I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1375 To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to establish an Office of Energy Equity, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to establish an Office of Energy Equity, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Energy Equity Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF ENERGY EQUITY. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Department of En- 7 ergy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7131 et seq.) is amend- 8 ed by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:52 Mar 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1375.IH H1375 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1375 IH ‘‘SEC. 218. OFFICE OF ENERGY EQUITY. 1 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 2 the Department an Office of Energy Equity (referred to 3 in this section as the ‘Office’). The Office shall be headed 4 by a Director, who shall be appointed by the Secretary 5 and compensated at a rate equal to that of level IV of 6 the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, 7 United States Code. 8 ‘‘(b) DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.—The Director, in 9 accordance with Executive Order 12898 (42 U.S.C. 4321 10 note) and the purposes of this Act, shall provide, direct, 11 foster, coordinate, and implement energy planning, edu- 12 cation, management, conservation, and delivery programs 13 of the Department that— 14 ‘‘(1) promote an agency-wide environmental 15 justice strategy and interagency collaboration; 16 ‘‘(2) reduce or stabilize energy costs within un- 17 derserved or disadvantaged communities; and 18 ‘‘(3) increase the availability of energy con- 19 servation measures within underserved or disadvan- 20 taged communities. 21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 ‘‘(1) ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES.—The 23 term ‘energy conservation measures’ means meas- 24 ures that improve energy efficiency, energy conserva- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:52 Mar 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1375.IH H1375 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1375 IH tion, or access to renewable energy sources, includ- 1 ing retrofit activities. 2 ‘‘(2) UNDERSERVED OR DISADVANTAGES COM- 3 MUNITY.—The term ‘underserved or disadvantaged 4 community’ means— 5 ‘‘(A) a community located in a ZIP Code 6 that includes a census tract that is identified 7 as— 8 ‘‘(i) a low-income community; or 9 ‘‘(ii) a community of color; or 10 ‘‘(B) any other community that the Sec- 11 retary determines is disproportionately vulner- 12 able to, or bears a disproportionate burden of, 13 any combination of economic, social, and envi- 14 ronmental stressors. 15 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 17 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.’’. 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 19 tents of the Department of Energy Organization Act is 20 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 21 217 the following: 22 ‘‘Sec. 218. Office of Energy Equity.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:52 Mar 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1375.IH H1375 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS