To amend title 49, United States Code, to exempt airports in economically depressed communities from matching grant obligations under the airport improvement program.

        [Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3697 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3697

To amend title 49, United States Code, to exempt airports in
economically depressed communities from matching grant obligations
under the airport improvement program.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 8, 2003

Mr. Thompson of California introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to exempt airports in
economically depressed communities from matching grant obligations
under the airport improvement program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INCREASED UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT SHARE OF AIRPORT
IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PROJECT COSTS.

Section 47109 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ``subsection (b)'' and
inserting ``subsections (b) and (d)''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Special Rule for Economically Depressed Communities.--
``(1) In general.--The United States Government's share of
allowable project costs is 100 percent for a project at an
airport that is located in a community that, at the time a
project grant application is submitted under section 47105, is
an economically depressed community.
``(2) Economically depressed community defined.--In this
section, the term `economically depressed community' means a
unit of local government that the Secretary of Transportation
determines has--
``(A) an unemployment rate that is, for the most
recent 24-month period for which data are available, at
least 1 percent greater than the national average
unemployment rate;
``(B) per capita income that is, for the most
recent period for which data are available, 80 percent
or less of the national average per capita income; or
``(C) a special need arising from actual or
threatened severe unemployment or economic adjustment
problems resulting from severe short-term or long-term
changes in economic conditions, such as--
``(i) substantial outmigration or
population loss;
``(ii) underemployment;
``(iii) military base closures or
realignments, defense contractor reductions-in-
force, or Department of Energy defense-related
funding reductions;
``(iv) natural or other major disasters or
emergencies;
``(v) extraordinary depletion of natural
resources;
``(vi) closure or restructuring of
industrial firms essential to area economies;
and
``(vii) destructive impacts of foreign
trade.''.
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