I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9668 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for school 
infrastructure finance and innovation tax credit bonds. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 21, 2022 
Ms. SEWELL (for herself and Ms. PLASKETT) 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 school infrastructure finance and innovation tax cred-
it bonds. 
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 ‘‘School Infrastructure 
Finance and Innovation Act’’ or the ‘‘SIFIA Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SIFIA BONDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part IV of subchapter A of chap-
ter 1 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subpart: 
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‘‘Subpart K—SIFIA Bonds 
‘‘Sec. 54BB. SIFIA bonds. 
‘‘SEC. 54BB. SIFIA BONDS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If a taxpayer holds a SIFIA 
bond on one or more interest payment dates of the bond 
during any taxable year, there shall be allowed as a credit 
against the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable 
year an amount equal to the sum of the credits determined 
under subsection (b) with respect to such dates. 
‘‘(b) AMOUNT OF CREDIT.—The amount of the credit 
determined under this subsection with respect to any in-
terest payment date for a SIFIA bond is 100 percent of 
the amount of interest payable by the issuer with respect 
to such date. 
‘‘(c) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF TAX.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The credit allowed under 
subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not exceed 
the excess of— 
‘‘(A) the sum of the regular tax liability 
(as defined in section 26(b)) plus the tax im-
posed by section 55, over 
‘‘(B) the sum of the credits allowable 
under this part (other than subpart C and this 
subpart). 
‘‘(2) CARRYOVER OF UNUSED CREDIT.—If the 
credit allowable under subsection (a) exceeds the 
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limitation imposed by paragraph (1) for such taxable 
year, such excess shall be carried to the succeeding 
taxable year and added to the credit allowable under 
subsection (a) for such taxable year (determined be-
fore the application of paragraph (1) for such suc-
ceeding taxable year). 
‘‘(d) INTEREST PAYMENT DATE.—For purposes of 
this section, the term ‘interest payment date’ means any 
date on which the holder of record of the SIFIA bond is 
entitled to a payment of interest under such bond. 
‘‘(e) SIFIA BONDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘SIFIA bond’ means any bond issued 
as part of an issue if— 
‘‘(A) 100 percent of the available project 
proceeds of such issue are to be used for the de-
sign, construction, expansion, renovation, fur-
nishing, or equipping of qualified school facili-
ties (as defined in paragraph (5) of this sub-
section) pursuant to an agreement under which 
a private, for-profit entity agrees with a State 
or local educational agency— 
‘‘(i) to construct, expand, or renovate 
one or more buildings constituting the 
qualified school facilities (together with 
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any related design, furnishing, and equip-
ping of such buildings), 
‘‘(ii) to operate the facilities at least 
until the date the facilities are first placed 
in service and operating substantially at 
their design level, and 
‘‘(iii) at or before the end of the 
agreement, to transfer the facilities to such 
agency for no additional consideration, 
‘‘(B) all buildings whose construction, ex-
pansion, or renovations is included in the quali-
fied school facilities being financed with pro-
ceeds of a SIFIA bond are reasonably expected 
to be net-zero energy buildings as defined in 
section 410(20) of the Energy Independence 
and 
Security 
Act 
of 
2007 
(42 
U.S.C. 
17061(20), treating school buildings as ‘com-
mercial buildings’ for purposes of that section), 
‘‘(C) the interest on such bond would (but 
for this section and section 141) be excludable 
from gross income under section 103, 
‘‘(D) the issuer designates such bond as a 
SIFIA bond for purposes of this subsection, 
‘‘(E) the bond is not issued with more than 
a de minimis amount of premium (determined 
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under rules similar to the rules of section 
1273(a)(3)) over the stated principal amount of 
the bond, 
‘‘(F) the issue of which such bond is a part 
satisfies the expenditure period requirements of 
paragraph (2), and 
‘‘(G) the bond is issued before January 1, 
2027. 
‘‘(2) 6-YEAR EXPENDITURE PERIOD.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—An issue shall be 
treated as meeting the requirements of this 
paragraph if, as of the date of issuance, the 
issuer reasonably expects 100 percent of the 
available project proceeds to be spent for pur-
poses described in subparagraphs (1)(A) and 
(1)(B) within the 6-year period beginning on 
such date of issuance. 
