[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 137 (Friday, October 12, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1866]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RENEWAL COMMUNITY TECHNICAL LEGISLATION

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                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 11, 2001

  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, today, along with Representatives Quinn and 
Reynolds, I will be introducing legislation designed to enhance the 
effectiveness of the ``Renewal Community'' program which Congress 
adopted just last December. This legislation would allow the expansion 
of Renewal Communities to include census tracts which are not eligible 
under 1990 census data, but which are eligible under 2000 census data.
  As Congress debates economic stimulus legislation, which is likely to 
include tax provisions, we urge inclusion of this simple, but 
important, legislative amendment to the existing Renewal Community 
program.
  Late last year, Congress enacted bi-partisan legislation authorizing 
the designation of forty ``Renewal Communities,'' each of which will 
receive substantial investment tax benefits. Applications for selection 
of these Renewal Communities are due late in October, with final 
selection by HUD under a competitive process before the end of this 
year.
  All census tracts in a Renewal Community application must meet 
objective criteria, including benchmarks relating to poverty and 
unemployment. However, the poverty rates and population used to 
determine compliance with such criteria are required to be determined 
using 1900 census data.
  Use of dated economic data was probably necessary, given that the 
selection process will be completed before all 2000 census data is 
available. However, ironically, the result is that legislation designed 
to rejuvenate areas with rising poverty and declining economic 
conditions and population effectively ignores what has taken place over 
the last decade. The very census tracts that have declined economically 
over the last decade, as confirmed by objective economic data, are 
unnecessarily excluded from favorable investment treatment designed to 
reverse such economic decline.
  This makes no sense. Therefore, the legislation we are introducing 
today in a simple one, which permits applicants that are awarded 
Renewal Community status to subsequently apply to HUD to expand their 
boundaries to include census tracts that did not meet the legislation's 
poverty or population criteria using 1990 census data, but would meet 
such criteria using 2000 census data.
  It does not interfere with the selection process for the forty 
Renewal Communities, which is already underway. Nor does it alter the 
objective qualifications that each census tract must meet to qualify 
for inclusion in a Renewal Community. It merely allows Renewal 
Communities selected later this year to apply for the inclusion of 
adjacent census tracts that clearly justify inclusion in the Renewal 
Community, based on our most recent census data.

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