[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 916 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 916
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to correct the treatment of
tax-exempt financing of professional sports facilities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2001
Mr. Frank 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 correct the treatment of
tax-exempt financing of professional sports facilities.
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 ``Stop Tax-Exempt Arena Debt Issuance
Act''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
FACILITIES.
(a) In General.--Section 141 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
(defining private activity bond and qualified bond) is amended by
redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f) and by inserting after
subsection (d) the following new subsection:
``(e) Certain Issues Used for Professional Sports Facilities
Treated as Private Activity Bonds.--
``(1) In general.--For purposes of this title, the term
`private activity bond' includes any bond issued as part of an
issue if the amount of the proceeds of the issue which are to
be used (directly or indirectly) to provide professional sports
facilities exceeds the lesser of--
``(A) 5 percent of such proceeds, or
``(B) $5,000,000.
``(2) Bond not treated as a qualified bond.--For purposes
of this title, any bond described in paragraph (1) shall not be
a qualified bond.
``(3) Professional sports facilities.--For purposes of this
subsection--
``(A) In general.--The term `professional sports
facilities' means real property or related improvements
used for professional sports exhibitions, games, or
training, regardless if the admission of the public or
press is allowed or paid.
``(B) Use for professional sports.--Any use of
facilities which generates a direct or indirect
monetary benefit (other than reimbursement for out-of
pocket expenses) for a person who uses such facilities
for professional sports exhibitions, games, or training
shall be treated as a use described in subparagraph
(A).
``(4) Anti-abuse regulations.--The Secretary shall
prescribe such regulations as may be appropriate to carry out
the purposes of this subsection, including such regulations as
may be appropriate to prevent avoidance of such purposes
through related persons, use of related facilities or multiuse
complexes, or otherwise.''
(b) Effective Date.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraphs (2), (3),
and (5), the amendments made by this section shall apply to
bonds issued on or after the first date of committee action.
(2) Exception for construction, binding agreements, or
approved projects.--The amendments made by this section shall
not apply to bonds--
(A) the proceeds of which are used for--
(i) the construction or rehabilitation of a
facility--
(I) if such construction or
rehabilitation began before September
30, 2001, and was completed on or after
such date, or
(II) if a State or political
subdivision thereof has entered into a
binding contract before September 30,
2001, that requires the incurrence of
significant expenditures for such
construction or rehabilitation, and
some of such expenditures are incurred
on or after such date; or
(ii) the acquisition of a facility pursuant
to a binding contract entered into by a State
or political subdivision thereof before
September 30, 2001, and
(B) which are the subject of an official action
taken by relevant government officials before September
30, 2001--
(i) approving the issuance of such bonds,
or
(ii) approving the submission of the
approval of such issuance to a voter
referendum.
(3) Exception for final bond resolutions.--The amendments
made by this section shall not apply to bonds the proceeds of
which are used for the construction or rehabilitation of a
facility if a State or political subdivision thereof has
completed all necessary governmental approvals for the issuance
of such bonds before September 30, 2001.
(4) Significant expenditures.--For purposes of paragraph
(2)(A)(i)(II), the term ``significant expenditures'' means
expenditures equal to or exceeding 10 percent of the reasonably
anticipated cost of the construction or rehabilitation of the
facility involved.
(5) Exception for certain current refundings.--
(A) In general.--The amendments made by this
section shall not apply to any bond the proceeds of
which are used exclusively to refund a qualified bond
(or a bond which is a part of a series of refundings of
a qualified bond) if--
(i) the amount of the refunding bond does
not exceed the outstanding principal amount of
the refunded bond,
(ii) the average maturity date of the issue
of which the refunding bond is a part is not
later than the average maturity date of the
bonds to be refunded by such issue, and
(iii) the net proceeds of the refunding
bond are used to redeem the refunded bond not
later than 90 days after the date of the
issuance of the refunding bond.
For purposes of clause (ii), average maturity shall be
determined in accordance with section 147(b)(2)(A) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(B) Qualified bond.--For purposes of subparagraph
(A), the term ``qualified bond'' means any tax-exempt
bond to finance a professional sports facility (as
defined in section 141(e)(3) of such Code, as added by
subsection (a)) issued before the first date of
committee action.
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