REPAIR Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2895 To facilitate efficient investments and financing of infrastructure projects and new, long-term job creation through the establishment of an Infra- structure Financing Authority, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2021 Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra- structure, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To facilitate efficient investments and financing of infrastruc- ture projects and new, long-term job creation through the establishment of an Infrastructure Financing Author- ity, and for other purposes. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Reinventing Economic Partnerships And Infrastructure 5 Redevelopment Act’’ or the ‘‘REPAIR Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2895 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purpose. Sec. 3. Definitions. TITLE I—INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING AUTHORITY Sec. 101. Establishment and general authority of IFA. Sec. 102. Voting members of the Board of Directors. Sec. 103. Chief Executive Officer. Sec. 104. Powers and duties of the Board of Directors. Sec. 105. Senior management. Sec. 106. Office of Technical and Rural Assistance. Sec. 107. Special Inspector General for IFA. Sec. 108. Other personnel. Sec. 109. Compliance. TITLE II—TERMS AND LIMITATIONS ON DIRECT LOANS AND LOAN GUARANTEES Sec. 201. Eligibility criteria for assistance from IFA and terms and limitations of loans. Sec. 202. Loan terms and repayment. Sec. 203. Project Delivery Task Force. Sec. 204. Compliance and enforcement. Sec. 205. Audits; reports to the President and Congress. Sec. 206. Effect on other laws. TITLE III—FUNDING OF IFA Sec. 301. Fees. Sec. 302. Self-sufficiency of IFA. Sec. 303. Funding. Sec. 304. Contract authority. Sec. 305. Limitation on authority. TITLE IV—TAX EXEMPTION REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL BONDS Sec. 401. National limitation on amount of tax-exempt financing for facilities. TITLE V—BUDGETARY EFFECTS Sec. 501. Budgetary effects. SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 3 The purpose of this Act is to facilitate investment in, 4 and the long-term financing of, economically viable eligible 5 infrastructure projects of regional or national significance 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2895 IH that are in the public interest in a manner that com- 1 plements existing Federal, State, local, and private fund- 2 ing sources for these projects and introduces a merit-based 3 system for financing those projects, in order to mobilize 4 significant private sector investment, create long-term 5 jobs, and ensure United States competitiveness through 6 a self-sustaining institution that limits the need for ongo- 7 ing Federal funding. 8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9 In this Act: 10 (1) BLIND TRUST.—The term ‘‘blind trust’’ 11 means a trust in which the beneficiary has no knowl- 12 edge of the specific holdings and no rights over how 13 those holdings are managed by the fiduciary of the 14 trust prior to the dissolution of the trust. 15 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The term ‘‘Board 16 of Directors’’ means the Board of Directors of IFA. 17 (3) CHAIRPERSON.—The term ‘‘Chairperson’’ 18 means the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of 19 IFA. 20 (4) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.—The term 21 ‘‘Chief Executive Officer’’ means the chief executive 22 officer of IFA, appointed under section 103. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2895 IH (5) COST.—The term ‘‘cost’’ has the meaning 1 given the term in section 502 of the Federal Credit 2 Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 3 (6) DIRECT LOAN.—The term ‘‘direct loan’’ has 4 the meaning given the term in section 502 of the 5 Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 6 (7) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 7 ty’’ means— 8 (A) an individual; 9 (B) a corporation; 10 (C) a partnership, including a public-pri- 11 vate partnership; 12 (D) a joint venture; 13 (E) a trust; 14 (F) a State or any other governmental en- 15 tity, including a political subdivision or any 16 other instrumentality of a State; or 17 (G) a revolving fund. 18 (8) ELIGIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible in- 20 frastructure project’’ means the construction, 21 consolidation, alteration, or repair of any of the 22 following sectors: 23 (i) Intercity passenger or freight rail 24 lines, intercity passenger rail facilities or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2895 IH equipment, and intercity freight rail facili- 1 ties or equipment. 2 (ii) Intercity passenger bus facilities 3 or equipment. 4 (iii) Public transportation facilities or 5 equipment. 6 (iv) Highway facilities, including 7 bridges and tunnels. 8 (v) Airports and air traffic control 9 systems. 10 (vi) Port or marine terminal facilities, 11 including approaches to marine terminal 12 facilities or inland port facilities, and port 13 or marine equipment, including fixed 14 equipment to serve approaches to marine 15 terminals or inland ports. 16 (vii) Transmission or distribution 17 pipelines. 18 (viii) Inland waterways. 19 (ix) Intermodal facilities or equipment 20 related to 2 or more of the sectors de- 21 scribed in clauses (i) through (viii). 22 (x) Water treatment and solid waste 23 disposal facilities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2895 IH (xi) Storm water management sys- 1 tems. 2 (xii) Dams and levees. 3 (xiii) Facilities or equipment for en- 4 ergy transmission, distribution or storage. 5 (B) AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 6 TORS TO MODIFY SECTORS.—The Board of Di- 7 rectors may make modifications, at the discre- 8 tion of the Board, to any of the sectors de- 9 scribed in subparagraph (A) by a vote of not 10 fewer than 5 of the voting members of the 11 Board of Directors. 12 (9) IFA.—The term ‘‘IFA’’ means the Infra- 13 structure Financing Authority established under sec- 14 tion 101. 15 (10) INVESTMENT-GRADE RATING.—The term 16 ‘‘investment-grade rating’’ means a rating of BBB 17 minus, Baa3, or higher assigned to an eligible infra- 18 structure project by a ratings agency. 19 (11) LOAN GUARANTEE.—The term ‘‘loan guar- 20 antee’’ has the meaning given the term in section 21 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 22 U.S.C. 661a). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2895 IH (12) OTRA.—The term ‘‘OTRA’’ means the 1 Office of Technical and Rural Assistance created 2 pursuant to section 106. 3 (13) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.