Rep. Stevens Applauds Bipartisan Passage of her Amendment to the Rebuild America’s Schools Act
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) celebrates the bipartisan passage of her first amendment as a Member of Congress.
The amendment, which passed by a near-unanimous bipartisan vote in the House Committee on Education and Labor, added language to the Rebuild America’s Schools Act (H.R.865) to encourage Opportunity Zone tax benefits to apply to school construction. Opportunity Zones are designated economically-distressed communities where new investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.
“I am thrilled that my colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, on the House Committee on Education & Labor overwhelmingly voted in favor of this amendment to encourage new investment channels into often overlooked communities,” said Congresswoman Haley Stevens. “The Rebuild America’s Schools Act is the first step in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure by supporting robust investment in public schools. My amendment makes it easier to leverage capital for public school construction projects.”
The Rebuild America’s Schools Act would invest more than $100 billion in America’s public schools to address critical physical and digital infrastructure needs in schools across the country. According to economic projections, the bill would also create more than 1.9 million good-paying jobs. The Rebuild America’s School Act was passed by the House Committee on Education & Labor and will now go to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
Stevens Amendment full text:
FIRST DEGREE SUBSTITUTE TO PENDING AMENDMENT TO THE AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE TO H.R. 865
OFFERED BY MS. STEVENS OF MICHIGAN
At the end of title III add the following:
SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON OPPORTUNITY ZONES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Opportunity Zones were championed by prominent leaders of both parties as an innovative way to tackle long standing challenges.
(2) As of December 2018, 8,763 low-income communities had been designated as Opportunity Zones, representing all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
(3) Schools are integral parts of communities, and a key part of communities’ economic and workforce development efforts could be modernizing school facilities.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS. — It is the sense of the Congress that opportunity zones, when combined with public infrastructure investment, can provide an innovative approach to capital financing that has the potential to unleash creativity and help local communities rebuild schools, rebuild economics, and get people back to work.
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