United States-Mexican Border Economic Recovery Act

United States-Mexican Border Economic Recovery Act - Title I: Reauthorization of the Economic Development Administration - Amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to authorize appropriations for FY 1983 through 1985 to carry out grants for public works and development facilities, with specified amounts earmarked for grants for health projects.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 through 1987 for: (1) public works and development facility loans and for business loans and loan guarantees; (2) the redevelopment area loan program; (3) technical assistance and economic development planning, with specified amounts earmarked for grants to the States; (4) supplemental and basic grants to the States; (5) certain economic development districts; and (6) special economic development and adjustment assistance. Limits the percentage of special economic development and adjustment assistance funds that may be expended in areas suffering from the effects of extraordinary, servere and temporary natural conditions and in areas suffering from the effects of foreign currency devaluations, unless the Secretary of Commerce (the Secretary) determines that additional funds are necessary. Extends the job opportunities program through FY 1987.

Title II: Technical Trade Assistance - Border Communities' Trade Capacities Expansion Act of 1984 - Authorizes any community affected by extraordinary, severe temporary natural conditions and foreign currency devaluation to file with the Secretary a petition for certification for technical assistance. Permits the petition to be filed by one or more affected communities or by the Governor of the State in which the affected community is located. Provides for investigation of such petition. Requires the Secretary, within 60 days of the filing of the petition, to certify an affected community as eligible for technical assistance if the Secretary determines that extraordinary, severe temporary natural conditions and foreign currency devaluation have contributed importantly to a decline in sales or production in the affected community. Directs the Secretary, if a petitioner meets such requirements, to: (1) determine whether there are any other affected communities located in the same area in which the petitioner is located which meet such requirements; and (2) after consulting with the Secretary of Labor, establish the size and boundaries of each impacted area. Provides for termination of the certificate of eligibility if the Secretary determines that no additional assistance is necessary for an impacted area.

Requires the Secretary, within 60 days after a community is certified, to: (1) inform officials and other residents of affected communities of benefits available; and (2) assist such officials and residents in developing and planning programs to increase such localities' foreign trade capacity. Directs the Secretary to establish an Area Council for Technical Assistance for each impacted area or to designate an appropriate entity as the Council for an area. Requires the Council to develop a proposal for a technical assistance plan and to coordinate community action under the plan. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to such Council. Authorizes the Council to apply to the Secretary for technical assistance. Declares that technical assistance shall consist of: (1) assistance to an affected community in developing a proposal for increasing its foreign trade capacity; (2) assistance in the implementation of such a plan; and (3) such additional assistance as the Secretary determines appropriate. Prohibits technical assistance unless the Secretary approved the technical assistance plan. Authorizes appropriations.

Title III: United Services Customs Service - Amends the Customs Procedural Reform Simplification Act of 1978 to prohibit paying administrative expenses in connection with reducing employment in the U.S. Customs Service below the level of December 31, 1983.

Title IV: Enterprise Zones - Border Aid Enterprise Zone Act of 1984 - Subtitle A: Designation of Enterprise Zones - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the designation of enterprise zones by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for purposes of extending the tax incentives and regulatory flexibility measures provided by this title. Requires State and local governments to nominate areas for such designation. Limits the period during which such designations shall remain in effect.

Prohibits a designation as an enterprise zone from taking effect until the State or local government submits to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development an inventory of historic properties within such area.

Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to designate such zones only if: (1) the area is within the jurisdiction of the local government; (2) the boundary of the area is continuous; (3) the area has a population of at least 4,000 if any portion thereof is located within a standard metropolitan statistical area (with a population of at least 50,000) or 1,000 otherwise, or is within an Indian reservation; and (4) the area meets specified unemployment and poverty requirements and the area suffers from significant economic difficulties resulting from the decline in value of a foreign currency.

Requires nominating State and local governments, as a condition of designation, to agree in writing to follow a course of action which may include reducing tax rates, improving local services, simplifying or streamlining regulation of business, or receiving commitments of private entities to assist employees and residents of the area.

Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit to the Congress every four years a report on the effects of such enterprise zones' designation.

Requires that any property tax reduction effected by a local government under the terms of this title be disregarded for purposes of determining the eligibility of a State or local government for Federal assistance or benefits.

States that designation of an enterprise zone shall not give displaced persons from such an area any rights or benefits under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970.

Exempts enterprise zones from certain requirements relating to Federal environmental policy.

Subtitle B: Federal Income Tax Incentives - Part I: Credits for Employers and Employees - Allows employers located in enterprise zones a nonrefundable income tax credit for increased employment expenditures and employment of the disadvantaged. Allows a three-year carryback and 15-year carryover of such credit. Sets the amount of such credit at ten percent of the increase in payroll (taking into account a maximum of $17,500 in wages per year per employee) plus 50 percent of the wages paid to certain disadvantaged workers for the first three years of the enterprise zone designation. Phases out such credit in the last three years of the enterprise zone designation. Disallows a deduction for the portion of wages taken into account for such credit.

Allows employees located in enterprise zones a nonrefundable income tax credit equal to five percent of qualified wages earned per year (taking into account a maximum of $10,500 in wages per year). Phases out such credit in the last three years of the enterprise zone designation.

Requires each employer of employees located in enterprise zones to furnish employees with a written statement showing the amount of qualified wages paid by the employer to each such employee.

