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CDFA is the voice of development finance on Capitol Hill and with the federal Administration, providing leadership on policy decisions that impact the industry. CDFA is a bipartisan organization that supports sound public policy and the leadership involved in making important decisions affecting development finance.

Each year CDFA produces a Policy Agenda and works with legislators and federal officials to advance these initiatives. Additionally, CDFA holds briefings, trainings, and advises legislative and federal stakeholders on numerous topics.

Want regular updates on legislative and federal affairs? CDFA publishes the highly popular Legislative & Federal Affairs Update each month. This free newsletter features development finance news, resources, case studies, and the latest from Capitol Hill and the federal government.

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-Latest Developments

January 31, 2024 - U.S. House of Representatives Passes $79 Billion Bipartisan Package, Now Moves to U.S. Senate

On January 31, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7024 - The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 with a vote of 357-70. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate. The bill's provisions include the following:

Affordable Housing Provisions
  • State Housing Credit Ceiling Increase for Low-Income Housing Credit: In calendar years 2018 through 2021, the 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) ceiling was increased by 12.5%, allowing states to allocate more credits for affordable housing projects. This provision restores the 12.5% increase for calendar years 2023 through 2025 and is effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2022.

  • Tax-Exempt Bond Financing Requirement: Under current law, to receive LIHTC a building must either receive a credit allocation from the state housing finance authority or be bond-financed. To be bond-financed, 50% or more of the aggregate basis of the building and land must be financed with bonds that are subject to a state's private activity bond volume cap. This provision lowers the bond-financing threshold to 30% for projects financed by bonds with an issue date before 2026. This section provides a transition rule for buildings that already have bonds issued by requiring that a building must have 5% or more of its aggregate basis financed by bonds with an issue date in 2024 or 2025.

    This provision is effective for buildings placed in service after December 31, 2023. In the case of rehabilitation expenditures, which are treated as a separate new building by the IRS, the building is considered placed in service at the end of the rehabilitation expenditures period. The 30% requirement is applied to the aggregate basis of both the existing building and the rehabilitation expenditures.

    This provision may ease oversubscription on private activity bond volume cap allocations that recently have been constrained due to increased housing costs and the amount required to be financed with bonds.

Other Provisions
  • Calculation of Refundable Credit on a Per-Child Basis: Under current law, the maximum refundable child tax credit for a taxpayer is computed by multiplying that taxpayer's earned income (in excess of $2,500) by 15%. This provision modifies that calculation of the maximum refundable credit amount by providing that taxpayers first multiply their earned income (in excess of $2,500) by 15%, and then multiply that amount by the number of qualifying children. This policy would be effective for tax years 2023, 2024, and 2025.

  • Deduction for Research and Experimental Expenditures: Current law provides that research or experimental costs paid or incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, are required to be deducted over a five-year period. Research or experimental costs that are attributable to research that is conducted outside of the United States are required to be deducted over a 15-year period.

  • East Palestine Disaster Relief Payments: In general, gross income is defined as income from whatever source derived. This section treats East Palestine train derailment payments as qualified disaster relief payments as defined in IRC section 139(b). Thus, these payments are excluded from gross income and are subject to other present-law provisions applicable to qualified disaster relief payments.

    East Palestine train derailment payments are any amount received by or on behalf of an individual as compensation for loss, damages, expenses, loss in real property value, closing costs with respect to real property, or inconvenience resulting from the East Palestine train derailment paid by a Federal, State, or local government agency, Norfolk Southern Railway, or any subsidiary, insurer, or agent of Norfolk Southern Railway or any related person. 8 “East Palestine train derailment” is defined as the derailment of a train in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023. This section applies to amounts received on or after February 3, 2023.

Read the Full Technical Summary of the Bill

Development finance agencies are encouraged to let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill. To get engaged, contact Mitchell Smith.

-CDFA Policy Agenda

Overview

CDFA is committed to fulfilling numerous development finance policy objectives in 2024, including the improvement of tax-exempt bonds, reinstatement of the brownfields redevelopment tax incentive, and continued support for critical federal financing programs. This agenda is borne out of CDFA’s 42 years as a national leader in the development finance industry and is crafted to address market-based access to capital challenges. CDFA is prepared to assist Congress with implementation of the following policy priorities:

  • Priority 1: Reform Manufacturing and Agricultural Bonds - Passing the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act will update the tax code's private activity bond rules for Industrial Development Bonds and Agricultural Bonds.

  • Priority 2: Create Permanent Disaster Recovery Bonds - Create a permanent bond financing tool that can be accessed immediately after disaster strikes, and that can leverage private investment for longer-term redevelopment of essential infrastructure.

  • Priority 3: Reinstate the Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Incentive - CDFA supports the passage of H.R. 6438 - The Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Incentive Reauthorization Act of 2023 - which would reinstate the brownfields redevelopment tax incentive to allow taxpayers to fully deduct the cleanup costs of contaminated property in the year the costs were incurred.

  • Priority 4: Remove Water and Sewer Bonds from Private Activity Bond Volume Cap - CDFA supports the passage of H.R. 1407/S. 726 - The Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW) Act - which provides bipartisan remedies to the prohibition of using private activity bonds to finance the costs of replacing privately owned portions of a lead service line in a public water system.

  • Priority 5: State Small Business Credit Initiative Technical Fix - CDFA proposes a technical correction to extend program authorization to 2030 to ensure that all jurisdictions can fully execute their approved plans to strengthen and grow small businesses across the United States.

  • Priority 6: Reinstate Contributions in Aid of Construction Under 26 U.S. Code Section 118 - CDFA supports the reinstatement of 26 U.S. Code Section 118, which would allow state and local governments to contribute abandoned property or provide grants on a tax-exempt basis to developers for projects that benefit the public.

  • Priority 7: Bolster Economic Development Financing Tools - CDFA supports restoring local economies, preserving small businesses, investing in underserved communities, and protecting the environment.

View CDFA's Full Policy Agenda

-Federal News

-Legislative News

-Legislation Tracker

CDFA tracks economic development legislation in Congress. Below you can see legislation relevant to development finance in the current Congress. Click on a legislative item to see a brief summary and learn more about it.

-H.R. 1407/S. 726 - The FLOW Act of 2023



View H.R. 1407 on Congress.gov
View S. 726 on Congress.gov
Congressman Kildee Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Help Communities Replace Lead Pipes

  • Would allow bonds issued by public water utilities to finance the replacement of private lead service lines to bypass the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's "private business use test."
  • Streamlining this process in the tax code will help more communities access financing for lead service line replacement.

-H.R. 1785/S. 639 - The Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act of 2023



View H.R. 1785 on Congress.gov
View S. 639 on Congress.gov
Cardin, Cassidy, Cantwell and Collins Reintroduce Bill to Expand Access to Historic Tax Credit
  • Increases the rehabilitation tax credit and modifies certain requirements for the credit.
  • Increases the rate of the credit to 30%  for small projects (rehabilitation expenditures not exceeding $3.75 million) and caps the credit for such projects at $750,000 for all taxable years.
  • Expands the types of buildings eligible for rehabilitation by decreasing the rehabilitation threshold from 100% to 50% of project expenses. It also eliminates the basis adjustment requirement for the credit and modifies rules relating to the eligibility of tax-exempt use property for the credit.

-H.R. 1837 - The Investing in Our Communities Act



View H.R. 1837 on Congress.gov
Congressmen Kustoff, Ruppersberger Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Restore Tax-Exempt Advance Refunding for Municipal Bonds

  • Would restore tax-exempt advance refunding for municipal bonds, which would allow issuing governments to take advantage of favorable market conditions to reduce their borrowing costs and free-up resources for new projects.

-H.R. 2539/S. 234 - New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2023



View H.R. 2539 on Congress.gov
View S. 234 on Congress.gov
Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Make NMTCs Permanent
  • Makes the New Markets Tax Credit Permanent.
  • Modifies the credit to 1) provide for an inflation adjustment to the limitation amount for the credit after 2023 and 2) allow an offset against the alternative minimum tax for the credit, which will be determined with respect toq ualified equity investments initially made after 2022.

