Saving Local News Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3126 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include publication of written news articles as a tax-exempt purpose for organizations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. DESAULNIER 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 include publication of written news articles as a tax-exempt pur- pose for organizations, 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saving Local News 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF WRITTEN NEWS ARTICLES AS TAX- 6 EXEMPT PURPOSE. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘or for 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3126.IH H3126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3126 IH the publication (including electronic publication) of writ- 1 ten news articles,’’ after ‘‘animals,’’. 2 (b) INCOME FROM ADVERTISING NOT UNRELATED 3 BUSINESS TAXABLE INCOME.—Section 512(a) of the In- 4 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 5 end the following new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(8) SPECIAL RULE APPLICABLE TO NEWS OR- 7 GANIZATIONS DESCRIBED IN SECTION 501(c)(3).— 8 In the case of an organization described in section 9 501(c)(3) by reason of publication of written news 10 articles, the term ‘unrelated business taxable income’ 11 does not include any amount attributable to pay- 12 ments for advertisements in news publications.’’. 13 (c) EXPEDITED APPLICATION.—Section 508 of the 14 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 15 the end the following new subsection: 16 ‘‘(g) TIMING FOR APPROVAL OF APPLICATIONS BY 17 NEWS ORGANIZATIONS.—In the case of an organization 18 described in section 501(c)(3) by reason of publication of 19 written news articles, the Secretary shall approve or deny 20 such organization for recognition of 501(c)(3) status not 21 later than the date that is 12 months after notice is given 22 under subsection (a).’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3126.IH H3126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3126 IH (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply with respect to taxable years begin- 2 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:58 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3126.IH H3126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS