[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 878 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 878

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the amount of 
 employer-provided transit passes excludable from income and require a 
 cash-out option to excludable parking fringe benefits, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 1997

     Mr. Lewis of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Fox of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Matsui, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. 
   McDermott, Ms. Norton, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Dellums, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. 
Bonior, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Borski, Mr. Olver, Mr. Oberstar, 
Mr. Pastor, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois) 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 increase the amount of 
 employer-provided transit passes excludable from income and require a 
 cash-out option to excludable parking fringe benefits, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Commuter Choice Act''.

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF TRANSIT PASSES AND COMMUTER HIGHWAY 
              VEHICLE TRANSPORTATION EXCLUDABLE FROM GROSS INCOME.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 132(f)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``$60'' and inserting 
        ``$170'', and
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``$155'' and inserting 
        ``$170''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to months beginning after the date which is 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. CASH-OUT OPTION REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (f) of section 132 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to qualified transportation fringe) is 
amended by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (7) as paragraphs (5) 
through (8), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph (3) the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Cash-out option requirement.--
                    ``(A) In general.--No amount may be excluded from 
                gross income under subsection (a)(5) with respect to 
                any qualified parking provided to any employee during 
                any month unless the employer provides that each 
                employee of such employer may elect to receive a 
                qualified cash-out payment for such month.
                    ``(B) Qualified cash-out payment.--The term 
                `qualified cash-out payment' means a payment, by the 
                employer to an employee of the employer, which meets 
                each of the following requirements:
                            ``(i) Such payment is not less than $15 per 
                        month.
                            ``(ii) Such payment is in lieu of qualified 
                        transportation fringe for the month but is not 
                        in lieu of any other compensation or benefit.
                            ``(iii) All employees of the employer are 
                        given reasonable notice of the availability of 
                        such payment.
                    ``(C) No inclusion by reason of cash-out 
                availability.--In the case of an employee electing to 
                receive a qualified transportation fringe in lieu of a 
                qualified cash-out payment, no amount shall be included 
                in gross income with respect to such qualified 
                transportation fringe solely by reason of the 
                availability of such qualified cash-out payment.''
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Paragraph (5) of section 132(f) (relating to benefit 
        not in lieu of compensation), as redesignated by subsection 
        (a), is amended by inserting ``described in subparagraph (A) or 
        (B) of paragraph (1)'' after ``qualified transportation 
        fringe''.
            (2) Paragraph (8) of section 132(f) (relating to 
        coordination with other provisions), as redesignated by 
        subsection (a), is amended by striking ``paragraph (2)'' and 
        inserting ``paragraphs (2) and (4)''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to months beginning after the date which is 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. 5-YEAR FREEZE IN INFLATION ADJUSTMENT OF QUALIFIED 
              TRANSPORTATION FRINGE.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (7) of section 132(f) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (as redesignated by section 3) is amended to read 
as follows:
            ``(7) Inflation adjustment for years after 2002.--In the 
        case of any taxable year beginning in a calendar year after 
        2002, the dollar amounts contained in paragraph (2) (A) and (B) 
        and the dollar amount contained in paragraph (4)(B)(i) shall 
        each be increased by an amount equal to--
                    ``(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by
                    ``(B) the cost-of-living adjustment determined 
                under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which 
                the taxable year begins, determined by substituting 
                `calendar year 2001' for `calendar year 1992' in 
                subparagraph (B) thereof.
        If any increase determined under the preceding sentence is not 
        a multiple of $5, such increase shall be rounded to the next 
        lowest multiple of $5.''
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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