Water Conservation Rebate Tax Parity Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2313 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the exclusion for certain conservation subsidies to include subsidies for water conservation or efficiency measures and storm water management measures. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 12, 2019 Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself and Mr. GOSAR) 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 expand the exclusion for certain conservation subsidies to include subsidies for water conservation or efficiency measures and storm water management measures. 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 ‘‘Water Conservation 4 Rebate Tax Parity Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2313.IH H2313 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2313 IH SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO INCOME EXCLUSION FOR CON- 1 SERVATION SUBSIDIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 136 of 3 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 4 (1) by striking ‘‘any subsidy provided’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘any subsidy— 6 ‘‘(1) provided’’, 7 (2) by striking the period at the end and insert- 8 ing a comma, and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following new 10 paragraphs: 11 ‘‘(2) provided (directly or indirectly) by a public 12 utility to a customer, or by a State or local govern- 13 ment to a resident of such State or locality, for the 14 purchase or installation of any water conservation or 15 efficiency measure, or 16 ‘‘(3) provided (directly or indirectly) by a storm 17 water management provider to a customer, or by a 18 State or local government to a resident of such State 19 or locality, for the purchase or installation of any 20 storm water management measure.’’. 21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 22 (1) DEFINITION OF WATER CONSERVATION OR 23 EFFICIENCY MEASURE AND STORM WATER MANAGE- 24 MENT MEASURE.—Section 136(c) of the Internal 25 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2313.IH H2313 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2313 IH (A) by striking ‘‘ENERGY CONSERVATION 1 MEASURE’’ in the heading thereof and inserting 2 ‘‘DEFINITIONS’’, 3 (B) by striking ‘‘IN GENERAL’’ in the 4 heading of paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘EN- 5 ERGY CONSERVATION MEASURE’’, and 6 (C) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 7 paragraph (4) and by inserting after paragraph 8 (1) the following: 9 ‘‘(2) WATER CONSERVATION OR EFFICIENCY 10 MEASURE.—For purposes of this section, the term 11 ‘water conservation or efficiency measure’ means any 12 evaluation of water use, or any installation or modi- 13 fication of property, the primary purpose of which is 14 to reduce consumption of water or to improve the 15 management of water demand with respect to one or 16 more dwelling units. 17 ‘‘(3) STORM WATER MANAGEMENT MEASURE.— 18 For purposes of this section, the term ‘storm water 19 management measure’ means any installation or 20 modification of property primarily designed to re- 21 duce or manage amounts of storm water with re- 22 spect to one or more dwelling units.’’. 23 (2) DEFINITION OF PUBLIC UTILITY.—Section 24 136(c)(4) of such Code (as redesignated by para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2313.IH H2313 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2313 IH graph (1)(C)) is amended by striking subparagraph 1 (B) and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC UTILITY.—The term ‘public 3 utility’ means a person engaged in the sale of 4 electricity, natural gas, or water to residential, 5 commercial, or industrial customers for use by 6 such customers. 7 ‘‘(C) STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PRO- 8 VIDER.—The term ‘storm water management 9 provider’ means a person engaged in the provi- 10 sion of storm water management measures to 11 the public. 12 ‘‘(D) PERSON.—For purposes of subpara- 13 graphs (B) and (C), the term ‘person’ includes 14 the Federal Government, a State or local gov- 15 ernment or any political subdivision thereof, or 16 any instrumentality of any of the foregoing.’’. 17 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 18 (A) The heading of section 136 of such 19 Code is amended— 20 (i) by inserting ‘‘AND WATER’’ after 21 ‘‘ENERGY’’, and 22 (ii) by striking ‘‘PROVIDED BY PUB- 23 LIC UTILITIES’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2313.IH H2313 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2313 IH (B) The item relating to section 136 in the 1 table of sections of part III of subchapter B of 2 chapter 1 of such Code is amended— 3 (i) by inserting ‘‘and water’’ after 4 ‘‘energy’’, and 5 (ii) by striking ‘‘provided by public 6 utilities’’. 7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 this section shall apply to amounts received after Decem- 9 ber 31, 2019. 10 (d) NO INFERENCE.—Nothing in this Act or the 11 amendments made by this Act shall be construed to create 12 any inference with respect to the proper tax treatment of 13 any subsidy received directly or indirectly from a public 14 utility, a storm water management provider, or a State 15 or local government for any water conservation measure 16 or storm water management measure before January 1, 17 2020. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2313.IH H2313 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS