Archive-Name: gov/us/fed/congress/record/2001/oct/12/2001CRE1866 [Congressional Record: October 12, 2001 (Extensions)] [Page E1866] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:cr12oc01-36]

RENEWAL COMMUNITY TECHNICAL LEGISLATION

______

HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

of new york

in the house of representatives

Thursday, October 11, 2001

Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, today, along with Representatives Quinn and Reynolds, I will be introducing legislation designed to enhance the effectiveness of the ``Renewal Community'' program which Congress adopted just last December. This legislation would allow the expansion of Renewal Communities to include census tracts which are not eligible under 1990 census data, but which are eligible under 2000 census data. As Congress debates economic stimulus legislation, which is likely to include tax provisions, we urge inclusion of this simple, but important, legislative amendment to the existing Renewal Community program. Late last year, Congress enacted bi-partisan legislation authorizing the designation of forty ``Renewal Communities,'' each of which will receive substantial investment tax benefits. Applications for selection of these Renewal Communities are due late in October, with final selection by HUD under a competitive process before the end of this year. All census tracts in a Renewal Community application must meet objective criteria, including benchmarks relating to poverty and unemployment. However, the poverty rates and population used to determine compliance with such criteria are required to be determined using 1900 census data. Use of dated economic data was probably necessary, given that the selection process will be completed before all 2000 census data is available. However, ironically, the result is that legislation designed to rejuvenate areas with rising poverty and declining economic conditions and population effectively ignores what has taken place over the last decade. The very census tracts that have declined economically over the last decade, as confirmed by objective economic data, are unnecessarily excluded from favorable investment treatment designed to reverse such economic decline. This makes no sense. Therefore, the legislation we are introducing today in a simple one, which permits applicants that are awarded Renewal Community status to subsequently apply to HUD to expand their boundaries to include census tracts that did not meet the legislation's poverty or population criteria using 1990 census data, but would meet such criteria using 2000 census data. It does not interfere with the selection process for the forty Renewal Communities, which is already underway. Nor does it alter the objective qualifications that each census tract must meet to qualify for inclusion in a Renewal Community. It merely allows Renewal Communities selected later this year to apply for the inclusion of adjacent census tracts that clearly justify inclusion in the Renewal Community, based on our most recent census data.