REPAIR Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1499 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 29, 2021 Mr. WARNER (for himself, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 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 TITLES; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLES.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Reinventing Economic Partnerships And Infrastructure 5 Redevelopment Act’’ or the ‘‘REPAIR Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1499 IS 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. 1 The purpose of this Act is to facilitate investment in, 2 and the long-term financing of, economically viable eligible 3 infrastructure projects of regional or national significance 4 that are in the public interest in a manner that com- 5 plements existing Federal, State, local, and private fund- 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1499 IS ing sources for these projects and introduces a merit-based 1 system for financing those projects, in order to mobilize 2 significant private sector investment, create long-term 3 jobs, and ensure United States competitiveness through 4 a self-sustaining institution that limits the need for ongo- 5 ing Federal funding. 6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act: 8 (1) BLIND TRUST.—The term ‘‘blind trust’’ 9 means a trust in which the beneficiary has no knowl- 10 edge of the specific holdings and no rights over how 11 those holdings are managed by the fiduciary of the 12 trust prior to the dissolution of the trust. 13 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The term ‘‘Board 14 of Directors’’ means the Board of Directors of IFA. 15 (3) CHAIRPERSON.—The term ‘‘Chairperson’’ 16 means the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of 17 IFA. 18 (4) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.—The term 19 ‘‘Chief Executive Officer’’ means the chief executive 20 officer of IFA, appointed under section 103. 21 (5) COST.—The term ‘‘cost’’ has the meaning 22 given the term in section 502 of the Federal Credit 23 Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1499 IS (6) DIRECT LOAN.—The term ‘‘direct loan’’ has 1 the meaning given the term in section 502 of the 2 Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 3 (7) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 4 ty’’ means— 5 (A) an individual; 6 (B) a corporation; 7 (C) a partnership, including a public-pri- 8 vate partnership; 9 (D) a joint venture; 10 (E) a trust; 11 (F) a State or any other governmental en- 12 tity, including a political subdivision or any 13 other instrumentality of a State; or 14 (G) a revolving fund. 15 (8) ELIGIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible in- 17 frastructure project’’ means the construction, 18 consolidation, alteration, or repair of any of the 19 following sectors: 20 (i) Intercity passenger or freight rail 21 lines, intercity passenger rail facilities or 22 equipment, and intercity freight rail facili- 23 ties or equipment. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1499 IS (ii) Intercity passenger bus facilities 1 or equipment. 2 (iii) Public transportation facilities or 3 equipment. 4 (iv) Highway facilities, including 5 bridges and tunnels. 6 (v) Airports and air traffic control 7 systems. 8 (vi) Port or marine terminal facilities, 9 including approaches to marine terminal 10 facilities or inland port facilities, and port 11 or marine equipment, including fixed 12 equipment to serve approaches to marine 13 terminals or inland ports. 14 (vii) Transmission or distribution 15 pipelines. 16 (viii) Inland waterways. 17 (ix) Intermodal facilities or equipment 18 related to 2 or more of the sectors de- 19 scribed in clauses (i) through (viii). 20 (x) Water treatment and solid waste 21 disposal facilities. 22 (xi) Storm water management sys- 23 tems. 24 (xii) Dams and levees. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1499 IS (xiii) Facilities or equipment for en- 1 ergy transmission, distribution or storage. 2 (B) AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 3 TORS TO MODIFY SECTORS.—The Board of Di- 4 rectors may make modifications, at the discre- 5 tion of the Board, to any of the sectors de- 6 scribed in subparagraph (A) by a vote of not 7 fewer than 5 of the voting members of the 8 Board of Directors. 9 (9) IFA.—The term ‘‘IFA’’ means the Infra- 10 structure Financing Authority established under sec- 11 tion 101. 12 (10) INVESTMENT-GRADE RATING.—The term 13 ‘‘investment-grade rating’’ means a rating of BBB 14 minus, Baa3, or higher assigned to an eligible infra- 15 structure project by a ratings agency. 16 (11) LOAN GUARANTEE.—The term ‘‘loan guar- 17 antee’’ has the meaning given the term in section 18 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 19 U.S.C. 661a). 20 (12) OTRA.—The term ‘‘OTRA’’ means the 21 Office of Technical and Rural Assistance created 22 pursuant to section 106. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1499 IS (13) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.—The 1 term ‘‘public-private partnership’’ means any eligible 2 entity— 3 (A)(i) that is undertaking the development 4 of all or part of an eligible infrastructure 5 project that will have a measurable public ben- 6 efit, pursuant to requirements established in 1 7 or more contracts between the entity and a 8 State or an instrumentality of a State; or 9 (ii) the activities of which, with respect to 10 such an eligible infrastructure project, are sub- 11 ject to regulation by a State or any instrumen- 12 tality of a State; 13 (B) that owns, leases, or operates or will 14 own, lease, or operate, the project in whole or 15 in part; and 16 (C) the participants in which include not 17 fewer than 1 nongovernmental entity with sig- 18 nificant investment and some control over the 19 project or entity sponsoring the project vehicle. 20 (14) RATING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘rating agen- 21 cy’’ means a credit rating agency registered with the 22 Securities and Exchange Commission as a nationally 23 recognized statistical rating organization (as defined 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1499 IS in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a))). 