[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 104 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 104

   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax-exempt 
   financing of highway projects and rail-truck transfer facilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 24, 2005

   Mr. Talent (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Coleman, and Mr. Corzine) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax-exempt 
   financing of highway projects and rail-truck transfer facilities.

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

SECTION 1. TAX-EXEMPT FINANCING OF HIGHWAY PROJECTS AND RAIL-TRUCK 
              TRANSFER FACILITIES.

    (a) Treatment as Exempt Facility Bond.--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 (13), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (14), and by adding at the 
end the following:
            ``(15) qualified highway facilities, or
            ``(16) qualified surface freight transfer facilities.''.
    (b) Qualified Highway Facilities and Qualified Surface Freight 
Transfer Facilities.--Section 142 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(m) Qualified Highway and Surface Freight Transfer Facilities.--
            ``(1) Qualified highway facilities.--For purposes of 
        subsection (a)(15), the term `qualified highway facilities' 
        means--
                    ``(A) any surface transportation project which 
                receives Federal assistance under title 23, United 
                States Code (as in effect on the date of the enactment 
                of this subsection), or
                    ``(B) any project for an international bridge or 
                tunnel for which an international entity authorized 
                under Federal or State law is responsible and which 
                receives Federal assistance under such title 23.
            ``(2) Qualified surface freight transfer facilities.--For 
        purposes of subsection (a)(16), the term `qualified surface 
        freight transfer facilities' means facilities for the transfer 
        of freight from truck to rail or rail to truck (including any 
        temporary storage facilities directly related to such 
        transfers) which receives Federal assistance under either title 
        23 or title 49, United States Code (as in effect on the date of 
        the enactment of this subsection).
            ``(3) Aggregate face amount of tax-exempt financing for 
        facilities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An issue shall not be treated as 
                an issue described in subsection (a)(15) or (a)(16) if 
                the aggregate face amount of bonds issued by any State 
                pursuant thereto (when added to the aggregate face 
                amount of bonds previously so issued) exceeds 
                $15,000,000,000.
                    ``(B) Allocation by secretary of transportation.--
                The Secretary of Transportation shall allocate the 
                amount described in subparagraph (A) among eligible 
                projects described in subsections (a)(15) and (a)(16) 
                in such manner as the Secretary determines 
                appropriate.''.
    (c) Exemption From General State Volume Caps.--Paragraph (3) of 
section 146(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to 
exception for certain bonds) is amended by striking ``or (14)'' and all 
that follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting ``(14), 
(15), or (16) of section 142(a), and''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to bonds issued after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>