NEW PROMISE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2245 To establish the White House Council on Energy Transitions within the Executive Office of the President, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 26, 2021 Mr. O’HALLERAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Financial Services, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish the White House Council on Energy Transitions within the Executive Office of the President, 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; FINDINGS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘National Energy Workforce and Providing Recovery Op- 5 portunities to Manage the Industry’s Shifting Economics 6 Act’’ or the ‘‘NEW PROMISE Act’’. 7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that since 2010— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2245 IH (1) the total output of coal-fired electric genera- 1 tion in the United States has declined 48 percent; 2 (2) carbon capture, utilization, and storage 3 technologies have continued to develop; 4 (3) the downturn in coal-fired electric genera- 5 tion has led to a significant decrease in employment 6 related to coal-fired electric generation, including at 7 electric generating stations and mines; 8 (4) in rural, economically distressed commu- 9 nities with significant coal-fired electric generation 10 employment, the decrease in coal-fired electric gen- 11 eration has had negative impacts on covered net rev- 12 enues contributing to municipal operating budgets; 13 (5) electric generation from the consumption of 14 natural gas has increased 60 percent; and 15 (6) electric generation from affordable renew- 16 able energy sources including solar, wind, geo- 17 thermal, and hydropower has increased. 18 SEC. 2. WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL ON ENERGY TRANSITIONS. 19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 20 Executive Office of the President a White House Council 21 on Energy Transitions. The Council shall be headed by 22 a Director, who shall be appointed by the President by 23 and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 24 (b) DIRECTOR.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2245 IH (1) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Director shall be a 1 person who, as a result of training, experience, and 2 attainments, has the requisite skills, abilities, and 3 knowledge to— 4 (A) carry out the duties and functions of 5 the position and Council set forth in this Act; 6 and 7 (B) formulate and recommend policies to 8 assist workers and communities adversely dis- 9 rupted due to the downturn of employment as- 10 sociated with coal-fired electricity generation 11 amidst the Nation’s transition to significantly 12 reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the 13 economy. 14 (2) COMPENSATION.—The annual rate of pay 15 for the Director shall be fixed by the President at 16 a rate that may not exceed the annual rate of pay 17 for level IV of the Executive Schedule. 18 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 19 (1) MEMBERS.—The Council shall be composed 20 of the heads of the following: 21 (A) The Department of Commerce. 22 (B) The Department of Energy. 23 (C) The Department of Labor. 24 (D) The Department of the Treasury. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2245 IH (E) The Department of Health and 1 Human Services. 2 (F) The Department of the Interior. 3 (G) The Environmental Protection Agency. 4 (H) The Office of Management and Budg- 5 et. 6 (I) The Office of Science and Technology 7 Policy. 8 (J) The Small Business Administration. 9 (K) The Council on Environmental Qual- 10 ity. 11 (L) The National Economic Council. 12 (M) The Economic Development Adminis- 13 tration. 14 (N) The Appalachian Regional Commis- 15 sion. 16 (O) The White House Office of Public En- 17 gagement. 18 (P) Any other department, agency, or of- 19 fice of the executive branch as the President or 20 Director may designate. 21 (2) DESIGNEES.—Any member of the Council 22 may designate a senior-level official, who is employed 23 full-time in the department, agency, or office of such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2245 IH member, to carry out the duties of the member 1 under this section. 2 (d) DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.— 3 (1) DATA ON IMPACTS OF CLOSURES.—The Di- 4 rector shall assess and publish, in a publicly avail- 5 able format and on the website of the Council, data 6 on the economic and societal impacts of closures, oc- 7 curring on or after January 1, 2010, of covered elec- 8 tric generating stations, including associated mines 9 (as applicable), on economically distressed commu- 10 nities, and communities the Director believes based 11 on available information, may become economically 12 distressed communities. 13 (2) OUTREACH.—The Director shall conduct 14 outreach activities— 15 (A) to increase awareness of the technical, 16 financial, and policy assistance resources of the 17 Council, for economically distressed commu- 18 nities, and communities the Director believes, 19 based on available information, may become 20 economically distressed communities; and 21 (B) to facilitate the establishment of, and 22 otherwise support, Regional Transition Advisory 23 Committees. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2245 IH (3) REGIONAL TRANSITION ADVISORY COMMIT- 1 TEES.— 2 (A) FACILITATION AND SUPPORT.—To the 3 extent practicable, not later than 60 days upon 4 receiving a request for assistance from an eco- 5 nomically distressed community, the Director 6 shall provide technical assistance, and other as- 7 sistance the Director determines appropriate, to 8 such community to facilitate the establishment 9 by such community of a Regional Transition 10 Advisory Committee and to otherwise support 11 such Regional Transition Advisory Committee. 12 (B) MEETINGS.—To the extent prac- 13 ticable, the Director shall meet with each Re- 14 gional Transition Advisory Committee at least 2 15 times in the first full calendar year after the 16 Committee is established, and at least once an- 17 nually thereafter. 18 (C) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TRANSITION 19 PLANS.— 20 (i) ASSISTANCE.—The Director may 21 provide technical, policy, and financial as- 22 sistance to a Regional Transition Advisory 23 Committee for developing, implementing, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2245 IH assessing, and evaluating, an economic de- 1 velopment transition plan. 2 (ii) INTERIM GOALS.