Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 109-135.
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on December 16, 2005. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 - Title I: Establishment of Gulf Opportunity Zone - (Sec. 101) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a program of tax benefits for businesses and individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina by creating a Gulf Opportunity Zone (or GO Zone). Provides similar tax benefits for businesses and individuals affected by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma and establishes a Rita GO Zone and a Wilma GO Zone to provide tax relief to hurricane victims in those disaster areas.
Authorizes the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to issue Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds as tax-exempt facility bonds or qualified mortgage bonds. Requires that 95 percent of the net proceeds of such bonds be used for the cost of qualified residential rental projects and the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, and renovation of nonresidential real and public utility property in the GO Zone. Prohibits GO Zone bonds from financing certain prohibited projects in the GO Zone, including private golf courses, country clubs, massage parlors, hot tub facilities, suntan facilities, racetrack or other gambling facilities, and liquor stores. Exempts GO Zone bonds from volume caps and exempts interest on such bonds from the alternative minimum tax. Terminates the authority to issue GO Zone bonds after December 31, 2010.
Allows the issuance of mortgage revenue bonds and qualified veterans' mortgage bonds in the GO Zone on a preferential basis and increases limits for home improvement loans financed by such bonds from $15,000 to $150,000. Exempts interest on such bonds from the alternative minimum tax.
Allows an additional advance refunding of bond obligations of the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi that were outstanding on August 28, 2005.
Increases amounts and allocations of the low-income housing tax credit for 2006-2008 in the GO Zone. Allows a $3.5 million increase in the state housing credit ceilings of Texas and Florida in 2006. Designates the GO Zone as a difficult development area for purposes of enhancing the low-income housing tax credit for GO Zone residents in 2006-2008.
The summary continues for 37 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on December 22, 2005. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on December 22, 2005: Became Public Law No: 109-135.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JIM MCCRERY (R-LA) introduced it on December 6, 2005, and 8 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HousePassed
- SenatePassed
- PresidentSigned into law