2 (15) REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCEL- 3 ERATOR.—The term ‘‘regional infrastructure accel- 4 erator’’ means an organization created by public sec- 5 tor agencies through a multijurisdictional or 6 multistate agreement to provide technical assistance 7 to local jurisdictions that will facilitate the imple- 8 mentation of innovative financing and procurement 9 models to public infrastructure projects. 10 (16) RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.—The 11 term ‘‘rural infrastructure project’’— 12 (A) has the same meaning given the term 13 in section 601(15) of title 23, United States 14 Code; and 15 (B) includes any eligible infrastructure 16 project sector described in clauses (i) through 17 (xvii) of paragraph (8)(A) located in any area 18 other than a city with a population of more 19 than 250,000 inhabitants within the city limits. 20 (17) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 21 means the Secretary of the Treasury or the designee 22 of the Secretary of the Treasury. 23 (18) SENIOR MANAGEMENT.—The term ‘‘senior 24 management’’ means the chief financial officer, chief 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1499 IS risk officer, chief compliance officer, general counsel, 1 chief lending officer, and chief operations officer of 2 IFA, and such other officers as the Board of Direc- 3 tors may, by majority vote, add to senior manage- 4 ment. 5 (19) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 6 (A) each of the several States of the 7 United States; and 8 (B) the District of Columbia. 9 (20) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 10 means the Project Delivery Task Force established 11 under section 203. 12 TITLE I—INFRASTRUCTURE 13 FINANCING AUTHORITY 14 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT AND GENERAL AUTHORITY OF 15 IFA. 16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF IFA.—The Infrastructure 17 Financing Authority is established as a wholly owned Gov- 18 ernment corporation. 19 (b) GENERAL AUTHORITY OF IFA.—IFA shall— 20 (1) provide direct loans and loan guarantees to 21 facilitate eligible infrastructure projects that are eco- 22 nomically viable, in the public interest, and of re- 23 gional or national significance; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1499 IS (2) carry out any other activities and duties au- 1 thorized under this Act. 2 (c) INCORPORATION.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board of Directors first 4 appointed shall be deemed the incorporator of IFA, 5 and the incorporation shall be held to have been ef- 6 fected on the date of the first meeting of the Board 7 of Directors. 8 (2) CORPORATE OFFICE.—IFA shall— 9 (A) maintain an office in Washington, DC; 10 and 11 (B) for purposes of venue in civil actions, 12 be considered to be a resident of Washington, 13 DC. 14 (d) RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SECRETARY.—The Sec- 15 retary shall take such action as may be necessary to assist 16 in implementing IFA and in carrying out the purpose of 17 this Act. 18 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Chapter 91 of title 19 31, United States Code, does not apply to IFA, unless oth- 20 erwise specifically provided in this Act. 21 SEC. 102. VOTING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 22 TORS. 23 (a) VOTING MEMBERSHIP OF THE BOARD OF DIREC- 24 TORS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1499 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—IFA shall have a Board of 1 Directors consisting of 7 voting members, who shall 2 be appointed by the President, by and with the ad- 3 vice and consent of the Senate. Not more than 4 of 4 the members may belong to the same political party. 5 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—One of the voting members 6 of the Board of Directors shall be designated by the 7 President, by and with the advice and consent of the 8 Senate, to serve as Chairperson of the Board of Di- 9 rectors. 10 (3) CONGRESSIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not 11 later than 30 days after the date of the enactment 12 of this Act, the majority leader of the Senate, the 13 minority leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the 14 House of Representatives, and the minority leader of 15 the House of Representatives, after consultation 16 with the appropriate committees of Congress, shall 17 each submit a recommendation to the President of 18 a person to be appointed as a member of the Board 19 of Directors. 20 (4) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF RURAL INTER- 21 ESTS AND GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In making an 22 appointment under this subsection, the President 23 shall give consideration to the geographic areas of 24 the United States in which the members of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1499.IS S1499 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1499 IS Board of Directors live and work, particularly to en- 1 sure that the infrastructure priorities and concerns 2 of each region of the country, including rural areas 3 and small communities, are represented on the 4 Board of Directors. 5 (b) VOTING RIGHTS.—Each voting member of the 6 Board of Directors shall have an equal vote in all decisions 7 of the Board of Directors. 8 (c) QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTING MEMBERS.—Each 9 voting member of the Board of Directors shall— 10 (1) be a citizen of the United States; and 11 (2) have significant demonstrated expertise in— 12 (A) the management and administration of 13 a financial institution relevant to the operation 14 of IFA; or 15 (B) the financing, development, or oper- 16 ation of infrastructure projects, including in the 17 evaluation and selection of eligible infrastruc- 18 ture projects based on the purposes, goals, and 19 objectives of this Act. 20 (d) TERMS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 22 vided in this Act, each voting member of the Board 23 of Directors shall be appointed for a term of 5 years. 24 VerDat [Text truncated for display. 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