Part II: Credits for Investment in Tangible Property in Enterprise Zones - Allows businesses an additional investment tax credit for investment in certain tangible property located in enterprise zones. Limits such credit to five percent for zone personal property and ten percent for new zone construction property, including rental property. Requires that the property subject to such credit be predominantly used in the zone, be purchased after zone designation, and not be acquired from relatives or related corporations. Requires the recapture of such credit upon early disposition of the property. Phases out such credit in the last three years of the enterprise zone designation.

Part III: Reduction in Capital Gain Tax Rates - Reduces the capital gains tax of a corporation on the capital gains attributable to the sale or exchange of qualified enterprise zone property made after the enterprise zone designation. Disallows certain capital gains or losses attributable to the sale or exchange of an interest in a qualified enterprise zone business. Qualifies certain rental property located in an enterprise zone for reduced corporate capital gains treatment. Permits property to remain qualified for purposes of the revised capital gains treatment after a designation of an enterprise zone has terminated. Exempts gain from the sale or exchange of property used in a business in an enterprise zone from the computation of the minimum tax. Allows noncorporate taxpayers to deduct from gross income 100 percent of any net capital gain from qualified enterprise zone property.

Part IV: Rules Relating to Industrial Development Bonds - Provides that limitations on the cost recovery deductions for property financed with tax-exempt industrial development bonds shall not apply to enterprise zone property. Provides that the termination of the small issue exemption shall not apply to industrial development bonds the proceeds of which are used to finance facilities in such enterprise zones.

Part V: Sense of the Congress with Respect to Tax Simplification - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Internal Revenue Service should simplify the administration and enforcement of any provision of the Internal Revenue Code affected by this Act.

Subtitle C: Regulatory Flexibility - Revises the definition of "small entity" for purposes of the analysis of regulatory functions, to include qualified businesses (as defined in Subtitle B of this title), governments, and nonprofit enterprises operating within enterprise zones.

Authorizes Federal agencies, upon request by a designating government, to waive or modify rules and regulations which pertain to the carrying out of projects or activities within an enterprise zone. Requires agencies to approve such request if the resulting benefits of job creation, community development, or economic revitalization outweigh the public interest in continuation of the rule unchanged.

Disallows waiver or modification of a rule that would directly violate a statutory requirement (including the Davis-Bacon Act and Fair Labor Standards Act) or which would present a danger to the public health and safety. Provides that such waivers or modifications of a rule shall remain in effect as long as the zone designations.

Amends the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to promote the coordination of all enterprise zone programs and consolidate all periodic reports required under such programs into one summary report.

Subtitle D: Establishment of Foreign-Trade Zones in Enterprise Zones - Requires the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to consider on a priority basis and expedite the processing of applications for the establishment of foreign-trade zones within enterprise zones. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to give priority to, and expedite applications for, the establishment of ports of entry necessary to establish such zones. States that to the maximum extent practicable foreign-trade zones should be established within enterprise zones.

Title V: Veterans' Administration - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to submit to Congress, within 90 days of enactment of this Act, a report on the need for a veterans medical facility in southern Texas.

Title VI: Farmers Home Administration - Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act Amendments of 1984 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to fix the amount of the grant for each rural water and waste facility project. Provides for a graduated scale of grant amounts with higher grants being provided for projects in communities that have lower population and income levels. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to use a project selection system to determine on the basis of relative need which applicants shall receive assistance. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make payments to certain rural associations for certain predevelopment costs incurred in connection with the planning and design of community water and waste disposal facilities. Requires such payments to be not less than five percent of any appropriations provided to carry out such projects unless applications for payments total less than five percent of such amount.

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to private nonprofit organizations to enable such organizations to provide to rural associations technical assistance to: (1) identify and evaluate solutions to water treatment and waste disposal problems in rural areas; (2) prepare applications for financial assistance; and (3) improve the operation and maintenance practices at existing water treatment or waste disposal plants in rural areas.

Requires such payments to be not less than two percent of the appropriations provided to carry out such projects unless applications for payments total less than two percent of such amount.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to use a project selection system to determine which applicants for financial assistance for essential community facilities shall be selected. Sets forth provisions of such selection system.

Sets the interest rate for water and waste disposal facility loans at: (1) not more than five percent in areas where the median family income is below 80 percent of the statewide nonmetropolitan median family income; and (2) not more than seven percent in areas where such income level is less than 100 percent of the statewide nonmetropolitan median family income. Requires the interest rate on loans for such facilities and for essential community facilities to be the lower of either the rate in effect at the time of the loan approval or the rate in effect at the time of the loan closing.

Amends business and industry loan provisions to give priority to areas of economic distress.

Provides for the recapture of low-income farm ownership loans when a borrower sells such property. States that these loans constitute a secured debt.

Permits borrowers of farm ownership, operating, or emergency loans, or loans under the Emergency Agricultural Credit Adjustment Act of 1978 to use mineral (including oil and gas) rights leasing proceeds (from land used as security for such loans) to make current loan payments.

Establishes FY 1984 through 1986 lending limits under the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund for real estate loans, farm ownership loans, water development and conservation loans, operating loans, and emergency loans. Allocates specified amounts for insured and guaranteed loans. Authorizes fund transfers.

Establishes FY 1984 through 1986 lending limits under the Rural Development Insurance Fund for water and waste disposal loans and for community facility loans.

Reserves at least 20 percent of the farm ownership and operating loans for low-income, limited-resource applicants.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide that certain grants by the Secretary of Health and Human Services may cover the costs of repaying loans made by the Farmers Home Administration and other lending institutions for buildings.