Legislation that includes the removal of the volume cap on private activity bonds for water and wastewater infrastructure projects was again up for consideration in the Senate. When the Small Business Jobs Bill was moving through the Senate, Chairman Baucus made a motion to advance a fully funded H.R. 4849, the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010 (which was the Tax Extenders bill), as a substitute amendment to the Small Business jobs bill, H.R. 5297.
The substitute amendment provided for the extension of "all" expiring tax provisions and the PAB cap exemption for water and wastewater. Unfortunately, Senator Hatch objected to the unanimous consent request because he wants a permanent extension to the R&D tax credit rather than a short-term extension of the expiring provision. Chairman Baucus stated that he will try again to advance the expiring provisions before the end of the year. While the failure of the amendment is a defeat for the AGC-supported provisions, there is good news in the strong indication of support this provision has in that it continues to be brought up by key members of the Senate.
AGC will continue to push for this legislation, as it could lead to freeing up billions in private investment for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. AGC is also also hearing that the tax extenders bill will likely be taken up again as part of a larger tax debate, perhaps as part of a bigger bill that deals with the Bush tax cuts, capital gains and dividends.
For more information, contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org
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