I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2419
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a business credit
against income for the purchase of fishing safety equipment.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 28, 2001
Mr. SIMMONS (for himself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr.
GRUCCI, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr.
FARR of California, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, and Mr. FRANK) intro-
duced 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
a business credit against income for the purchase of
fishing safety equipment.
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 ‘‘Commercial Fishermen
Safety Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR PURCHASE OF FISHING SAFETY
EQUIPMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by
adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 45G. FISHING SAFETY EQUIPMENT CREDIT.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of section 38,
in the case of an eligible taxpayer, the fishing safety equip-
ment credit determined under this section for the taxable
year is 75 percent of the amount of qualified fishing safety
equipment expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer dur-
ing the taxable year.
‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON MAXIMUM CREDIT.—The credit
allowed under subsection (a) with respect to a taxpayer
for the taxable year shall not exceed $1,500.
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE TAXPAYER.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘eligible taxpayer’ means a taxpayer en-
gaged in a fishing business.
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) FISHING
BUSINESS.—The term ‘fishing
business’ means the conduct of commercial fishing
as defined in section 3 of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16
U.S.C. 1802).
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED FISHING SAFETY EQUIPMENT
EXPENSES.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified
fishing safety equipment expenses’ means an
amount paid or incurred for fishing safety
equipment for use by the taxpayer in connection
with a fishing business.
‘‘(B) FISHING SAFETY EQUIPMENT.—The
term ‘fishing safety equipment’ means—
‘‘(i) lifesaving equipment required to
be carried by a vessel under section 4502
of title 46, United States Code, and
‘‘(ii) any maintenance of such equip-
ment required under such section.
‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Rules similar to the rules
of subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 52 shall
apply for purposes of this section.
‘‘(2) AGGREGATION RULES.—All persons treat-
ed as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b)
of section 52 or subsection (m) or (o) of section 414
shall be treated as one person for purposes of sub-
section (a).
‘‘(f) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction
shall be allowed under this chapter (other than a credit
under this section) for any amount taken into account in
determining the credit under this section.
‘‘(g) BASIS ADJUSTMENT.—For purposes of this sub-
title, if a credit is allowed under this section with respect
to any equipment, the basis of such equipment shall be
reduced by the amount of the credit so allowed.’’.
(b) LIMITATION ON CARRYBACK.—Section 39(d) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to transition
rules) is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(11) NO
CARRYBACK
OF
FISHING
SAFETY
EQUIPMENT CREDIT BEFORE EFFECTIVE DATE.—No
portion of the unused business credit for any taxable
year which is attributable to the fishing safety
equipment credit determined under section 45G may
be carried to a taxable year ending before the date
of the enactment of section 45G.’’.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 38(b) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 (relating to general business credit) is
amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph
(14), by striking the period at the end of paragraph
(15) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the
end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(16) the fishing safety equipment credit deter-
mined under section 45G(a).’’.
(2) Subsection (a) of section 1016 of such Code
is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (27), by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (28) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by add-
ing at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(29) in the case of equipment with respect to
which a credit was allowed under section 45G, to the
extent provided in section 45G(g).’’.
(d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in-
serting after the item relating to section 45F the following
new item:
‘‘Sec. 45G. Fishing safety equipment credit.’’.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after
December 31, 2001.
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