The One Big Beautiful Bill Act—Signed into Law on July 4, 2025

CARH’S BROADCAST EMAIL – Legislative Update

July 8, 2025

On July 3, 2025, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 218-214, passed for a second time, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Passage of the legislation came after a series of intense reviews by the Senate Parliamentarian to ensure that provisions met the overall requirements set forth in the reconciliation instructions to the Senate. The House first passed the bill on May 22 by a vote of 215-214. Upon reaching the Senate, several changes were required for the House passed bill to be considered under reconciliation rules. The Senate then passed its own version of the legislation on July 1, 2025, by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The amended bill was then sent back to the House for final consideration. President Trump signed the legislation into law on July 4, 2025.

CARH’s Legislative & Policy Advisor, Tom Reynolds and his firm Holland and Knight,  have provided a comprehensive analysis of the bill as it was signed by the President. As indicated in their analysis, the expansive scope of the legislation will impact virtually every industry and household in the country through significant policy shifts, and broad regulatory changes across multiple industries.

The preliminary version of the Act that passed the House contained several provisions long supported by CARH and our members. The House bill provided an increase in the nine percent Housing Credit by 12.5 percent, lowered the 50 percent test to 25 percent for four percent private activity bonds, and created a 30 percent basis boost for rural and tribal communities, all for four years. The final bill passed by both the House and Senate eliminated the rural basis boost but permanently provides for a 12 percent increase for the nine percent credit and lowers the 50 percent test to 25 percent for four percent activity bonds. CARH and other industry groups who believe that the rural basis boost is needed for rural transactions will continue to advocate for inclusion of such a provision should another tax bill be considered by the Congress in this session or the second session of the 119th Congress. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a cosponsor of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, filed an amendment that would have reinstated the 30 percent rural basis boost, an effort strongly supported by CARH but like the vast majority of amendments filed by Senators, it did not receive a vote.

The final version of the Act also included significant changes to the Opportunity Zones (OZ) program. The legislation makes the OZ incentive permanent, beginning a new cycle of 10-year designations starting July 1, 2026. It also tightens eligibility requirements for designated tracts by removing the ability to designate contiguous tracts and limiting eligibility to census tracts with either a poverty rate of at least 20 percent, or a median family income no greater than 70 percent of the area median. Importantly for CARH members, the bill introduces new incentives for rural investment, specifically allowing a 30 percent basis boost for projects in rural Opportunity Zones and reducing the substantial improvement requirement from 100 percent to 50 percent.

Efforts are currently underway in both the House and Senate to pass stand-alone appropriations bills to fund agencies for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The full House of Representatives will likely consider the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies in the next week. The Senate will follow suit with their version of the FY 2026 funding bill. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittees will attempt to bring a bill forward but given the President’s proposal in which many of the HUD programs would be reallocated to the states for administration, it may take longer consideration for the House and Senate to reach consensus for that Subcommittee. CARH will continue to update our members during the appropriations process.

Please contact the CARH National Office at carh@carh.org or 703-837-9001 should you have questions or concerns.

For other news and information affecting the affordable rural housing industry, please visit the Newsroom on CARH’s website, www.carh.org.