‘‘(B) 
FAILURE
TO
SPEND
REQUIRED 
AMOUNT
OF
BOND
PROCEEDS
WITHIN
YEARS.—To the extent that less than 100 per-
cent of the available project proceeds of the 
issue are expended at the close of the period de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) with respect to 
such issue, the issuer shall redeem all of the 
nonqualified bonds within 90 days after the end 
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of such period. For purposes of this paragraph, 
the amount of the nonqualified bonds required 
to be redeemed shall be determined in the same 
manner as under section 141. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF SIFIA BONDS 
DESIGNATED.— 
‘‘(A) OVERALL
LIMITATION.—The max-
imum aggregate face amount of SIFIA bonds 
issued under this subsection that may be des-
ignated 
under 
subparagraph 
(2)(D) 
is 
$200,000,000,000. 
‘‘(B) SET-ASIDE FOR RURAL AREAS.—Sub-
ject to the provisions of this subparagraph, 
$45,000,000,000 of the overall limitation de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be set aside 
for projects located in rural areas. As used in 
this section, the term ‘rural area’ means any 
area which is— 
‘‘(i) outside of a metropolitan statis-
tical area (as such area is defined by the 
Secretary of Commerce), or 
‘‘(ii) determined by the Secretary of 
Agriculture, after consultation with the 
Secretary of Commerce, to be a rural area. 
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‘‘(4) ALLOCATION
OF
LIMITATION.—The au-
thority to issue SIFIA bonds within the limitations 
set forth in paragraph (3) shall be allocated by the 
Secretary to prospective issuers on a first come-first 
served basis, under rules to be prescribed by the 
Secretary, provided that— 
‘‘(A) no issuer (together with any entities 
that would be aggregated with such issuer 
under section 265(b)(3)(E)) shall be allocated 
the 
authority 
to 
issue 
more 
than 
$15,000,000,000 in aggregate face amount of 
SIFIA bonds under this subsection, 
‘‘(B) an issuer applying for an allocation 
shall certify (based on the certifications of any 
conduit borrower of bond proceeds where appli-
cable) that it reasonably expects to commence 
the project to be financed with proceeds of the 
bonds within 6 months of the issue date of the 
bonds, and to expend all of the available project 
proceeds within 6 years of the issue date of the 
bonds, 
‘‘(C) in making such allocations, the Sec-
retary shall give preference to the financing of 
projects that are reasonably expected to be com-
menced and completed as early as possible, 
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based on definite, non-contingent plans and ar-
rangements to proceed as expeditiously as pos-
sible with the construction, expansion, or ren-
ovation of the project facilities upon the receipt 
of financing, and 
‘‘(D) in making such allocations, the Sec-
retary shall also give preference to the financing 
of projects for which either (i) at least 10 per-
cent of the equity investment is provided by one 
or more preferred concerns, (ii) the general con-
tractor is a preferred concern, or (iii) at least 
30 percent of the amounts paid to building 
trade subcontractors will be paid to subcontrac-
tors that are preferred concerns. 
‘‘(5) QUALIFIED
SCHOOL
FACILITIES.—For 
purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified 
school facilities’ means one or more school buildings 
for a public elementary school or public secondary 
school (as such terms are defined in section 14101 
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801)), or for administrative or 
support facilities relating to such school facilities, to-
gether with related furnishings and equipment. 
‘‘(6) PREFERRED CONCERN.—For purposes of 
this subsection, the term ‘preferred concern’ means 
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either a small business concern, a minority owned 
concern, or a woman owned concern. 
‘‘(7) SMALL
BUSINESS
CONCERN.—For pur-
poses of this subsection, the term ‘small business 
concern’ means an entity determined to be a small 
business concern under 15 U.S.C. 632(a). 
‘‘(8) MINORITY OWNED.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘minority owned’ with respect to 
an entity means an entity not less than 51 percent 
of which is owned by 1 or more individuals who are 
citizens of the United States and who are Asian 
American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Afri-
can American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native 
American, or Alaska Native. 
‘‘(9) WOMAN
OWNED.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘woman owned’ with respect to 
an entity means an entity not less than 51 percent 
of which is owned by 1 or more women. 
‘‘(f) OTHER APPLICABLE RULES.— 
‘‘(1) INTEREST
INCLUDIBLE
IN
GROSS
IN-
COME.—For purposes of this title, interest on any 
SIFIA bond shall be includible in gross income. 
‘‘(2) CREDIT
TREATED
AS
INTEREST.—For 
purposes of this subtitle, the credit determined 
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which is part of such issue is no greater than the 
rate which the Secretary estimates will permit the 
issuance of each such bond with a specified maturity 
or redemption date without discount and without in-
terest cost to the issuer. The applicable interest rate 
with respect to any such bond shall be determined 
as of the first day on which there is a binding, writ-
ten contract for the sale or exchange of the bond. 
‘‘(9) MATURITY LIMITATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—An issue shall be 
treated as meeting the requirements of this sec-
tion if the maturity of any bond which is part 
of such issue does not exceed the maximum 
term determined by the Secretary under sub-
paragraph (B). 
‘‘(B) MAXIMUM TERM.—During each cal-
endar month, the Secretary shall determine the 
maximum term permitted under this paragraph 
for bonds issued during the following calendar 
month. Such maximum term shall be the term 
which the Secretary estimates will result in the 
present value of the obligation to repay the 
principal on the bond being equal to 20 percent 
of the face amount of such bond. Such present 
value shall be determined using as a discount 
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rate the average annual interest rate of tax-ex-
empt obligations having a term of 10 years or 
more which are issued during the month. If the 
term as so determined is not a multiple of a 
whole year, such term shall be rounded to the 
next highest whole year. 
‘‘(10) DEPRECIATION.—If the school facilities 
financed with proceeds of SIFIA bonds are owned by 
a person otherwise entitled to allowance for deprecia-
tion with respect to such facility, that person may 
make an irrevocable election (binding on any succes-
sors in interest) not to claim depreciation with re-
spect to the property financed with proceeds of the 
SIFIA bonds for so long as the issue of which such 
bonds are a part is outstanding. Such election shall 
be deemed to have been made if the person fails to 
claim depreciation with respect to the property in 
the first tax return filed by the person in which such 
depreciation could have been claimed. To the extent 
the person elects not to claim depreciation under 
this paragraph, the basis of the financed property 
shall not be reduced under section 1016 or otherwise 
for the depreciation that could have been claimed. 
‘‘(g) DIRECT-PAY CREDIT PAYMENTS.— 
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‘‘(1) ELECTION.—In lieu of the tax credits oth-
erwise provided for under this section, the issuer of 
a SIFIA bond may elect to be allowed a credit with 
respect to each interest payment under such bond, 
which shall be payable by the Secretary in the 
amounts and at the times set forth in paragraph (2). 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT
AND
TIMING
OF
CREDIT
PAY-
MENTS.—The Secretary shall pay (contempora-
neously with each interest payment date under such 
bond) to the issuer of such bond (or to any person 
who makes interest payments on behalf of the 
issuer) 100 percent of the interest payable under 
such bond on such date. 
‘‘(3) ELECTION.—The election under paragraph 
(1) shall be made in writing before the first interest 
payment date with respect to the bond in such form 
and manner as the Secretary shall prescribe. Such 
election, once made, shall be irrevocable. 
‘‘(4) OTHER APPLICABLE RULES.—In the case 
of a SIFIA bond with respect to which an election 
is made under this subsection, the following rules 
shall apply: 
‘‘(A) Interest on any such bond shall be in-
cludible in gross income for purposes of this 
title. 
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‘‘(B) Any payments made under this sub-
section shall not be includible as income for 
purposes of this title. 
‘‘(C) The deduction otherwise allowable 
under this title with respect to interest paid 
under such bond shall be reduced by the 
amount of the payment made under this sub-
section with respect to that interest. 
‘‘(D) For purposes of section 148, the 
yield on a SIFIA bond for which credit pay-
ments have been elected under this subsection 
shall be reduced by the amount of such credit 
payments.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of subparts 
for part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SUBPART K—SIFIA BONDS’’. 
(c) DIRECT PURCHASES
OF SIFIA BONDS.—The 
Secretary shall purchase SIFIA bonds that the issuer is 
otherwise unable to sell, subject to procedures and credit 
standards to be established by the Secretary, which stand-
ards and procedures shall be similar to those applicable 
to loans made under lines of credit under section 1503 
of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innova-
tion Act of 1998 (23 U.S.C. 184). 
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(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to obligations issued after Decem-
ber 31, 2021. 
Æ 
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