CORE Justice Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5167 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for qualified environmental justice programs. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 19, 2019 Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. MOORE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BLU- MENAUER, Ms. DELBENE, and Ms. JUDY CHU of California) 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 provide a credit for qualified environmental justice programs. 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 ‘‘Creating Opportunities 4 in Research for Environmental Justice Act of 2019’’ or 5 the ‘‘CORE Justice Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5167 IH SEC. 2. QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM 1 CREDIT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 3 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 4 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 5 section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 36C. QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRO- 7 GRAMS. 8 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli- 9 gible educational institution, there shall be allowed as a 10 credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for any tax- 11 able year an amount equal to the applicable percentage 12 of the amounts paid or incurred by such taxpayer during 13 such taxable year which are necessary for a qualified envi- 14 ronmental justice program. 15 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRO- 16 GRAM.—For purposes of this section— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified envi- 18 ronmental justice program’ means a program con- 19 ducted by one or more eligible educational institu- 20 tions that is designed to address, or improve data 21 about, qualified environmental stressors for the pri- 22 mary purpose of improving, or facilitating the im- 23 provement of, health and economic outcomes of indi- 24 viduals residing in low-income areas or areas popu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5167 IH lated disproportionately by racial or ethnic minori- 1 ties. 2 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSOR.— 3 The term ‘qualified environmental stressor’ means, 4 with respect to an area, a contamination of the air, 5 water, soil, or food with respect to such area or a 6 change relative to historical norms of the weather 7 conditions of such area. 8 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—For 9 purposes of this section, the term ‘eligible educational in- 10 stitution’ means an institution of higher education (as 11 such term is defined in section 101 or 102(c) of the High- 12 er Education Act of 1965) that is eligible to participate 13 in a program under title IV of such Act. 14 ‘‘(d) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGE.—For purposes of 15 this section, the term ‘applicable percentage’ means— 16 ‘‘(1) in the case of a program involving material 17 participation of faculty and students of an institu- 18 tion described in section 371(a) of the Higher Edu- 19 cation Act of 1965, 30 percent , and 20 ‘‘(2) in all other cases, 20 percent. 21 ‘‘(e) CREDIT ALLOCATION.— 22 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 24 allocate credit dollar amounts under this section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5167 IH to eligible educational institutions, for qualified 1 environmental justice programs, that— 2 ‘‘(i) submit applications at such time 3 and in such manner as the Secretary may 4 provide, and 5 ‘‘(ii) are selected by the Secretary 6 under subparagraph (B). 7 ‘‘(B) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Sec- 8 retary, after consultation with the Secretary of 9 Energy, the Secretary of Education, the Sec- 10 retary of Health and Human Services, and the 11 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 12 Agency, shall select applications on the basis of 13 the following criteria: 14 ‘‘(i) The extent of participation of fac- 15 ulty and students of an institution de- 16 scribed in section 371(a) of the Higher 17 Education Act of 1965. 18 ‘‘(ii) The extent of the expected effect 19 on the health or economic outcomes of in- 20 dividuals residing in areas within the 21 United States that are low-income areas or 22 areas populated disproportionately by ra- 23 cial or ethnic minorities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5167 IH ‘‘(iii) The creation or significant ex- 1 pansion of qualified environmental justice 2 programs. 3 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the 5 credit determined under this section for any 6 taxable year to any eligible educational institu- 7 tion for any qualified environmental justice pro- 8 gram shall not exceed the excess of— 9 ‘‘(i) the credit dollar amount allocated 10 to such institution for such program under 11 this subsection, over 12 ‘‘(ii) the credits previously claimed by 13 such institution for such program under 14 this section. 15 ‘‘(B) FIVE-YEAR LIMITATION.—No 16 amounts paid or incurred after the 5-year pe- 17 riod beginning on the date a credit dollar 18 amount is allocated to an eligible educational 19 institution for a qualified environmental justice 20 program shall be taken into account under sub- 21 section (a) with respect to such institution for 22 such program. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5167 IH ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION LIMITATION.—The total 1 amount of credits that may be allocated under 2 the program shall not exceed— 3 ‘‘(i) $1,000,000,000 for each of 2020, 4 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and 5 ‘‘(ii) $0 for each subsequent year. 6 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible educational in- 8 stitution that has been allocated credit dollar 9 amounts under this section for a qualified environ- 10 mental justice project for a taxable year shall— 11 ‘‘(A) make publicly available the applica- 12 tion submitted to the Secretary under sub- 13 section (e) with respect to such project, and 14 ‘‘(B) submit an annual report to the Sec- 15 retary that describes the amounts paid or in- 16 curred for, and expected impact of, such 17 project. 18 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—In the case of an 19 eligible educations institution that has failed to com- 20 ply with the requirements of this subsection, the 21 credit dollar amount allocated to such institution 22 under this section is deemed to be $0. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5167 IH ‘‘(g) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—The Secretary, upon 1 making an allocation of credit dollar amounts under this 2 section, shall publicly disclose— 3 ‘‘(1) the identity of the eligible educational in- 4 stitution receiving the allocation, and 5 ‘‘(2) the amount of such allocation.’’. 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is 8 amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 9 (2) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 10 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 11 ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 12 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 13 for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 14 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in- 15 serting after the item relating to section 36B the following 16 new item: 17 ‘‘Sec. 36C. Qualified environmental justice programs.’’. (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 18 this subsection shall take effect on the date of the enact- 19 ment of this Act. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5167.IH H5167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS