Composite Standards Act of 2021

II Calendar No. 208 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 451 To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mrs. CAPITO (for herself, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Com- merce, Science, and Transportation DECEMBER 17, 2021 Reported by Ms. CANTWELL, without amendment A BILL To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United States, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 451 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Composite Standards 2 Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. FACILITATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPOSITE 4 TECHNOLOGY IN INFRASTRUCTURE. 5 (a) RESEARCH.—Subject to the availability of appro- 6 priations, the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 7 Director of the National Institute of Standards and Tech- 8 nology, shall implement the recommendations contained in 9 the December 2017 report entitled ‘‘Road Mapping Work- 10 shop Report on Overcoming Barriers to Adoption of Com- 11 posites in Sustainable Infrastructure’’, as appropriate, to 12 help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in in- 13 frastructure in the United States. In implementing such 14 recommendations, the Secretary, acting through the Di- 15 rector shall, with respect to the use of composite tech- 16 nology in infrastructure— 17 (1) not later than 1 year after the date of the 18 enactment of this Act, develop a design for a data 19 clearinghouse to identify, gather, validate, and dis- 20 seminate existing design criteria, tools, evaluation 21 methods and services, guidelines, and standards in a 22 timely manner; 23 (2) not later than 18 months after the date of 24 the enactment of this Act, establish the data clear- 25 inghouse described in paragraph (1); 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 451 RS (3) when it would not duplicate or displace 1 building product-specific private sector developed 2 methods and resources, develop methods and re- 3 sources for testing and evaluating safe and appro- 4 priate uses of composite materials for infrastructure, 5 including— 6 (A) conditioning protocols, procedures and 7 models; 8 (B) screening and acceptance tools; and 9 (C) minimum allowable design data sets 10 that can be converted into design tools; and 11 (4) work with other Federal agencies, as appro- 12 priate, to identify environmental impacts and 13 recyclability of composite materials. 14 (b) STANDARDS COORDINATION.—The Secretary, 15 acting through the Director, shall assure that the appro- 16 priate Institute staff consult regularly with standards de- 17 velopers, evaluation and accreditation bodies, members of 18 the composites industry, institutions of higher education, 19 and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the adoption 20 of standards for use of composite materials in infrastruc- 21 ture that are based on the research and testing results 22 and other information developed by the Institute. 23 (c) PILOT PROGRAM.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 451 RS (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 1 appropriations, commencing not later than 1 year 2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di- 3 rector of the National Institute of Standards and 4 Technology shall, in consultation with the Industry- 5 University Cooperative Research Centers Program of 6 the National Science Foundation, conduct a pilot 7 program to assess the feasibility and advisability of 8 adopting composite technology in sustainable infra- 9 structure. 10 (2) DURATION.—The Director shall carry out 11 the pilot program during the 4-year period beginning 12 on the date of the commencement of the pilot pro- 13 gram. 14 (3) REPORTS.— 15 (A) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later 16 than the date that is 2 years after the date of 17 the commencement of the pilot program, the 18 Director shall submit to the Committee on 19 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 20 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 21 and Technology of the House of Representa- 22 tives a report on the preliminary findings of the 23 Director with respect to the pilot program. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 451 RS (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than the 1 date that is 90 days after the date of the com- 2 pletion of the pilot program, the Director shall 3 submit to the committees referred to in sub- 4 paragraph (A) a report on the findings of the 5 Director with respect to the pilot program. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 208 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 451 A BILL To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastruc- ture in the United States, and for other pur- poses. DECEMBER 17, 2021 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Dec 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S451.RS S451 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS