BROWNFIELDS DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR QUALIFIED GREEN BUILDING AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PROJECTS.

SEC. 701. BROWNFIELDS DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR QUALIFIED GREEN BUILDING AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PROJECTS.(a) Treatment as Exempt Facility Bond.—Subsection (a) of section 142 (relating to the definition of 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 inserting at the end the following new paragraph:“(14) qualified green building and sustainable design projects.”.(b) Qualified Green Building and Sustainable Design Projects.—Section 142 (relating to exempt facility bonds) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:“(l) Qualified Green Building and Sustainable Design Projects.—“(1) In general.—For purposes of subsection (a)(14), the term ‘qualified green building and sustainable design project’ means any project which is designated by the Secretary, after consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a qualified green building and sustainable design project and which meets the requirements of clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of paragraph (4)(A).“(2) Designations.—“(A) In general.—Within 60 days after the end of the application period described in paragraph (3)(A), the Secretary, after consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall designate qualified green building and sustainable design projects. At least one of the projects designated shall be located in, or within a 10-mile radius of, an empowerment zone as designated pursuant to section 1391, and at least one of the projects designated shall be located in a rural State. No more than one project shall be designated in a State. A project shall not be designated if such project includes a stadium or arena for professional sports exhibitions or games. “(B) Minimum conservation and technology innovation objectives.—The Secretary, after consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall ensure that, in the aggregate, the projects designated shall—“(i) reduce electric consumption by more than 150 megawatts annually as compared to conventional generation,“(ii) reduce daily sulfur dioxide emissions by at least 10 tons compared to coal generation power,118 STAT. 1537“(iii) expand by 75 percent the domestic solar photovoltaic market in the United States (measured in megawatts) as compared to the expansion of that market from 2001 to 2002, and“(iv) use at least 25 megawatts of fuel cell energy generation.“(3) Limited designations.—A project may not be designated under this subsection unless—“(A) the project is nominated by a State or local government within 180 days of the enactment of this subsection, and“(B) such State or local government provides written assurances that the project will satisfy the eligibility criteria described in paragraph (4).“(4) Application.—“(A) In general.—A project may not be designated under this subsection unless the application for such designation includes a project proposal which describes the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable design features of the project and demonstrates that the project satisfies the following eligibility criteria:“(i) Green building and sustainable design.—At least 75 percent of the square footage of commercial buildings which are part of the project is registered for United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification and is reasonably expected (at the time of the designation) to receive such certification. For purposes of determining LEED certification as required under this clause, points shall be credited by using the following:“(I) For wood products, certification under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Program and the American Tree Farm System.“(II) For renewable wood products, as credited for recycled content otherwise provided under LEED certification.“(III) For composite wood products, certification under standards established by the American National Standards Institute, or such other voluntary standards as published in the Federal Register by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.“(ii) Brownfield redevelopment.—The project includes a brownfield site as defined by section 101(39) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601), including a site described in subparagraph (D)(ii)(II)(aa) thereof.“(iii) State and local support.—The project receives specific State or local government resources which will support the project in an amount equal to at least $5,000,000. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term ‘resources’ includes tax abatement benefits and contributions in kind.“(iv) Size.—The project includes at least one of the following:“(I) At least 1,000,000 square feet of building.118 STAT. 1538“(II) At least 20 acres.“(v) Use of tax benefit.—The project proposal includes a description of the net benefit of the tax-exempt financing provided under this subsection which will be allocated for financing of one or more of the following:“(I) The purchase, construction, integration, or other use of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable design features of the project.“(II) Compliance with certification standards cited under clause (i).“(III) The purchase, remediation, and foundation construction and preparation of the brownfields site.“(vi) Prohibited facilities.—An issue shall not be treated as an issue described in subsection (a)(14) if any proceeds of such issue are used to provide any facility the principal business of which is the sale of food or alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises.“(vii) Employment.—The project is projected to provide permanent employment of at least 1,500 full time equivalents (150 full time equivalents in rural States) when completed and construction employment of at least 1,000 full time equivalents (100 full time equivalents in rural States).The application shall include an independent analysis which describes the project’s economic impact, including the amount of projected employment.“(B) Project description.—Each application described in subparagraph (A) shall contain for each project a description of—“(i) the amount of electric consumption reduced as compared to conventional construction,“(ii) the amount of sulfur dioxide daily emissions reduced compared to coal generation,“(iii) the amount of the gross installed capacity of the project’s solar photovoltaic capacity measured in megawatts, and“(iv) the amount, in megawatts, of the project’s fuel cell energy generation.“(5) Certification of use of tax benefit.—No later than 30 days after the completion of the project, each project must certify to the Secretary that the net benefit of the tax-exempt financing was used for the purposes described in paragraph (4).“(6) Definitions.—For purposes of this subsection—“(A) Rural state.—The term ‘rural State’ means any State which has—“(i) a population of less than 4,500,000 according to the 2000 census,“(ii) a population density of less than 150 people per square mile according to the 2000 census, and“(iii) increased in population by less than half the rate of the national increase between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.118 STAT. 1539“(B) Local government.—The term ‘local government’ has the meaning given such term by section 1393(a)(5).“(C) Net benefit of tax-exempt financing.—The term ‘net benefit of tax-exempt financing’ means the present value of the interest savings (determined by a calculation established by the Secretary) which result from the tax-exempt status of the bonds.“(7) Aggregate face amount of tax-exempt financing.—“(A) In general.—An issue shall not be treated as an issue described in subsection (a)(14) if the aggregate face amount of bonds issued by the State or local government pursuant thereto for a project (when added to the aggregate face amount of bonds previously so issued for such project) exceeds an amount designated by the Secretary as part of the designation.“(B) Limitation on amount of bonds.—The Secretary may not allocate authority to issue qualified green building and sustainable design project bonds in an aggregate face amount exceeding $2,000,000,000.“(8) Termination.—Subsection (a)(14) shall not apply with respect to any bond issued after September 30, 2009.“(9) Treatment of current refunding bonds.—Paragraphs (7)(B) and (8) shall not apply to any bond (or series of bonds) issued to refund a bond issued under subsection (a)(14) before October 1, 2009, if—“(A) the average maturity date of the issue of which the refunding bond is a part is not later than the average maturity date of the bonds to be refunded by such issue,“(B) the amount of the refunding bond does not exceed the outstanding amount of the refunded bond, and“(C) the net proceeds of the refunding bond are used to redeem the refunded bond not later than 90 days after the date of the issuance of the refunding bond.For purposes of subparagraph (A), average maturity shall be determined in accordance with section 147(b)(2)(A).”.(c) Exemption From General State Volume Caps.—Paragraph (3) of section 146(g) (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 qualified green building and sustainable design projects”.(d) Accountability.—Each issuer shall maintain, on behalf of each project, an interest bearing reserve account equal to 1 percent of the net proceeds of any bond issued under this section for such project. Not later than 5 years after the date of issuance, the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall determine whether the project financed with such bonds has substantially complied with the terms and conditions described in section 142(l)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by this section). If the Secretary, after such consultation, certifies that the project has substantially complied with such terms and conditions and meets the commitments set forth in the application for such project described in section 142(l)(4) of such Code, amounts in the reserve account, including all interest, shall be released to the project. If the Secretary determines that the project has not substantially 118 STAT. 1540 complied with such terms and conditions, amounts in the reserve account, including all interest, shall be paid to the United States Treasury.(e) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to bonds issued after December 31, 2004.