In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the beneficiaries of these rules range from the developers of a planned renovation of 30th Street Station to Philadelphia Electric Co., for construction of its Limerick 2 power plant, to the planners of a baseball stadium in northern New Jersey that is still in the
dream stage.
And there are transition rules for the planned civic center and trash-to- steam plant in Philadelphia, for a district heating plant in Atlantic City, and for schools from Temple University to the University of Delaware.
The rules were released by Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D., Ohio), who on the Senate floor said he would not oppose any transition rule as long as all of the rules were made public.
For the senators or representatives who have the access to affect tax bills, transition rules are the ultimate constituent service.
The developer of a hotel near the Philadelphia International Airport wrote to the office of Sen. John Heinz (R., Pa.) recently, saying that his project would die without the ability to sell tax-free bonds to finance it. A transition rule exempting the hotel is in the bill.
Like the airport hotel, many of the transition rules were spawned by letters from constituents. And then, said an aide to Heinz, "a lot of them are brought to us by lobbyists. They know to come in here and say, 'We need help.' "
The steel industry needed help. And Heinz's office secured a transition rule allowing 12 steel companies to use $500 million in unused investment tax credits for plant expansion and improvements which they otherwise would have lost under the tax bill.
The idea behind transition rules is that some projects have been planned and begun with the expectation that certain tax policies affecting the project will remain the same. The transition rule helps that project by exempting it
from the new law.
But all transition rules do not follow that intention exactly.
