I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5386
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide economic relief
to farmers and ranchers, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 4, 2000
Mr. ISAKSON (for himself, Mr. TANNER, Mr. NORWOOD, and Mr. KINGSTON)
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
economic relief to farmers and ranchers, 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; AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Paul Coverdell Open Space Conservation Farmers and
Ranchers Relief Act of 2000’’.
(b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as other-
wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Tax and economic policies have for a sus-
tained period of time inadvertently created a busi-
ness context for our Nation’s farming and ranching
families that, among other negative impacts, has
forced a significant number of them to liquidate
their land holdings and leave the business of farming
and ranching.
(2) This has particularly been the case in areas
surrounding growing urban centers and resort des-
tinations.
(3) Not only has this cost the Nation the his-
toric cultural and economic advantages of its farm-
ing and ranching communities, but it has frag-
mented many of our Nation’s large landscapes.
(4) The impact of this has been to deprive
many areas of open green space, which in turn has
not only negatively affected our human settlements
through the resulting sprawl, but has also dramati-
cally reduced the amount of sustaining habitat for
our natural communities of plants and animals.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide
an economic mechanism that will address the issues de-
scribed in subsection (a) in a manner that will reduce the
current unfair economic burden carried by the Nation’s
farming and ranching families while also protecting our
lands in a manner that keeps them subject to private own-
ership, available for farming and ranching, and supportive
of our surviving but threatened natural communities of
plants and animals.
SEC. 3. QUALIFIED CONSERVATION CREDIT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 (relating to other credits) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 30B. QUALIFIED CONSERVATION CREDIT.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—There shall be allowed as a
credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle, in the case
of a qualified conservation organization, the amount of the
taxpayer’s qualified conservation expenditures for the tax-
able year.
‘‘(b) QUALIFIED CONSERVATION EXPENDITURES.—
For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified con-
servation expenditures’ means the sum of the quali-
fied conservation organization’s—
‘‘(A) acquisition costs, and
‘‘(B) reserve funds.
‘‘(2) ACQUISITION COSTS.—The term ‘acquisi-
tion costs’ means the sum of—
‘‘(A) the lesser of—
‘‘(i) the total of the amounts that a
qualified conservation organization paid
during the taxable year to acquire qualified
real property interests exclusively for con-
servation purposes, or
‘‘(ii) the aggregate appraised value of
the qualified real property interests re-
ferred to in clause (i), plus
‘‘(B) so much of the transaction costs rea-
sonably incurred during the taxable year in con-
nection with the acquisition of qualified real
property interests as do not exceed 2 percent of
the amount determined in subparagraph (A).
‘‘(3) RESERVE FUNDS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘reserve
funds’ means amounts permanently set aside by
a qualified conservation organization as an en-
dowment to fund the future costs of enforcing
and maintaining qualified real property inter-
ests acquired by the qualified conservation orga-
nization exclusively for conservation purposes.