Title: Rural Jobs Act
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Rural Jobs Act
This bill allocates an additional $500 million in 2019 and 2020 for new markets tax credit investments in the Rural Jobs Zone (an area comprised of low-income communities with populations not greater than 50,000 that are not adjacent to an urbanized area). The bill also requires that not less than 25% of such investments be made in areas that are persistent poverty counties, high migration rural counties, or both.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3538 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3538

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for new markets 
             tax credit investments in the Rural Jobs Zone.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2019

     Ms. Sewell of Alabama (for herself and Mr. Smith of Missouri) 
 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 for new markets 
             tax credit investments in the Rural Jobs Zone.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Jobs Act''.

SEC. 2. ALLOCATIONS OF NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT LIMITATION FOR RURAL JOBS 
              ZONE.

    (a) In General.--Section 45D(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Allocations for the rural jobs zone.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In addition to any new markets 
                tax credit limitation under paragraph (1), there are 
                the following amounts of new markets tax credit 
                limitation which shall be allocated by the Secretary 
                only to Rural Jobs Zone development entities for making 
                Rural Jobs Zone equity investments:
                            ``(i) $500,000,000 for 2019.
                            ``(ii) $500,000,000 for 2020.
                    ``(B) Rural jobs zone development entity.--For 
                purposes of this paragraph, the term `Rural Jobs Zone 
                development entity' means any qualified community 
                development entity a significant mission of which is 
                the economic development of, and the creation and 
                retention of jobs in, the Rural Jobs Zone.
                    ``(C) Rural jobs zone equity investment.--For 
                purposes of this paragraph, the term `Rural Jobs Zone 
                equity investment' means any equity investment which 
                would be a qualified equity investment if the only low-
                income community was the Rural Jobs Zone.
                    ``(D) Rural jobs zone.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term `Rural Jobs Zone' means the area 
                comprised of low-income communities which are a portion 
                of neither--
                            ``(i) a city or town that has a population 
                        of greater than 50,000 inhabitants, nor
                            ``(ii) any urbanized area contiguous and 
                        adjacent to such a city or town.
                    ``(E) Minimum investment in persistent poverty 
                counties and high migration rural counties.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall 
                        prescribe regulations or other guidance 
                        pursuant to which not less than 25 percent of 
                        the Rural Jobs Zone equity investments made 
                        pursuant to allocations made under this 
                        paragraph are invested in areas which are 
                        persistent poverty counties, high migration 
                        rural counties (as defined in subsection 
                        (e)(5)(B)), or both.
                            ``(ii) Persistent poverty counties.--For 
                        purposes of this subparagraph, the term 
                        `persistent poverty county' means any county 
                        that has had 20 percent or more of its 
                        population living in poverty over the past 30 
                        years, as measured by the 1990 and 2000 
                        decennial censuses and the most recent Small 
                        Area Income and Poverty Estimates.
                    ``(F) Application of carryover.--Paragraph (3) 
                shall be applied separately with respect to the amounts 
                specified in subparagraph (A).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to allocations made after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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