—In carrying out 3 subparagraph (A), the Director shall evalu- 4 ate any interim economic development 5 transition goals that are voluntarily sub- 6 mitted to the Director prior to submission 7 of an economic development transition plan 8 by a Regional Transition Advisory Com- 9 mittee, and provide such Committee, with- 10 in 90 days of receipt, an evaluation and 11 recommendations with respect to such in- 12 terim goals. 13 (iii) CERTIFICATION OF COMMITMENT 14 TO SUBMIT AND IMPLEMENT PLAN.—In 15 order to receive financial assistance pursu- 16 ant to this subparagraph, the Director 17 shall certify that a Regional Transition Ad- 18 visory Committee— 19 (I) has or will submit to the Di- 20 rector an economic development tran- 21 sition plan that meets the criteria de- 22 scribed in section 3(c); and 23 (II) has committed to begin im- 24 plementing such plan, including by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2245 IH adhering to the metrics developed pur- 1 suant to section 3(c), not later than 2 90 days after receiving a certification 3 under clause (iv). 4 (iv) CERTIFICATION OF PLAN.—Not 5 later than 90 days after a Regional Transi- 6 tion Advisory Committee submits to the 7 Director an economic development transi- 8 tion plan, the Director shall provide to the 9 Regional Transition Advisory Committee— 10 (I) a certification of such eco- 11 nomic development transition plan; or 12 (II) recommendations, consistent 13 with the criteria described in section 14 3(c), to improve the economic develop- 15 ment transition plan. 16 (v) BIANNUAL REVIEW.—Not later 17 than every 2 years after the date in which 18 the first economic development transition 19 plan is submitted by a Regional Transition 20 Advisory Committee and certified by the 21 Director under clause (iv), the Director 22 shall conduct periodic outreach to such Re- 23 gional Transition Advisory Committee to 24 review and assist in the revision of such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2245 IH economic development transition plan as 1 necessary. 2 (4) COAL COMMUNITY RESOURCE CLEARING- 3 HOUSE.— 4 (A) MAINTENANCE.—Not later than 180 5 days after the date of enactment of this section, 6 the Director shall publish, maintain, and make 7 publicly available a clearinghouse, to be known 8 as the Coal Community Resource Clearing- 9 house, on the website of the Council for the 10 purpose of increasing awareness of Federal and 11 State programs, grants, loans, loan guarantees, 12 and other assistance resources the Director de- 13 termines will assist economic development ac- 14 tivities in economically distressed communities. 15 (B) PERIODIC UPDATES.—In maintaining 16 the Clearinghouse, the Director shall, not less 17 than once per calendar year, update the Clear- 18 inghouse to address changes to the needs of 19 economically distressed communities, as deter- 20 mined appropriate by the Director. 21 (5) GRANT SPECIALISTS.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es- 23 tablish within the Council a team of grant spe- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2245 IH cialists (referred to in this paragraph as the 1 ‘‘team’’) that shall— 2 (i) to the extent practicable, not later 3 than 90 days upon receiving a request for 4 assistance from a local government rep- 5 resenting an economically distressed com- 6 munity, conduct a visit to the economically 7 distressed community to survey the rel- 8 evant assets and evaluate the requisite 9 needs of the economically distressed com- 10 munity in order to fulfill the goals of the 11 economic development transition plan, if 12 applicable; 13 (ii) assist in soliciting applications 14 from economically distressed communities 15 for financial and technical assistance re- 16 sources identified in the Coal Community 17 Resource Clearinghouse; and 18 (iii) provide technical assistance to 19 economically distressed communities with 20 applications for resources described in 21 clause (ii). 22 (B) TEAM POSITIONS.— 23 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 24 ensure that the team is comprised of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2245 IH number of grant specialists necessary to 1 assist each economically distressed commu- 2 nity on an individual basis. 3 (ii) FILLING OF VACANCY.—A vacant 4 position on the team shall be filled not 5 later than 90 days after the date on which 6 the position becomes vacant. 7 (iii) COLLABORATION.—The team 8 shall collaborate with other Federal and 9 State agencies that implement programs 10 aimed at supporting economically dis- 11 tressed communities. 12 (e) MEETINGS.—Not later than 90 days after the 13 date of the enactment of this Act, and at least four time 14 annually thereafter, the Council shall convene a meeting 15 of the Council. At such meetings— 16 (1) each member of the Council shall share in- 17 formation regarding the efforts of the members’s de- 18 partment, agency, or office to support through tech- 19 nical assistance, or other policy or financial assist- 20 ance the Director determines appropriate, the devel- 21 opment and implementation of economic develop- 22 ment transitions plans by Regional Transition Advi- 23 sory Committees; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2245 IH (2) the Council shall evaluate progress, as nec- 1 essary, of economic development transition plan 2 goals; 3 (3) the Council shall discuss methods to iden- 4 tify and disseminate information to Regional Transi- 5 tion Advisory Committees on best practices to con- 6 sider in developing economic development transition 7 plans; and 8 (4) the Council shall discuss such other matters 9 as the Director determines are essential to the 10 Council providing support to the economic transition 11 efforts of dislocated workers and local communities. 12 (f) ADMINISTRATION.—To the extent permitted by 13 law and subject to the amounts made available for such 14 purpose, the Director (or staff designated by the Director) 15 shall provide to the Council administrative support serv- 16 ices and additional resources, as appropriate. The Director 17 shall determine the amount of funding and personnel each 18 department, agency, or office represented on the Council 19 should contribute in order for the Council to carry out 20 such duties. Such department, agency, or office, shall, 21 upon the request of the Director, make available to the 22 Council personnel, administrative support services, and in- 23 formation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2245.IH H2245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2245 IH (g) TRANSPARENCY.—The Director shall make avail- 1 able to the public, on a regular basis on the website of 2 the Council and through open meetings, information re- 3 garding the activities of the Council an [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]