I 
★
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 656 
To provide $4,000,000,000 in new funding through bonding to empower 
States to undertake significant residential and commercial structure dem-
olition projects in urban and other targeted areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2013 
Mr. JOYCE (for himself, Ms. FUDGE, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 
and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To provide $4,000,000,000 in new funding through bonding 
to empower States to undertake significant residential 
and commercial structure demolition projects in urban 
and other targeted areas, 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 ‘‘Restore our Neighbor-
hoods Act of 2013’’. 
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SEC. 2. CREDIT TO HOLDERS OF QUALIFIED URBAN DEMO-
LITION BONDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart I of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section: 
‘‘SEC. 54G. QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION BONDS. 
‘‘(a) QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION BOND.—For 
purposes of this subchapter, the term ‘qualified urban 
demolition bond’ means any bond issued as part of an 
issue if— 
‘‘(1) 100 percent of the available project pro-
ceeds of such issue are to be used for expenditures 
incurred after the date of the enactment of this sec-
tion for 1 or more qualified projects pursuant to an 
allocation of such proceeds to such project or 
projects by a qualified issuer, 
‘‘(2) the bond is issued by a qualified issuer 
and is in registered form (within the meaning of sec-
tion 149(a)), 
‘‘(3) the qualified issuer designates such bond 
for purposes of this section, 
‘‘(4) the term of each bond which is part of 
such issue does not exceed 30 years, 
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‘‘(5) such bond is issued during the 5-year pe-
riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this 
section, and 
‘‘(6) the issue meets the requirements of sub-
section (e). 
‘‘(b) LIMITATION
ON AMOUNT
OF BONDS DES-
IGNATED.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The maximum aggregate 
face amount of bonds which may be designated 
under subsection (a) by a State shall not exceed the 
qualified urban demolition bond limitation amount 
allocated to such State under paragraph (3). 
‘‘(2) NATIONAL QUALIFIED URBAN DEMOLITION 
BOND
LIMITATION
AMOUNT.—There is a national 
qualified urban demolition bond limitation amount of 
$4,000,000,000. 
‘‘(3) ALLOCATION TO STATES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The national qualified 
urban demolition bond limitation shall be allo-
cated by the Secretary among the States on the 
following basis and in such manner so as to en-
sure that all of such limitation amount is allo-
cated before the date which is 3 months after 
the date of the enactment of this section: 
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‘‘(i) $2,000,000,000 to be allocated 
among the qualified States in accordance 
with subparagraph (B), and 
‘‘(ii) $2,000,000,000 to be equally al-
located among all States. 
‘‘(B) FORMULA FOR ALLOCATION AMONG 
QUALIFIED STATES.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The amount allo-
cated to a State under subparagraph (A)(i) 
shall be an amount equal to the amount 
specified in subparagraph (A)(i) multiplied 
by the ratio that the nonseasonal vacant 
properties in the State bears to the total 
nonseasonal vacant properties of all quali-
fied States. 
‘‘(ii) NONSEASONAL
VACANT
PROP-
ERTIES.—For purposes of clause (i), non-
seasonal vacant properties shall be deter-
mined by the Secretary on the basis of 
2010 decennial census. 
‘‘(4) ALLOCATION OF LIMITATION AMOUNT BY 
STATES.—The limitation amount allocated to a 
State under paragraph (3) shall be allocated by the 
State to qualified issuers within such State. 
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‘‘(5) REALLOCATION
OF
UNUSED
ISSUANCE 
LIMITATION.—If at the end of the 2-year period be-
ginning on the date of the enactment of this section, 
the national qualified urban demolition bond limita-
tion amount under paragraph (2) exceeds the total 
amount of qualified urban demolition bonds issued 
during such period, such excess shall be reallocated 
among the qualified States in such manner as the 
Secretary determines appropriate so as to ensure to 
the extent possible that all of such limitation amount 
is issued in the form of qualified urban demolition 
bonds before the end of the 5-year period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this section. 
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED PROJECT.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘qualified project’ means the direct and indi-
rect demolition costs properly attributable to any project 
proposed and approved by a qualified issuer, but does not 
include costs of operation or maintenance with respect to 
such project. 
‘‘(d) APPLICABLE CREDIT RATE.—In lieu of section 
54A(b)(3), for purposes of section 54A(b)(2), the applica-
ble credit rate with respect to an issue under this section 
is the rate equal to an average market yield (as of the 
day before the date of sale of the issue) on outstanding 
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deem all of the nonqualified bonds within 90 days 
after the end of such period. For purposes of this 
paragraph, the amount of the nonqualified bonds re-
quired to be redeemed shall be determined in the 
same manner as under section 142. 
‘‘(f) RECAPTURE OF PORTION OF CREDIT WHERE 
CESSATION OF COMPLIANCE.—If any bond which when 
issued purported to be a qualified urban demolition bond 
ceases to be such a bond, the qualified issuer shall pay 
to the United States (at the time required by the Sec-
retary) an amount equal to the sum of— 
‘‘(1) the aggregate of the credits allowable 
under section 54A with respect to such bond (deter-
mined without regard to section 54A(c)) for taxable 
years ending during the calendar year in which such 
cessation occurs and each succeeding calendar year 
ending with the calendar year in which such bond is 
redeemed by the land bank, and 
‘‘(2) interest at the underpayment rate under 
section 6621 on the amount determined under para-
graph (1) for each calendar year for the period be-
ginning on the first day of such calendar year. 
‘‘(g) OTHER DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 
For purposes of this section— 
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‘‘(1) QUALIFIED ISSUER.—The term ‘qualified 
issuer’ means— 
‘‘(A) a State-authorized land bank, or 
‘‘(B) with respect a State that does not 
have one or more State-authorized land banks, 
the State or any political subdivision or instru-
mentality thereof. 
‘‘(2) STATE-AUTHORIZED
LAND
BANK.—The 
term ‘State-authorized land bank’ means a special 
unit of government or public purpose corporation— 
‘‘(A) expressly charged under State law 
with the reclamation, repurposing and redevel-
opment of vacant and abandoned land, 
‘‘(B) enabled under State law to conduct 
large scale demolition projects, 
‘‘(C) organized in a State which has en-
acted legislation allowing for the expedited tax 
foreclosure of vacant, abandoned, and tax delin-
quent property, and 
‘‘(D) which may include a joint venture 
among 2 or more State-authorized land banks 
or among other entities with whom such special 
unit of government or public purpose corpora-
tion is authorized to enter into a joint venture. 
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‘‘(3) QUALIFIED STATE.—The term ‘qualified 
State’ means a State— 
‘‘(A) in which at least 49 percent of the 
State’s total housing units in the State were 
built before 1980, according to the 2010 cen-
sus, and 
‘‘(B) which meets 3 of the following 4 re-
quirements: 
‘‘(i) The State ranks in the top 20 
among all States in percentage change in 
nonseasonal vacancies in the time period 
between the 2000 decennial census and the 
2010 decennial census. 
‘‘(ii) The State ranks in the top 25 
among all States in unemployment rate 
(seasonally adjusted) for the most recent 
January through November period begin-
ning before the issuance of the qualified 
urban demolition bond. 
‘‘(iii) The State ranks in the top 25 
among all States in percentages of mort-
gages in foreclosure for the 3rd quarter of 
2012. 
‘‘(iv) The State ranks in the top 20 
among all States in the lowest percentage 
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change in population growth in the time 
period between the 2000 decennial census 
and the 2010 decennial census. 
‘‘(4) CREDITS
MAY
BE
TRANSFERRED.—Not-
withstanding in any law or rule of law shall be con-
strued to limit the transferability of the credit or 
bond allowed by this section through sale and repur-
chase agreements.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Paragraph (1) of section 54A(d) of such 
Code is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (D), by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (E), and by inserting after subparagraph 
(E) the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(E) a qualified urban demolition bond,’’. 
(2) Subparagraph (C) of section 54A(d)(2) is 
amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (iv), 
by striking the period at the end of clause (v) and 
inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new clause: 
‘‘(vi) in the case of a qualified urban demolition bond, 
a purpose specified in section 54G(a)(1).’’. 
(3) The table of sections for subpart I of part 
IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 
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amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘Sec. 54G. Qualified urban demolition bonds.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. USE OF HARDEST HIT FUND AMOUNTS FOR DEMO-
LITION ACTIVITIES. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any provision of 
title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.), any regulation, guidance, 
order, or other directive of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
or any agreement (or amendment thereto) entered into 
under the Hardest Hit Fund program of the Secretary 
under such title I, any amounts of assistance that have 
been, or are, allocated for or provided to a State or State 
agency through the Hardest Hit Fund program may be 
used, without limitation, to demolish blighted structures. 
(b) FAILURE TO USE HHF AMOUNTS.—If, upon the 
expiration of the 24-month period beginning on the date 
of the enactment of this Act, any State or State agency 
is holding any amounts of assistance described in sub-
section (a) or any amounts of such assistance allocated 
for such State or State agency have not been disbursed 
to such State or agency, the Secretary shall remit to the 
Treasury an amount equal to 25 percent of the aggregate 
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amount, as of such date, of such held and undisbursed 
funds. The Secretary shall recapture from such State or 
State agency any amounts of such held funds necessary 
to carry out this subsection. 
Æ 
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