[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7794-S7795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Hatch):
  S. 3876. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend 
and modify the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from 
Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch, in introducing legislation to renew an 
existing Federal program to provide tax incentives for the installation 
of equipment to refuel cars and trucks with alternative fuels including 
biodiesel, gasohol, electricity, compressed natural gas, propane, 
liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen.
  The United States continues to import far more oil than we produce. 
Upwards of \2/3\ of the oil we use is imported from other countries, 
many of whom do not have Americans' best interests at heart, or worse. 
Similarly, \2/3\ of all of the oil used in the U.S. goes to power our 
cars, buses, and trucks. If the U.S. is going to reduce our dependence 
on imported oil, it is going to have to adopt alternative 
transportation technologies such as plug-in hybrid and all electric 
vehicles, fuel cells, and natural gas vehicles. Each of these 
alternative technologies has pluses and minuses in terms of their 
technical maturity, usefulness in different types of vehicles, cost, 
and the availability of refueling infrastructure to support them. This 
legislation only addresses the need for refueling and recharging 
infrastructure, but without a certainty that there will be places to 
refuel and recharge their alternative fueled vehicles Americans are not 
going to buy them. No one wants to run out of fuel while looking for a 
place to fill up.
  This legislation extends an already existing tax credit, Sec. 30C of 
the Tax Code, which is intended to help defray the cost of installing 
new alternative refueling and recharging equipment. The current credit 
expires in a matter of a few months at the end of calendar year 2010. 
Given the critical need to cut our national appetite for imported oil, 
it is essential that Congress extend this tax credit. This legislation 
would extend the existing credit for another 4 years, until the end of 
2014.
  The legislation also makes several changes in the credit to make it 
more practical. For example, this bill would make it clear that a 
fueling station could obtain a separate credit for each type of 
alternative fuel that it chooses to distribute. Right now, the credit 
is capped at $50,000 per location regardless of the number of fuels 
that it may want to sell. The bill would also expand the base credit 
from $50,000 to $100,000 to bring it more in line with the actual cost 
of refueling and recharging equipment. Third, the bill would allow the 
credit to cover additional upgrades to building wiring or natural gas 
piping or other improvements that are necessary for the installation of 
the alternative fuel equipment, and expand the kinds of equipment that 
would be covered to include on-site fuel generation. The bill would 
also allow an option to obtain a smaller $10,000 credit for the 
installation of refueling devices, such as chargers for plug-in 
electric cars or slow-fill natural gas compressors, in lieu of the 
$100,000 credit per location. Finally, the bill would allow multiple 
owners of buildings, such as a condominium or a co-op, to share the 
credit.
  Continued dependence on imported oil is an economic and national 
security danger. Giving Americans options to use alternative fueled 
vehicles is one major way in which to dramatically reduce this danger. 
This bill does not tell Americans which kind of car or truck to buy. It 
does not pick winners and losers from among already recognized 
alternative fuels. What it would do is make the availability of all 
alternative motor fuels more likely, and then the market will decide 
which technologies work best.
  I urge other Senators to support this legislation and give Americans 
a real chance to cut our oil imports.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record as follows:

                                S. 3876

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

     SECTION 1. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL 
                   VEHICLE REFUELING PROPERTY CREDIT.

       (a) Extension.--Subsection (g) of section 30C of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``placed 
     in service--'' and all that follows and inserting ``placed in 
     service after December 31, 2014''.
       (b) Increased Credit.--
       (1) Credit percentage.--Subsection (a) of section 30C of 
     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``30 
     percent'' and inserting ``50 percent''.
       (2) Dollar limitations.--
       (A) Increase and per device limitation.--Paragraph (1) of 
     section 30C(b) of such Code is amended to read as follows:
       ``(1) the greater of--
       ``(A) $100,000 for each type of clean-burning fuel (among 
     all clean-burning fuels listed in subsection (c)(2)) utilized 
     in property placed in service at the location by the taxpayer 
     during the taxable year, or
       ``(B) $10,000 multiplied by the number of devices placed in 
     service at the location by the taxpayer during the taxable 
     year,

     in the case of a property of a character subject to an 
     allowance for depreciation, and''.
       (B) Nondepreciable property.--Paragraph (2) of section 
     30C(b) of such Code is amended by striking ``$1,000'' and 
     inserting ``$2,000''.
       (3) Device.--Subsection (e) of section 30C of such Code is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(7) Device.--For the purposes of subsection (b)(1), the 
     term `device' means an individual item of property, whether a 
     stand-alone item or part of property that includes multiple 
     devices, which functions to refuel or recharge one 
     alternative fuel vehicle at a time.''.
       (4) Conforming amendment.--Paragraph (6) of section 30C(e) 
     of such Code is amended--
       (A) by inserting ``and which is placed in service before 
     the date of the enactment of

[[Page S7795]]

     paragraph (8)'' after ``hydrogen'' in subparagraph (A), and
       (B) by striking ``$30,000'' in subparagraph (B) and 
     inserting ``$100,000''.
       (c) Treatment of Personal Credit.--
       (1) In general.--Paragraph (2) of section 30C(d) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
       ``(2) Personal credit.--
       ``(A) In general.--For purposes of this title, the credit 
     allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year (determined 
     after application of paragraph (1)) shall be treated as a 
     credit allowable under subpart A for such taxable year.
       ``(B) Limitation based on amount of tax.--In the case of a 
     taxable year to which section 26(a)(2) does not apply, the 
     credit allowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year 
     (determined after application of paragraph (1)) shall not 
     exceed the excess of--
       ``(i) the sum of the regular tax liability (as defined in 
     section 26(b)) plus the tax imposed by section 55, over
       ``(ii) the sum of the credits allowable under subpart A 
     (other than this section and sections 25D and 30D) and 
     section 27 for the taxable year.''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Clause (ii) of section 
     30D(c)(2)(B) of such Code is amended by striking ``section 
     25D'' and inserting ``sections 25D and 30C''.
       (d) Treatment of Property Used by Tax-exempt Entity.--
     Paragraph (2) of section 30C(e) of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986 is amended--
       (1) by striking the last sentence, and
       (2) by inserting ``(including use by an Indian tribal 
     government)'' after ``paragraph (3) or (4) of section 
     50(b)''.
       (e) Joint Ownership of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling 
     Property.--Subsection (e) of section 30C of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by subsection (b), is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(8) Joint ownership of alternative fuel vehicle refueling 
     property.--
       ``(A) In general.--Any qualified alternative fuel vehicle 
     refueling property shall not fail to be treated as such 
     property solely because such property is placed in service 
     with respect to 2 or more dwelling units.
       ``(B) Limits applied separately.--In the case of any 
     qualified alternative fuel vehicle refueling property which 
     is placed in service with respect to 2 or more dwelling 
     units, this section (other than this subparagraph) shall be 
     applied separately with respect to the portion of such 
     property attributable to each such dwelling unit.''.
       (f) Definition of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling 
     Property.--
       (1) In general.--Paragraph (3) of section 179A(d) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
       ``(3) such property is--
       ``(A) for the generation, storage, compression, blending, 
     or dispensing of a clean-burning fuel into the fuel tank of a 
     motor vehicle propelled by such fuel, but only if the 
     generation, storage, compression, or dispensing of such fuel 
     is at the point where such fuel is delivered into the fuel 
     tank of the motor vehicle, or
       ``(B) for the recharging of motor vehicles propelled by 
     electricity (including property relating to providing 
     electricity for such recharging or otherwise necessary for 
     such recharging property).''.
       (2) Building components.--Subsection (d) of section 179A of 
     such Code is amended by striking ``and its structural 
     components''.
       (g) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to property placed in service after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act.
                                 ______