I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4155 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax benefits for 
the Gulf Opportunity Zone and certain areas affected by Hurricane 
Rita, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 27, 2005 
Mr. MCCRERY (for himself, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. LEWIS 
of Georgia, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. BAKER, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. 
JINDAL, Mr. MELANCON, and Mr. PICKERING) 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 Hurricane Rita, 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 HURRICANE RITA 
Sec. 201. Extension of certain emergency tax relief for Hurricane Katrina to 
Hurricane Rita. 
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.
‘‘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) the Governor of such State designates 
such bond for purposes of this section, and
‘‘(D) such bond is issued after the date of 
the enactment of this section and before Janu-
ary 1, 2011. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF 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