Senator Scott Introduces the Bipartisan Investing in Opportunity Act

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congressmen Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the Investing in Opportunity Act. This bipartisan bill will incentivize investment in economically distressed communities in every state. By encouraging the creation of geographically-targeted funds, the bill creates new channels for investment in small businesses, supporting entrepreneurs, developing blighted properties, investing in local infrastructure projects, and other activities to create new opportunities for local residents.

The group issued the following statement:

“Too many American communities have been left behind by widening geographic disparities and increasingly uneven economic growth. We come from different parties and regions, but share the common conviction that all Americans should have access to economic opportunity regardless of their zip code. TheInvesting in Opportunity Actwill unlock new private investment for communities where millions of Americans face the crisis of closing business, lack of access to capital, and declining entrepreneurship. American ingenuity has never failed us, and with this bill, we will dramatically expand the resources to restore economic opportunity, job growth, and prosperity for those who need it most.”

The Great Recession brought an unprecedented collapse in new business formation throughout large parts of the country–one that continues to this day. Since 2010,five metro areasaloneproduced the same net increase in businesses as the rest of the country combined, as most metro and rural areas are now seeing more businesses close than open. New policy solutions are required to reverse these trends. We need broader access to investor capital to match the broad distribution of America’s most precious resource: human capital.

U.S. investors have trillions of dollars of capital that could be put to use in restoring hope and opportunity in forgotten communities throughout the country. TheInvesting in Opportunity Actwould encourage investors of all types to move their capital off the sidelines and reinvest it in places that need it most.

TheInvesting in Opportunity Actfacilitates private investment in the following ways:

Removes barriersto investment through a temporary capital gains deferral in exchange for reinvesting them in distressed communities

• Provides a new way for investors across the nation topool resourcesthrough newly-created “Opportunity Funds,” established specifically for making investments in distressed communities
• Concentrates capitalby establishing “Opportunity Zones,” geographically targeted low-income areas that will be designated by governors
• Encourages investors to makelong-term commitmentsto these communities by tying incentives to longevity

Additional co-sponsors of the Investing in Opportunity Act include: Senators Gardner (R-CO), Peters (D-MI), Blunt (R-MO), Bennett (D-CO), Graham (R-SC), Coons (D-DE), Capito (R-WV), Gillibrand (D-NY), Warner (D-VA), and Young (IN).