I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 614 
To require each owner of a dwelling unit assisted under the section 8 rental 
assistance voucher program to remain current with respect to local prop-
erty and school taxes and to authorize a public housing agency to 
use such rental assistance amounts to pay such tax debt of such an 
owner, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 23, 2017 
Mr. MEEHAN (for himself, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. BARLETTA, and Mr. COSTELLO 
of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To require each owner of a dwelling unit assisted under 
the section 8 rental assistance voucher program to re-
main current with respect to local property and school 
taxes and to authorize a public housing agency to use 
such rental assistance amounts to pay such tax debt 
of such an owner, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Our Schools 
from Tax Delinquents Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. OBLIGATION FOR OWNERS OF ASSISTED UNITS TO 
REMAIN CURRENT ON LOCAL PROPERTY AND 
SCHOOL TAXES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (o) of section 8 of the 
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(21) OBLIGATION
FOR
OWNERS
TO
REMAIN 
CURRENT
ON
LOCAL
PROPERTY
AND
SCHOOL 
TAXES.— 
‘‘(A) OBLIGATION.—Each housing assist-
ance payments contract entered into by a public 
housing agency and the owner of a dwelling 
unit shall provide that the owner of the dwelling 
unit assisted under the contract shall pay, on a 
timely basis, all covered taxes validly assessed 
against the property in which such dwelling 
unit is located. 
‘‘(B) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE FOR USE OF 
ASSISTANCE
AMOUNTS
TO
PAY
DELINQUENT 
TAXES.—A housing assistance payments con-
tract entered into by a public housing agency 
and the owner of a dwelling unit may provide 
that, upon notification by a taxing authority 
that the owner of a dwelling unit assisted under 
this subsection is delinquent with respect to 
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payment of any covered taxes assessed by such 
taxing authority against the property in which 
such dwelling unit is located and identification 
of the amount of such delinquency— 
‘‘(i) the public housing agency shall 
abate all of the assistance amounts under 
this subsection with respect to such prop-
erty until the transfer of amounts pursu-
ant to subparagraph (B) is completed; and 
‘‘(ii) the agency shall transfer to such 
taxing authority, on a monthly basis, an 
amount equal to the monthly assistance 
amounts under this subsection with respect 
to such dwelling unit (or such lesser 
amount as may be agreed to by the agency 
and such authority) until the delinquency 
identified in such notification is eliminated 
(or for such shorter period, as may be 
agreed to by the agency and such author-
ity). 
‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES.— 
The Secretary shall establish such requirements 
as may be necessary to implement the require-
ments of subparagraphs (A) and (B), including, 
with respect to subparagraph (B), such require-
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ments regarding any notification and transfer 
of amounts as may be necessary to ensure that 
amounts are not so transferred except for ac-
tual and confirmed taxes assessed to and owed 
by an owner of a dwelling unit to ensure— 
‘‘(i) that no amounts are transferred 
in excess of the amount of such taxes 
owed; and 
‘‘(ii) the timely commencement and 
termination of such transfer. 
‘‘(D) TREATMENT OF TENANTS.—Nothing 
in this paragraph may be construed to author-
ize, or establish any cause or grounds for, the 
termination of the tenancy of any tenant from 
any dwelling unit assisted under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(E) DATABASE.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall maintain a database of information 
regarding— 
‘‘(I) owners of dwelling units as-
sisted under this subsection whose 
housing assistance payments contracts 
have been terminated for failure to 
comply with subparagraph (A); and 
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‘‘(II) owners of such dwelling 
units with respect to whom assistance 
amounts have been abated and trans-
ferred to a taxing authority pursuant 
to subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(ii) 
CONTENTS.—Such 
database 
shall include information that identifies the 
owner, the property for which such assist-
ance was provided, the amount transferred, 
and the period over which such abatement 
and transfer occurred. 
‘‘(iii) INFORMATION
FROM
PUBLIC 
HOUSING AGENCIES.—The Secretary shall 
require public housing agencies to submit 
information regarding the abatement and 
transfer of assistance amounts pursuant to 
subparagraph (B) sufficient for the Sec-
retary to maintain such database. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph, the following definitions shall apply: 
‘‘(i) COVERED
TAXES.—The term 
‘covered taxes’ means any tax under the 
law of a State or any political subdivision 
of a State that is assessed upon real prop-
erty or the revenue of which is dedicated 
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for use only for schools or for costs of edu-
cation. 
‘‘(ii) TAXING AUTHORITY.—The term 
‘taxing authority’ means any State or po-
litical subdivision of a State, including any 
agency or authority thereof, having author-
ity to assess and collect covered taxes.’’. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development shall issue any regulations necessary 
to carry out this Act. 
Æ 
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