"As the debate over the impact of President Obama’s economic stimulus bill rages in Washington, we want to call attention to an unprecedented source of $2 billion in funding for tribal economic development projects. The stimulus bill authorizes American Indian and Alaska Native tribes to issue tax-exempt Tribal Economic Development bonds in an aggregate amount of $2 billion over the next two years.

There is a catch – the Treasury Department only recently issued guidelines for the tribal bonds and then set an application deadline of Aug. 15 – that’s less than five weeks away – for tribes to submit applications for the first $1 billion in available bond authority.

The upside is that the new tribal bonds are not subject to the old restrictive rules that governed past tribal bond issues. A tribe may apply for up to $30 million in bond authority that it can then use to finance the construction of hotels, tourism

centers, energy projects, golf courses, housing projects, and sports and entertainment venues. Tribes can also use the new bonds to “refund” or refinance previously issued bonds. What the new bonds do is finally offer tribes a chance to take advantage of tax exempt bonds the same way that states and local governments have been doing for decades."

Get the Story:
Tex G. Hall and Chris Stearns: We just got $2 billion for economic development – let’s use it (Indian Country Today 7/20)

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
H.R.1 | S.1

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