Nuclear Powers America Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1134 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for an investment tax credit related to the production of electricity from nuclear energy. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 10, 2019 Mr. CRAMER (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for an investment tax credit related to the production of electricity from nuclear energy. 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 ‘‘Nuclear Powers Amer- 4 ica Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. ENERGY CREDIT FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY PROP- 6 ERTY. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48(a)(3)(A) of the Inter- 8 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended in clause (vi) by 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1134 IS striking ‘‘or’’, by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (vii), 1 and by adding at the end the following new clause: 2 ‘‘(viii) qualified nuclear energy prop- 3 erty,’’. 4 (b) ELIGIBLE FOR 30-PERCENT CREDIT.—Section 5 48(a)(2)(A)(i) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 6 in subclause (III) and by adding at the end the following 7 new subclause: 8 ‘‘(V) energy property described in 9 paragraph (3)(A)(viii) but only with 10 respect to property placed in service 11 before January 1, 2026, and’’. 12 (c) QUALIFIED NUCLEAR ENERGY PROPERTY.—Sec- 13 tion 48(c) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 14 the following new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(5) QUALIFIED NUCLEAR ENERGY PROP- 16 ERTY.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 18 nuclear energy property’ means any amounts 19 paid or incurred for the refueling of, and any 20 other expenditures described in section 263(a) 21 with respect to, a qualifying nuclear power 22 plant. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1134 IS ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING NUCLEAR POWER 1 PLANT.—The term ‘qualifying nuclear power 2 plant’ means a nuclear power plant which— 3 ‘‘(i) submitted an application for li- 4 cense renewal to the Nuclear Regulatory 5 Commission in accordance with part 54 of 6 title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, be- 7 fore January 1, 2026, or 8 ‘‘(ii) certified to the Secretary (at 9 such time and in such form and in such 10 manner as the Secretary prescribes) that 11 such plant will submit an application for li- 12 cense renewal to the Nuclear Regulatory 13 Commission in accordance with part 54 of 14 title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, be- 15 fore January 1, 2026. 16 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULES.— 17 ‘‘(i) BASIS.—For purposes of sub- 18 section (a), the cumulative amounts paid 19 or incurred by the taxpayer during the tax- 20 able year with respect to a qualifying nu- 21 clear power plant, which are properly 22 chargeable to capital account, shall be 23 treated as the basis of the qualified nuclear 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1134 IS energy property placed in service for that 1 taxable year. 2 ‘‘(ii) PLACED IN SERVICE.—For pur- 3 poses of subsection (a), qualified nuclear 4 energy property shall be treated as having 5 been placed in service on the last day of 6 the taxable year in which the taxpayer 7 pays or incurs such amounts described in 8 clause (i). 9 ‘‘(iii) RECAPTURE.—The Secretary 10 shall, by regulations, provide for recap- 11 turing the benefit of any credit allowable 12 under subsection (a) to any qualifying nu- 13 clear power plant which made a certifi- 14 cation pursuant to subparagraph (B) but 15 does not file an application of license re- 16 newal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commis- 17 sion in accordance with part 54 of title 10, 18 Code of Federal Regulations, before Janu- 19 ary 1, 2026.’’. 20 (d) PHASEOUT OF 30-PERCENT CREDIT RATE FOR 21 NUCLEAR ENERGY PROPERTY.—Section 48(a) of such 22 Code is amended by adding at the end the following new 23 paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1134 IS ‘‘(8) PHASEOUT FOR QUALIFIED NUCLEAR EN- 1 ERGY PROPERTY.—In the case of qualified nuclear 2 energy property, the energy percentage determined 3 under paragraph (2) shall be equal to— 4 ‘‘(A) in the case of any property placed in 5 service after December 31, 2023, and before 6 January 1, 2025, 26 percent, and 7 ‘‘(B) in the case of any property placed in 8 service after December 31, 2024, and before 9 January 1, 2026, 22 percent.’’. 10 (e) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT FOR PRODUCTION 11 FROM ADVANCED NUCLEAR POWER FACILITIES.—The 12 last sentence of section 48(a)(3) is amended by inserting 13 ‘‘or 45J’’ after ‘‘section 45’’. 14 (f) TRANSFER OF CREDIT BY CERTAIN PUBLIC EN- 15 TITIES.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 48 of such Code is 17 amended by adding at the end the following new 18 subsection: 19 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE FOR QUALIFIED NUCLEAR EN- 20 ERGY PROPERTY.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any qualified 22 nuclear energy property, if, with respect to a credit 23 under subsection (a) for any taxable year— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1134 IS ‘‘(A) the taxpayer would be a qualified 1 public entity, and 2 ‘‘(B) such entity elects the application of 3 this subsection for such taxable year with re- 4 spect to all (or any portion specified in such 5 election) of such credit, the eligible project part- 6 ner specified in such election (and not the 7 qualified public entity) shall be treated as the 8 taxpayer for purposes of this title with respect 9 to such credit (or such portion thereof). 10 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub- 11 section— 12 ‘‘(A) QUALIFIED PUBLIC ENTITY.—The 13 term ‘qualified public entity’ means— 14 ‘‘(i) a Federal, State, or local govern- 15 ment entity, or any political subdivision, 16 agency, or instrumentality thereof, 17 ‘‘(ii) a mutual or cooperative electric 18 company described in section 501(c)(12) or 19 section 1381(a)(2), or 20 ‘‘(iii) a not-for-profit electric utility 21 which has or had received a loan or loan 22 guarantee under the Rural Electrification 23 Act of 1936. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1134 IS ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE PROJECT PARTNER.—The 1 term ‘eligible project partner’ means— 2 ‘‘(i) any person responsible for oper- 3 ating, maintaining, or repairing the quali- 4 fying nuclear power plant to which the 5 credit under subsection (a) relates, 6 ‘‘(ii) any person who participates in 7 the provision of the nuclear steam supply 8 system to the qualifying nuclear power 9 plant to which the credit under subsection 10 (a) relates, 11 ‘‘(iii) any person who participates in 12 the provision of nuclear fuel to the quali- 13 fying nuclear power plant to which the 14 credit under subsection (a) relates, or 15 ‘‘(iv) any person who has an owner- 16 ship interest in such facility. 17 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES.— 18 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION TO PARTNERSHIPS.—In 19 the case of a credit under subsection (a) which 20 is determined with respect to qualified nuclear 21 energy property at the partnership level— 22 ‘‘(i) for purposes of paragraph (1)(A), 23 a qualified public entity shall be treated as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1134 IS the taxpayer with respect to such entity’s 1 distributive share of such credit, and 2 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘eligible project partner’ 3 shall include any partner of the partner- 4 ship. 5 ‘‘(B) TAXABLE YEAR IN WHICH CREDIT 6 TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—In the case of any 7 credit (or portion thereof) with respect to which 8 an election is made under subsection (e), such 9 credit shall be taken into account in the first 10 taxable year of the eligible project partner end- 11 ing with, or after, the qualified public entity’s 12 taxable year with respect to which the credit 13 was determined. 14 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF TRANSFER UNDER 15 PRIVATE USE RULES.—For purposes of section 16 141(b)(1), any benefit derived by an eligible 17 project partner in connection with an election 18 under this subsection shall not be taken into ac- 19 count as a private business use.’’. 20 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR PROCEEDS OF TRANS- 21 FERS FOR MUTUAL OR COOPERATIVE ELECTRIC 22 COMPANIES.—Section 501(c)(12)(I) of such Code is 23 amended by inserting ‘‘or 48(e)(1)’’ after ‘‘section 24 45J(e)(1)’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1134 IS (g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1 48(a)(2)(A) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and 2 (7)’’ and inserting ‘‘, (7), and (8)’’. 3 (h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall apply to periods after December 31, 5 2018, in taxable years ending after such date, under rules 6 similar to the rules of section 48(m) of the Internal Rev- 7 enue Code of 1986 (as in effect on the day before the en- 8 actment of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS