12 2 STA T . 1 5 1 0PUBLIC LA W 110 – 2 34—M A Y 22 , 200 8notla t er t h an 90d a ys a f ter the date of the ena c t m ent of th i s section .‘ ‘ ( e )QUALIF I EDFOR E ST R YC O N SER V ATION P UR P OSE. — For pu r - poses of this section , the term ‘ q ualified forestry conser v ation pur- pose ’ means the acquisition b ya S tate or any political subdivision or instrumentality thereof or a 5 0 1 (c)( 3 )or g ani z ation (as defined in section 150(a)( 4 )) from an unrelated person of forest and forest land that meets the follo w ing qualifications
‘‘(1) Some portion of the land acquired must be ad j acent to U nited States Forest Service L and. ‘‘( 2 ) A t least half of the land acquired must be transferred to the United States Forest Service at no net cost to the United States and not more than half of the land acquired may either remain with or be conveyed to a State. ‘‘(3) All of the land must be subject to a native fish habitat conservation plan approved by the United States Fish and W ildlife Service. ‘‘(4) T he amount of acreage acquired must be at least 40,000 acres. ‘‘(f) QUALIFIED I SSUER.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified issuer’ means a State or any political subdivision or instrumentality thereof or a 501(c)(3) organization (as defined in section 150(a)(4)). ‘‘(g) SPE C IAL AR B ITRA G E R ULE.—In the case of any qualified forestry conservation bond issued as part of an issue, section 54A(d)(4)(C) shall be applied to such issue without regard to clause (i). ‘‘(h) E LECTION TO TREAT 50 PERCENT OF B OND ALLOCATION AS PAY M ENT OF TA X .— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If— ‘‘(A) a qualified issuer receives an allocation of any portion of the national qualified forestry conservation bond limitation described in subsection (c), and ‘‘(B) the qualified issuer elects the application of this subsection with respect to such allocation, then the qualified issuer (without regard to whether the issuer is subject to ta x under this chapter) shall be treated as having made a payment against the tax imposed by this chapter, for the taxable year preceding the taxable year in which the allocation is received, in an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount of such allocation. ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF DEEMED PAYMENT.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— N otwithstanding any other provi- sion of this title, the Secretary shall not use the payment of tax described in paragraph (1) as an offset or credit against any tax liability of the qualified issuer but shall refund such payment to such issuer. ‘‘(B) NO INTEREST.—Except as provided in paragraph (3)(A), the payment described in paragraph (1) shall not be ta k en into account in determining any amount of interest under this title. ‘‘(3) RE Q UIREMENT FOR, AND EFFECT OF, ELECTION.— ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—No election under this subsection shall take effect unless the qualified issuer certifies to the Secretary that any payment of tax refunded to the issuer under this subsection will be used exclusively for 1 or more qualified forestry conservation purposes. If the
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