—The 4 term ‘‘public-private partnership’’ means any eligible 5 entity— 6 (A)(i) that is undertaking the development 7 of all or part of an eligible infrastructure 8 project that will have a measurable public ben- 9 efit, pursuant to requirements established in 1 10 or more contracts between the entity and a 11 State or an instrumentality of a State; or 12 (ii) the activities of which, with respect to 13 such an eligible infrastructure project, are sub- 14 ject to regulation by a State or any instrumen- 15 tality of a State; 16 (B) that owns, leases, or operates or will 17 own, lease, or operate, the project in whole or 18 in part; and 19 (C) the participants in which include not 20 fewer than 1 nongovernmental entity with sig- 21 nificant investment and some control over the 22 project or entity sponsoring the project vehicle. 23 (14) RATING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘rating agen- 24 cy’’ means a credit rating agency registered with the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2895 IH Securities and Exchange Commission as a nationally 1 recognized statistical rating organization (as defined 2 in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 3 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a))). 4 (15) REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCEL- 5 ERATOR.—The term ‘‘regional infrastructure accel- 6 erator’’ means an organization created by public sec- 7 tor agencies through a multijurisdictional or 8 multistate agreement to provide technical assistance 9 to local jurisdictions that will facilitate the imple- 10 mentation of innovative financing and procurement 11 models to public infrastructure projects. 12 (16) RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.—The 13 term ‘‘rural infrastructure project’’— 14 (A) has the same meaning given the term 15 in section 601(15) of title 23, United States 16 Code; and 17 (B) includes any eligible infrastructure 18 project sector described in clauses (i) through 19 (xvii) of paragraph (8)(A) located in any area 20 other than a city with a population of more 21 than 250,000 inhabitants within the city limits. 22 (17) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 23 means the Secretary of the Treasury or the designee 24 of the Secretary of the Treasury. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2895 IH (18) SENIOR MANAGEMENT.—The term ‘‘senior 1 management’’ means the chief financial officer, chief 2 risk officer, chief compliance officer, general counsel, 3 chief lending officer, and chief operations officer of 4 IFA, and such other officers as the Board of Direc- 5 tors may, by majority vote, add to senior manage- 6 ment. 7 (19) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 8 (A) each of the several States of the 9 United States; and 10 (B) the District of Columbia. 11 (20) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 12 means the Project Delivery Task Force established 13 under section 203. 14 TITLE I—INFRASTRUCTURE 15 FINANCING AUTHORITY 16 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT AND GENERAL AUTHORITY OF 17 IFA. 18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF IFA.—The Infrastructure 19 Financing Authority is established as a wholly owned Gov- 20 ernment corporation. 21 (b) GENERAL AUTHORITY OF IFA.—IFA shall— 22 (1) provide direct loans and loan guarantees to 23 facilitate eligible infrastructure projects that are eco- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2895 IH nomically viable, in the public interest, and of re- 1 gional or national significance; and 2 (2) carry out any other activities and duties au- 3 thorized under this Act. 4 (c) INCORPORATION.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board of Directors first 6 appointed shall be deemed the incorporator of IFA, 7 and the incorporation shall be held to have been ef- 8 fected on the date of the first meeting of the Board 9 of Directors. 10 (2) CORPORATE OFFICE.—IFA shall— 11 (A) maintain an office in Washington, DC; 12 and 13 (B) for purposes of venue in civil actions, 14 be considered to be a resident of Washington, 15 DC. 16 (d) RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SECRETARY.—The Sec- 17 retary shall take such action as may be necessary to assist 18 in implementing IFA and in carrying out the purpose of 19 this Act. 20 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Chapter 91 of title 21 31, United States Code, does not apply to IFA, unless oth- 22 erwise specifically provided in this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2895 IH SEC. 102. VOTING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 1 TORS. 2 (a) VOTING MEMBERSHIP OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 3 TORS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—IFA shall have a Board of 5 Directors consisting of 7 voting members, who shall 6 be appointed by the President, by and with the ad- 7 vice and consent of the Senate. Not more than 4 of 8 the members may belong to the same political party. 9 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—One of the voting members 10 of the Board of Directors shall be designated by the 11 President, by and with the advice and consent of the 12 Senate, to serve as Chairperson of the Board of Di- 13 rectors. 14 (3) CONGRESSIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not 15 later than 30 days after the date of the enactment 16 of this Act, the majority leader of the Senate, the 17 minority leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the 18 House of Representatives, and the minority leader of 19 the House of Representatives, after consultation 20 with the appropriate committees of Congress, shall 21 each submit a recommendation to the President of 22 a person to be appointed as a member of the Board 23 of Directors. 24 (4) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF RURAL INTER- 25 ESTS AND GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In making an 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2895.IH H2895 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2895 IH appointment under this subsection, the President 1 shall give consideration to the geographic areas of 2 the United States in which the members of the 3 Board of Directors live and work, particularly to en- 4 sure that the infrastructure priorities and concerns 5 of each region of the country, including rural areas 6 and small communities, are represented on the 7 Board of Directors. 8 (b) VOTING RIGHTS.—Each voting member of the 9 Board of Directors shall have an equal vote in all decisions 10 of the Board of Directors. 11 (c) QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTING MEMBERS.—Each 12 voting member of the Board of Directors shall— 13 (1) be a citizen of the United States; and 14 (2) have significant demonstrated expertise in— 15 (A) the management and administration of 16 a financial institution relevant to the operation 17 of IFA; or 18 (B) the financing, development, or oper- 19 ation of infrastructure projects, including in the 20 evaluation and selection of eligible infrastruc- 21 ture projects based on the purposes, goals, and 22 o [Text truncated for display. 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