[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3857 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3857

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow issuance of tax-
exempt private activity bonds to finance certain surface transportation 
                              facilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 26, 2004

    Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas (for himself, Mr. Herger, Mr. Neal of 
   Massachusetts, Mr. Ramstad, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Hayworth, Mr. 
 Sandlin, Mr. Burgess, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Paul, Mr. 
  Sessions, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Bonilla, and Mr. Hall) 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 allow issuance of tax-
exempt private activity bonds to finance certain surface transportation 
                              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 ``Private Bonds for Modern Roads Act 
of 2004''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF BONDS FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES AS 
              EXEMPT FACILITY BONDS.

    (a) Treatment as Exempt Facility Bonds.--Subsection (a) of section 
142 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exempt facility 
bond) is amended by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (12), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (13) and inserting ``, 
or'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(14) surface transportation facilities.''.
    (b) Surface Transportation Facilities.--Section 142 of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(l) Surface Transportation Facilities.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(14), the 
        term `surface transportation facilities' means highway 
        facilities and surface freight transfer facilities.
            ``(2) Highway facilities.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        the term `highway facilities' means--
                    ``(A) any surface transportation project eligible 
                for Federal assistance under title 23, United States 
                Code (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 
                subsection), and
                    ``(B) any project for an international bridge or 
                tunnel for which an international entity authorized 
                under Federal or State law is responsible.
            ``(3) Surface freight transfer facilities.--For purposes of 
        this subsection, the term `surface freight transfer facilities' 
        means any facility for the transfer of freight from truck to 
        rail or rail to truck (including any temporary storage facility 
        directly related to such transfer).
            ``(4) Limitation on aggregate face amount of tax-exempt 
        financing.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An issue shall not be treated as 
                an issue described in subsection (a)(14) unless--
                            ``(i) the Secretary of Transportation has 
                        allocated an amount to such issue under this 
                        paragraph, and
                            ``(ii) the aggregate face amount of bonds 
                        issued pursuant to such issue does not exceed 
                        such amount.
                    ``(B) Allocation.--The Secretary of Transportation 
                may allocate amounts to issues under this paragraph in 
                such manner as the Secretary of Transportation 
                determines appropriate, except that the aggregate 
                amount so allocated shall not exceed $15,000,000,000.
                    ``(C) Refunding bonds.--Subparagraph (A) shall not 
                apply with respect to any bond the proceeds of which 
                are used exclusively to refund a bond issued pursuant 
                to subsection (a)(14) (or a bond which is a part of a 
                series of refundings of a bond so issued) if the amount 
                of the refunding bond does not exceed the outstanding 
                amount of the refunded bond.''.
    (c) Exemption From General State Volume Caps.--Paragraph (3) of 
section 146(g) of such Code (relating to exception for certain bonds) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or (13)'' and inserting ``(13), or 
        (14)'', and
            (2) by striking ``and qualified public educational 
        facilities'' and inserting ``qualified public educational 
        facilities, and surface transportation facilities''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to bonds issued after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>