-H.R. 3238/S. 1557 - The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act



View H.R. 3238 on Congress.gov
S.1557 on Congress.gov
Congressional Leaders Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Build 2 Million New Affordable Homes
Read a Detailed Bill Summary
  • Increases the number of credits available to states by 50 percent for the next two years and make the temporary 12.5%increase secured in 2018 permanent—which has already helped build more than 59,000 additional affordable housing units nationwide.
  • Stabilizes financing for workforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity bonds needed to secure Housing Credit funding. As a result, projects would have to carry less debt, and more projects would be eligible to receive funding.
  • Allows states to produce and preserve more bond-financed developments by allowing the full amount of 4 percent Credits to properties that finance at least 25 percent of eligible land and building costs with tax-exempt multifamily bond authority.
  •  

-H.R. 3787/S. 2723 - The Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act



View H.R. 3787 on Congress.gov
View S. 2723 on Congress.gov
Bipartisan Legislation Would Accelerate Economic Development, Help Create Manufacturing Jobs
CDFA's Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act Introduced in U.S. House of Representatives
Brown, Erst Introduce Bill to Expand Financing Opportunities For The Next Generation of Farmers and Small & Mid-Size Manufacturers
CDFA's Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act Introduced in U.S. Senate
  1. Expands the definition of “manufacturing facility”
  2. Eliminates restrictions on “directly related and ancillary facilities”
  3. Increases the maximum IDB size limitation from $10 million to $30 million, indexed to inflation
  4. Increases the limitation on small issue bond proceeds for first-time farmers to $1 million
  5. Repeals the separate dollar limitation on the use of bond proceeds for depreciable property
  6. Modifies the definition of “substantial farmland”

-H.R. 5761 - The Opportunity Zones Transparency, Extension, and Improvement Act



View H.R. 5761 on Congress.gov
Reps. Kelly, Kildee, Miller, Sewell reintroduce Opportunity Zones Transparency, Extension, and Improvement Act

  • Requires mandatory data and reporting of Opportunity Zone investments to increase transparency and streamline the reporting process.
  • Extends the investment and deferral window to the end of 2028, providing a longer time horizon to drive more investment into high-impact projects in low-income communities.

-H.R. 6438 - Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Incentive Reauthorization Act



View H.R. 6438 on Congress.gov
Reps. Sherrill and Turner Reintroduce Federal Tax Incentive to Bolster Economic Development and Environmental Improvement
  • The Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Incentive Reauthorization Act would allow state and local governments, nonprofits, or developers to fully deduct the cost of environmental remediation of brownfields, vacant industrial and commercial areas like gas stations that remain undeveloped because of concerns of environmental contamination.

-S. 1453 - LOCAL Infrastructure Act



View S. 1453 on Congress.gov
Bipartisan Legislation Introduced in the Senate to Restore Advance Refunding
  • The "Lifting Our Communities Through Advance Liquidity for Infrastructure Act would restore tax-exempt advance refunding for municipal bonds, which would allow issuing governments to take advantage of favorable market conditions to reduce their borrowing costs and free-up resources for new projects.

-S. 1695 - American Infrastructure Bonds Act of 2023


CDFA National Sponsors

  • BNY Mellon
  • Bricker Graydon LLP
  • Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
  • Business Oregon
  • CohnReznick
  • Frost Brown Todd LLP
  • Grow America | Formerly NDC
  • Hawes Hill and Associates LLP
  • Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP
  • Ice Miller LLP
  • KeyBanc Capital Markets
  • Kutak Rock LLP
  • McGuireWoods
  • MuniCap, Inc.
  • NW Financial Group, LLC
  • PGAV Planners, LLC
  • Raza Development Fund
  • SB Friedman Development Advisors
  • Stifel Nicolaus
  • U.S. Bank
  • Wells Fargo Securities
  • Z. The Bond Buyer
Become a Sponsor