Officials on Florida’s Space Coast hope a new law authorizing tax-exempt spaceport bonds will trigger a wave of public-private investment in major projects at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“Just as our railroads and our airports and our seaports allowed America to flourish in the past, this legislation is going to allow us to flourish in the future,” said U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Florida.
Moody conducted a press conference Friday, July 11, at Space Florida’s headquarters on Merritt Island to celebrate passage of the Secure U.S. Leadership in Space Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week as part of the sweeping “big, beautiful bill” directing federal tax and spending policies.
Space Florida President and CEO Rob Long said his organization has been pursuing spaceport bond legislation for about the past 10 years. After last week’s bill passage, he said the first bonds may reach the market in a year or thereabouts.
Specifically, Space Florida reports the legislation amends the Internal Revenue Code to make spaceports eligible for tax-exempt private activity bonds, much like airports, seaports and railways have enjoyed for decades. This move is expected to reduce financing costs.
Long cited an example: LaGuardia Airport in New York City. That’s where Delta Air Lines sold about $875 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds to help build a new terminal, Bloomberg reported.
Long cited Space Florida’s “big six” long-term infrastructure challenges that loom at the Cape, which could combine for an estimated $2.9 billion in future spending. These include $2.1 billion in space-industry wharf development near Port Canaveral, $275 million in power distribution, $182 million in liquid natural gas distribution for rocket fuel, $180 million in wetland mitigation credits, $154 million to replace NASA’s Roy D. Bridges Bridge, and new wastewater treatment capacity.
“Now is the time to invest in our future. I predict we’ll look back on this change as a cornerstone of the next century of American leadership in space,” Long told assembled media.
Moody said the U.S. remains in a space race with global competitors.
“It’s incredibly important that we as Floridians continue to fight. Not just for our nation’s sake, that we do not let China or Russia overtake us in developing our abilities, capabilities, innovation in space. But that Florida remains a leader in that,” Moody said.
“And this legislation that got passed: It provides for the resources and the economic viability of our Space Coast. (It) will allow us to remain the leader in space right here in Florida and supercharge our efforts,” she said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida leaders cheer passage of spaceport bond legislation in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
