Spaceport Equality Act

Spaceport Equality Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide the same treatment for spaceports as is provided for airports under the exempt facility bond rules.

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 644 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 644

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat spaceports like 
             airports under the exempt facility bond rules.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 5, 2003

Mr. Weldon of Florida 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 treat spaceports like 
             airports under the exempt facility bond rules.

    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 ``Spaceport Equality Act''.

SEC. 2. SPACEPORTS TREATED LIKE AIRPORTS UNDER EXEMPT FACILITY BOND 
              RULES.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (1) of section 142(a) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exempt facility bonds) is amended to 
read as follows:
            ``(1) airports and spaceports,''.
    (b) Treatment of Ground Leases.--Paragraph (1) of section 142(b) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to certain facilities must 
be governmentally owned) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) Special rule for spaceport ground leases.--
                For purposes of subparagraph (A), spaceport property 
                which is located on land owned by the United States and 
                which is used by a governmental unit pursuant to a 
                lease (as defined in section 168(h)(7)) from the United 
                States shall be treated as owned by such unit if--
                            ``(i) the lease term (within the meaning of 
                        section 168(i)(3)) is at least 15 years, and
                            ``(ii) such unit would be treated as owning 
                        such property if such lease term were equal to 
                        the useful life of such property.''.
    (c) Definition of Spaceport.--Section 142 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(l) Spaceport.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(1), the 
        term `spaceport' means--
                    ``(A) any facility directly related and essential 
                to servicing spacecraft, enabling spacecraft to launch 
                or reenter, or transferring passengers or space cargo 
                to or from spacecraft, but only if such facility is 
                located at, or in close proximity to, the launch site 
                or reentry site, and
                    ``(B) any other functionally related and 
                subordinate facility at or adjacent to the launch site 
                or reentry site at which launch services or reentry 
                services are provided, including a launch control 
                center, repair shop, maintenance or overhaul facility, 
                and rocket assembly facility.
            ``(2) Additional terms.--For purposes of paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) Space cargo.--The term `space cargo' includes 
                satellites, scientific experiments, other property 
                transported into space, and any other type of payload, 
                whether or not such property returns from space.
                    ``(B) Spacecraft.--The term `spacecraft' means a 
                launch vehicle or a reentry vehicle.
                    ``(C) Other terms.--The terms `launch', `launch 
                site', `launch services', `launch vehicle', `payload', 
                `reenter', `reentry services', `reentry site', and 
                `reentry vehicle' shall have the respective meanings 
                given to such terms by section 70102 of title 49, 
                United States Code (as in effect on the date of 
                enactment of this subsection).''.
    (d) Exception From Federally Guaranteed Bond Prohibition.--
Paragraph (3) of section 149(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(relating to exceptions) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraph:
                    ``(E) Exception for spaceports.--Paragraph (1) 
                shall not apply to any exempt facility bond issued as 
                part of an issue described in paragraph (1) of section 
                142(a) to provide a spaceport in situations where--
                            ``(i) the guarantee of the United States 
                        (or an agency or instrumentality thereof) is 
                        the result of payment of rent, user fees, or 
                        other charges by the United States (or any 
                        agency or instrumentality thereof), and
                            ``(ii) the payment of the rent, user fees, 
                        or other charges is for, and conditioned upon, 
                        the use of the spaceport by the United States 
                        (or any agency or instrumentality thereof).''.
    (e) Conforming Amendment.--The heading for section 142(c) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``, Spaceport,'' 
after ``Airport''.
    (f) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to obligations issued after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
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