Buy Clean Transparency Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1864 To require transparency in reporting the greenhouse gas impacts of products procured by certain Federal agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To require transparency in reporting the greenhouse gas impacts of products procured by certain Federal agen- cies, 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 ‘‘Buy Clean Trans- 4 parency Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) climate change will have devastating global 8 impacts; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1864 IS (2) an overwhelming amount of scientific evi- 1 dence points to the need to swiftly reduce green- 2 house gas emissions to avert the worst effects of cli- 3 mate change; 4 (3) the effects of climate change are already ap- 5 parent in the United States, where scientists have 6 determined that climate change is affecting— 7 (A) human health; 8 (B) water and air quality; 9 (C) agricultural production; 10 (D) labor productivity; 11 (E) extreme weather; 12 (F) ecosystems, biodiversity, and species 13 loss; 14 (G) historic resources; and 15 (H) infrastructure stability; 16 (4) the Federal Government should commit to 17 reducing greenhouse gas emissions through regu- 18 latory and other actions; 19 (5) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is 20 necessary for Federal agencies— 21 (A) to take climate change into account in 22 making planning and investment decisions; and 23 (B) to employ full life-cycle cost accounting 24 to evaluate and compare infrastructure invest- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1864 IS ments and alternatives, which includes account- 1 ing for the effects that each product included in 2 a public infrastructure project will have on the 3 level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere— 4 (i) throughout the life cycle of the 5 product; or 6 (ii) during the period of the life-cycle 7 assessment; 8 (6) large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions 9 are released during the manufacture and transport 10 of products used in public infrastructure and other 11 projects; 12 (7) by incorporating emissions information per- 13 taining to the supply chain and product life cycle 14 into procurement decisions, and using that informa- 15 tion to help direct expenditures, the extensive pur- 16 chasing power of the Federal Government may be 17 used to improve environmental, health, and economic 18 outcomes and accelerate necessary greenhouse gas 19 reductions— 20 (A) to protect public health and the envi- 21 ronment; 22 (B) to support economic stability; and 23 (C) to conserve a livable climate; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1864 IS (8) incorporating emissions information into 1 procurement decisions will— 2 (A) allow the Federal Government to ac- 3 knowledge those companies that have invested 4 in emissions reduction technologies and prac- 5 tices; and 6 (B) encourage other companies to take ac- 7 tion to reduce emissions to become more com- 8 petitive in the bidding process of the Federal 9 Government. 10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this Act: 12 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 13 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 14 mental Protection Agency. 15 (2) CLIMATE PRODUCT COST.—The term ‘‘cli- 16 mate product cost’’ means the cost, denominated in 17 dollars, of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of 18 a product, calculated in accordance with the method- 19 ology developed by the Administrator under section 20 4(c). 21 (3) CLIMATE PRODUCT DECLARATION.—The 22 term ‘‘climate product declaration’’ means a prod- 23 uct-specific measurement of the life-cycle greenhouse 24 gas emissions of a product that is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1864 IS (A) certified by a third party; and 1 (B) in accordance with international stand- 2 ards, such as a Type III environmental declara- 3 tion (as defined by the International Organiza- 4 tion for Standardization in the report entitled 5 ‘‘Environmental labels and declarations—Type 6 III environmental declarations—Principles and 7 procedures’’, numbered ISO 14025, and dated 8 July 1, 2006). 9 (4) ELIGIBLE MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 10 material’’ means any of— 11 (A) carbon steel rebar; 12 (B) flat glass; 13 (C) mineral wool board insulation; and 14 (D) structural steel. 15 (5) FEDERAL CONTRACTING AGENCY.—The 16 term ‘‘Federal contracting agency’’ means— 17 (A) the Department of Defense; 18 (B) the Department of Energy; 19 (C) the Department of Transportation; 20 (D) the Department of Commerce; 21 (E) the Environmental Protection Agency; 22 (F) the General Services Administration; 23 and 24 (G) the Department of Veterans Affairs. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1864 IS SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Federal con- 2 tracting agency shall carry out an assessment to determine 3 how the products procured by the Federal contracting 4 agency and any contractors of the Federal contracting 5 agency in connection with a Federal contract affect the 6 levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by requiring 7 each prospective contractor to disclose, in any response to 8 a solicitation to offer for a Federal contract, the climate 9 product declaration of all eligible materials the prospective 10 contractor expects to manufacture or purchase during the 11 course of constructing, reconstructing, or renovating the 12 public project. 13 (b) RELEASE OF ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 60 14 days after the date on which an assessment under sub- 15 section (a) is completed, the head of the applicable Federal 16 contracting agency shall— 17 (1) publish the assessment in the Federal Reg- 18 ister; and 19 (2) make the assessment publicly available— 20 (A) on the website of the Federal con- 21 tracting agency; and 22 (B) in appropriate offices of the Federal 23 contracting agency. 24 (c) METHODOLOGY FOR CALCULATING THE CLIMATE 25 PRODUCT COST.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1864 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 1 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis- 2 trator, using an estimate of the cost of greenhouse 3 gas emissions, such as the social cost of carbon, 4 shall develop and publish in the Federal Register a 5 methodology for calculating the climate product cost 6 of each eligible material procured by a Federal con- 7 tracting agency or any contractor or subcontractor 8 of a Federal contracting agency, including an assess- 9 ment of the climate product cost as a dollar cost per 10 metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions for the eligi- 11 ble material, based on information in a climate prod- 12 uct declaration. 13 (2) UPDATES.—Not less frequently than once 14 every 5 years after submission of a report under 15 subsection (d)(1), the Administrator shall— 16 (A) review the method used to develop the 17 methodology under paragraph (1); and 18 (B) if necessary, update that methodology. 19 (d) REPORTS.— 20 (1) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 22 after the date on which the methodology under 23 subsection (c)(1) is published in the Federal 24 Register, the Administrator shall submit to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1864 IS Congress a report that describes the method 1 that the Administrator used to develop the 2 methodology. 3 (B) UPDATES.—Not later than 180 days 4 after each review carried out by the Adminis- 5 trator under subsection (c)(2)(A), the Adminis- 6 trator shall submit to Congress a report that 7 describes— 8 (i) the review; and 9 (ii) any updated methodology devel- 10 oped by the Administrator under sub- 11 section (c)(2)(B). 12 (2) REPORTS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR.—Not 13 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 14 this Act, and not less frequently than annually 15 thereafter, the head of each Federal contracting 16 agency shall submit to the Administrator and make 17 publicly available a report that includes, for the pe- 18 riod of time covered by the report— 19 (A) the total number and value of con- 20 tracts awarded by the Federal contracting 21 agency; 22 (B) the total number and value of con- 23 tracts and subcontracts awarded to foreign con- 24 tractors or suppliers; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1864 IS (C) the dollar value of any articles, mate- 1 rials, or supplies that were manufactured out- 2 side of the United States; 3 (D) the total procurement value of any 4 funds expended on eligible materials manufac- 5 tured outside the United States; 6 (E) the total climate product cost of con- 7 tracts awarded by the Federal contracting 8 agency; 9 (F) a comparison of— 10 (i) the climate product cost of con- 11 tracts awarded by the Federal contracting 12 agency; and 13 (ii) the climate product cost of offers 14 for contracts that the Federal contracting 15 agency did not award; and 16 (G) recommendations for additional disclo- 17 sures from prospective contractors to support 18 accurate and comprehensive assessments of how 19 contracts awarded by the Federal contracting 20 agency affect— 21 (i) emissions of greenhouse gases; and 22 (ii) air, water, and land pollutants. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:52 Jun 16, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS