated as owned by 
a governmental unit if the requirements of this 
paragraph are met by the lease and any sub-
leases of the property.’’. 
(c) DEFINITION
OF SPACEPORT.—Section 142 of 
such Code is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(p) SPACEPORT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 
(a)(1), the term ‘spaceport’ means any facility lo-
cated at or in close proximity to a launch site or re-
entry site used for— 
‘‘(A) manufacturing, assembling, or repair-
ing spacecraft, space cargo, other facilities de-
scribed in this paragraph, or any component of 
the foregoing, 
‘‘(B) flight control operations, 
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‘‘(C) providing launch services and reentry 
services, or 
‘‘(D) transferring crew, spaceflight partici-
pants, or space cargo to or from spacecraft. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
TERMS.—For purposes of 
paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(A) SPACE
CARGO.—The term ‘space 
cargo’ includes satellites, scientific experiments, 
other property transported into space, and any 
other type of payload, whether or not such 
property returns from space. 
‘‘(B) SPACECRAFT.—The term ‘spacecraft’ 
means a launch vehicle or a reentry vehicle. 
‘‘(C) OTHER TERMS.—The terms ‘launch’, 
‘launch site’, ‘crew’, ‘space flight participant’, 
‘launch services’, ‘launch vehicle’, ‘payload’, ‘re-
enter’, ‘reentry services’, ‘reentry site’, a ‘re-
entry vehicle’ shall have the respective meanings 
given to such terms by section 50902 of title 
51, United States Code (as in effect on the date 
of enactment of this subsection). 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC
USE
REQUIREMENT.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of law, a facility shall 
not be required to be available for use by the general 
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public to be treated as a spaceport for purposes of 
this section. 
‘‘(4) MANUFACTURING FACILITIES AND INDUS-
TRIAL
PARKS
ALLOWED.—With respect to space-
ports, subsection (c)(2)(E) shall not apply to space-
port porperty described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 
(d) EXCEPTION FROM FEDERALLY GUARANTEED 
BOND PROHIBITION.—Section 149(b)(3) of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subpara-
graph: 
‘‘(F) EXCEPTION
FOR
SPACEPORTS.—A 
bond shall not be treated as federally guaran-
teed merely because of the payment of rent, 
user fees, or other charges by the United States 
(or any agency or instrumentality thereof) in 
exchange for the use of the spaceport by the 
United States (or any agency or instrumentality 
thereof).’’. 
(e) EXCLUSION FROM STATE CEILING.—Section 
146(g) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end of paragraph (5), by striking the period and inserting 
‘‘, and’’ at the end of paragraph (6), and by inserting after 
paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(7) any exempt facility bond issued as part of 
an issue 95 percent or more of the net proceeds of 
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which are to be used to provide a spaceport (as de-
fined in section 142).’’. 
(f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 
section 142(c) of such Code is amended by inserting 
‘‘SPACEPORTS,’’ after ‘‘AIRPORTS,’’. 
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to obligations issued after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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