I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 644
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat spaceports like airports 
under the exempt facility bond rules. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 5, 2003
Mr. WELDON of Florida 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 treat 
spaceports like airports under the 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 ‘‘Spaceport Equality 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER EX-
EMPT FACILITY BOND RULES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 142(a) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exempt 
facility bonds) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(1) airports and spaceports,’’. 
(b) TREATMENT OF GROUND LEASES.—Paragraph 
(1) of section 142(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to certain facilities must be governmentally 
owned) 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 which is located 
on land owned by the United States and which 
is used by a governmental unit pursuant to a 
lease (as defined in section 168(h)(7)) from the 
United States shall be treated as owned by such 
unit if—
‘‘(i) the lease term (within the mean-
ing of section 168(i)(3)) is at least 15 
years, and 
‘‘(ii) such unit would be treated as 
owning such property if such lease term 
were equal to the useful life of such prop-
erty.’’. 
(c) DEFINITION OF SPACEPORT.—Section 142 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(l) SPACEPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 
(a)(1), the term ‘spaceport’ means—
‘‘(A) any facility directly related and essen-
tial to servicing spacecraft, enabling spacecraft 
to launch or reenter, or transferring passengers 
or space cargo to or from spacecraft, but only 
if such facility is located at, or in close prox-
imity to, the launch site or reentry site, and 
‘‘(B) any other functionally related and 
subordinate facility at or adjacent to the launch 
site or reentry site at which launch services or 
reentry services are provided, including a 
launch control center, repair shop, maintenance 
or overhaul facility, and rocket assembly facil-
ity. 
‘‘(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’, ‘launch services’, ‘launch vehicle’, 
‘payload’, ‘reenter’, ‘reentry services’, ‘reentry 
site’, and ‘reentry vehicle’ shall have the respec-
tive meanings given to such terms by section 
70102 of title 49, United States Code (as in ef-
fect on the date of enactment of this sub-
section).’’. 
(d) EXCEPTION FROM FEDERALLY GUARANTEED 
BOND PROHIBITION.—Paragraph (3) of section 149(b) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exceptions) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
paragraph: 
‘‘(E) EXCEPTION
FOR
SPACEPORTS.—
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any exempt fa-
cility bond issued as part of an issue described 
in paragraph (1) of section 142(a) to provide a 
spaceport in situations where—
‘‘(i) the guarantee of the United 
States (or an agency or instrumentality 
thereof) is the result of payment of rent, 
user fees, or other charges by the United 
States (or any agency or instrumentality 
thereof), and
‘‘(ii) the payment of the rent, user 
fees, or other charges is for, and condi-
tioned upon, the use of the spaceport by 
the United States (or any agency or in-
strumentality thereof).’’. 
(e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 
section 142(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
amended by inserting ‘‘, SPACEPORT,’’ after ‘‘AIRPORT’’. 
(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to obligations issued after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
Æ