Public Buildings Renewal Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1396 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-exempt financing of certain government-owned buildings. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 26, 2021 Mr. BLUMENAUER 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 the tax-exempt financing of certain government- owned buildings. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Buildings Re- 4 newal Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF QUALIFIED GOVERN- 6 MENT BUILDINGS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 142(a) of the Internal 8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 9 end of paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1396 IH of paragraph (15) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at 1 the end the following new paragraph: 2 ‘‘(16) qualified government buildings.’’. 3 (b) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.—Section 4 142 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 5 following new subsection: 6 ‘‘(n) QUALIFIED GOVERNMENTAL BUILDINGS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 8 (a)(16), the term ‘qualified governmental buildings’ 9 means any building or facility that consists of one 10 or more of the following: 11 ‘‘(A) An elementary school or a secondary 12 school (within the meanings given such terms 13 by section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec- 14 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15 8801), as in effect on the date of the enactment 16 of this subsection). 17 ‘‘(B) Facilities of a State college or univer- 18 sity used for educational purposes. 19 ‘‘(C) A library maintained for, and open 20 to, the general public. 21 ‘‘(D) A Court of law. 22 ‘‘(E) A hospital, health care facilities, lab- 23 oratory facilities or research facilities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1396 IH ‘‘(F) Public safety facilities (including po- 1 lice, fire, enhanced 911, emergency or disaster 2 management, and ambulance or emergency 3 medical service facilities and jails and correc- 4 tional facilities). 5 ‘‘(G) Offices for employees of a govern- 6 mental unit. 7 Such term shall include any equipment, functionally 8 related and subordinate facility, or land (and any 9 real property rights appurtenant thereto) with re- 10 spect to any such building or facility. 11 ‘‘(2) SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED FACILITIES.— 12 Such term shall not include— 13 ‘‘(A) a building or facility the primary pur- 14 pose of which is one of the following: retail food 15 and beverage services, or the provision of recre- 16 ation or entertainment, or 17 ‘‘(B) any building or facility that includes 18 any of the following: any private or commercial 19 golf course, country club, massage parlor, ten- 20 nis club, skating facility (including roller skat- 21 ing, skateboard, and ice skating), racquet 22 sports facility (including any handball or 23 racquetball court), hot tub facility, suntan facil- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1396 IH ity, racetrack, convention center, or sports sta- 1 dium or arena. 2 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF 3 TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING FOR QUALIFIED GOVERN- 4 MENTAL BUILDING.— 5 ‘‘(A) NATIONAL LIMITATION.—The aggre- 6 gate amount allocated by the Secretary under 7 subparagraph (C) shall not exceed 8 $5,000,000,000. 9 ‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LIMI- 10 TATION.—An issue shall not be treated as an 11 issue described in subsection (a)(16) if the ag- 12 gregate face amount of bonds issued pursuant 13 to such issue for any qualified governmental 14 building (when added to the aggregate face 15 amount of bonds previously so issued for such 16 facility) exceeds the amount allocated to such 17 qualified governmental building under subpara- 18 graph (C). 19 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION BY THE SECRETARY.— 20 The Secretary shall allocate a portion of the 21 amount described in subparagraph (A) to a 22 qualified governmental building if the Secretary 23 determines that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1396 IH ‘‘(i) the application for financing of 1 such qualified governmental building meets 2 the requirements set forth in subparagraph 3 (D), and 4 ‘‘(ii) the amount of the allocation re- 5 quested, if allocated by the Secretary, 6 would not cause the national limitation set 7 forth in subparagraph (A) to be exceeded. 8 ‘‘(D) APPLICATIONS FOR FINANCING.—An 9 application for financing a qualified govern- 10 mental building meets the requirements of this 11 subparagraph if such application includes— 12 ‘‘(i) the amount of the allocation re- 13 quested, 14 ‘‘(ii) the name of the governmental 15 unit that will own the project, together 16 with complete contact information, 17 ‘‘(iii) a description of the project as a 18 whole and the proposed organizational and 19 legal structure of the project, 20 ‘‘(iv) a timeline showing the estimated 21 start and completion dates for each major 22 phase or milestone of project development 23 and an indication of the current status of 24 milestones on this timeline, including all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1396 IH necessary permits and environmental ap- 1 provals, 2 ‘‘(v) a statement of anticipated 3 sources and uses of funds for the project, 4 ‘‘(vi) a certification from the govern- 5 mental unit that will own the project that 6 such governmental unit will use reasonable 7 efforts to ensure that there is no net loss 8 of jobs as a result of the project, and 9 ‘‘(vii) the following declaration signed 10 by an individual who has personal knowl- 11 edge of the relevant facts and cir- 12 cumstances: ‘‘Under penalties of perjury, I 13 declare that I have examined this docu- 14 ment and, to the best of my knowledge and 15 belief, the document contains all the rel- 16 evant facts relating to the document, and 17 such facts are true, correct, and complete.’’ 18 ‘‘(E) USE OF ALLOCATION IN A TIMELY 19 MANNER.—If, following an allocation by the 20 Secretary under subparagraph (C), bonds are 21 not issued in the amount of such allocation 22 after the date that is 2 years after the date of 23 such allocation, then the unused portion of the 24 allocation shall be withdrawn, unless the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1396 IH retary, upon a showing of good cause by the ap- 1 plicant, grants an extension of such date. 2 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CURRENT REFUNDING 3 BONDS.—Paragraph (4) shall not apply to any bond 4 (or series of bonds) issued to refund a bond issued 5 under subsection (a)(16) if— 6 ‘‘(A) the average maturity date of the issue 7 of which the refunding bond is a part is not 8 later than the average maturity date of the 9 bonds to be refunded by such issue, 10 ‘‘(B) the amount of the refunding bond 11 does not exceed the outstanding amount of the 12 refunded bond, and 13 ‘‘(C) the refunded bond is redeemed not 14 later than 90 days after the date of the 15 issuance of the refunding bond. 16 For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity 17 shall be determined in accordance with section 18 147(b)(2)(A). 19 ‘‘(5) OFFICE SPACE.—Subsection (b)(2) shall 20 not apply with respect to any qualified governmental 21 building. 22 ‘‘(6) NO DEPRECIATION OR INVESTMENT CRED- 23 IT.—No depreciation, amortization, or business cred- 24 it under section 38 shall be allowed with respect to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1396 IH any facility described in subsection (a)(16) which 1 has been financed by the net proceeds of the issue. 2 ‘‘(7) APPLICATION OF DAVIS-BACON ACT RE- 3 QUIREMENTS.—If any proceeds of any issue are 4 used for construction, alteration, or repair of any fa- 5 cility otherwise described in subsection (a)(16), such 6 facility shall be treated for purposes of subsection 7 (a) as described in such paragraph only if each enti- 8 ty that receives such proceeds to conduct such con- 9 struction, alteration, or repair agrees to comply with 10 the provisions of subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 11 40, United States Code with respect to such con- 12 struction, alteration, or repair.’’. 13 (c) GOVERNMENTALLY OWNED REQUIREMENT.— 14 Section 142(b)(1)(A) of such Code is amended by striking 15 ‘‘or (12)’’ and inserting ‘‘(12), or (16)’’. 16 (d) EXEMPTION FROM VOLUME CAP ON PRIVATE 17 ACTIVITY BONDS.—Section 146(g)(3) of such Code is 18 amended by striking ‘‘or (15)’’ and inserting ‘‘(15), or 19 (16)’’. 20 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 22 the enactment of this Act. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Mar 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1396.IH H1396 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS