Renew America’s Schools Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3322 To provide for grants for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy improvements at public school facilities. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2019 Mr. LOEBSACK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide for grants for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy improvements at public school fa- cilities. 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 ‘‘Renew America’s 4 Schools Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS 6 AND RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS 7 AT PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3322 IH (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 1 ty’’ means a consortium of— 2 (A) one local educational agency; and 3 (B) one or more— 4 (i) schools; 5 (ii) nonprofit organizations; 6 (iii) for-profit organizations; or 7 (iv) community partners that have the 8 knowledge and capacity to partner and as- 9 sist with energy improvements. 10 (2) ENERGY IMPROVEMENT.—The term ‘‘en- 11 ergy improvement’’ means— 12 (A) any improvement, repair, or renova- 13 tion, to a school that will result in a direct re- 14 duction in school energy costs, including im- 15 provements to building envelope, air condi- 16 tioning, ventilation, heating systems, domestic 17 hot water heating, compressed air systems, dis- 18 tribution systems, lighting, power systems, and 19 controls; 20 (B) any improvement, repair, renovation, 21 or installation that leads to an improvement in 22 teacher and student health, including indoor air 23 quality, daylighting, ventilation, electrical light- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3322 IH ing, green roofs, outdoor gardens, and acous- 1 tics; 2 (C) the installation of renewable energy 3 technologies (such as wind power, photovoltaics, 4 solar thermal systems, geothermal energy, hy- 5 drogen-fueled systems, biomass-based systems, 6 biofuels, anaerobic digesters, and hydropower) 7 involved in the improvement, repair, or renova- 8 tion of a school; 9 (D) the installation of zero-emissions vehi- 10 cle infrastructure on school grounds for exclu- 11 sive use of school buses or school fleets; and 12 (E) the purchase or lease of zero-emissions 13 vehicles, including school buses, fleet vehicles, 14 and other operational vehicles. 15 (3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 16 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 17 the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec- 18 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 19 (4) PARTNERING LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN- 20 CY.—The term ‘‘partnering local educational agen- 21 cy’’, when used with respect to an eligible entity, 22 means the local educational agency participating in 23 the eligible entity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3322 IH (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Energy. 2 (6) ZERO-EMISSIONS VEHICLE INFRASTRUC- 3 TURE.—The term ‘‘zero-emissions vehicle infrastruc- 4 ture’’ means infrastructure used to charge or fuel— 5 (A) a zero-emission vehicle (as defined in 6 section 88.102–94 of title 40, Code of Federal 7 Regulations (or successor regulation)); or 8 (B) a vehicle that produces zero exhaust 9 emissions of any criteria pollutant (or precursor 10 pollutant) or greenhouse gas under any possible 11 operational modes or conditions. 12 (b) AUTHORITY.—From amounts made available for 13 grants under this section, the Secretary shall award com- 14 petitive grants to eligible entities to make energy improve- 15 ments authorized by this section. 16 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 18 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec- 19 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 20 and containing such information as the Secretary 21 may require. 22 (2) CONTENTS.—The application submitted 23 under paragraph (1) shall include each of the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3322 IH (A) A needs assessment of the current con- 1 dition of the school and facilities that are to re- 2 ceive the energy improvements. 3 (B) A draft work plan of what the eligible 4 entity hopes to achieve at the school and a de- 5 scription of the energy improvements to be car- 6 ried out. 7 (C) A description of the capacity of the eli- 8 gible entity to provide services and comprehen- 9 sive support to make the energy improvements. 10 (D) An assessment of the applicant’s ex- 11 pected needs of the eligible entity for operation 12 and maintenance training funds, and a plan for 13 use of those funds, if any. 14 (E) An assessment of the expected energy 15 efficiency and safety benefits of the energy im- 16 provements. 17 (F) A cost estimate of the proposed energy 18 improvements. 19 (G) An identification of other resources 20 that are available to carry out the activities for 21 which funds are requested under this section, 22 including the availability of utility programs 23 and public benefit funds. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3322 IH (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sub- 1 section, the Secretary shall give a priority to eligible enti- 2 ties— 3 (1) that have renovation, repair, and improve- 4 ment funding needs; and 5 (2)(A) that serve a high percentage, as deter- 6 mined by the Secretary, of students who are eligible 7 for a free or reduced price lunch under the Richard 8 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 9 1751 et seq.) (which may be calculated for students 10 in a high school (as defined by section 8101 of the 11 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 12 (20 U.S.C. 7801)) using data from the schools that 13 feed into the high school); or 14 (B) with a participating local educational agen- 15 cy designated with a school district locale code of 41, 16 42, or 43, as determined by the National Center for 17 Education Statistics in consultation with the Bureau 18 of the Census. 19 (e) COMPETITIVE CRITERIA.—The competitive cri- 20 teria used by the Secretary to award grants under this 21 section shall include the following: 22 (1) The fiscal capacity of the eligible entity to 23 meet the needs for energy improvements of school 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3322 IH facilities without assistance under this section, in- 1 cluding— 2 (A) the current and historic ability of the 3 partnering local educational agency to raise 4 funds for construction, renovation, moderniza- 5 tion, and major repair projects for schools; 6 (B) whether such local educational agency 7 has been able to issue bonds or receive other 8 funds to support school construction projects; 9 and 10 (C) the bond rating of such local edu- 11 cational agency. 12 (2) The likelihood that the partnering local edu- 13 cational agency or eligible entity will maintain, in 14 good condition, any facility whose improvement is 15 assisted. 16 (3) The potential energy efficiency and safety 17 benefits from the proposed energy improvements. 18 (f) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 20 grant under this section shall use the grant amounts 21 only to make the energy improvements described in 22 the application, subject to the other provisions of 23 this subsection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3322 IH (2) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE TRAIN- 1 ING.—An eligible entity receiving a grant under this 2 section may use not more than 5 percent of the 3 grant amounts for operation and maintenance train- 4 ing for energy efficiency and renewable energy im- 5 provements (such as maintenance staff and teacher 6 training, education, and preventative maintenance 7 training). 8 (3) AUDIT.—An eligible entity receiving a grant 9 under this section may use funds under the grant 10 for a third-party investigation and analysis for en- 11 ergy improvements (such as energy audits and exist- 12 ing building commissioning). 13 (4) CONTINUING EDUCATION.—An eligible enti- 14 ty receiving a grant under this section may use not 15 more than 3 percent of the grant amounts to develop 16 a continuing education curriculum relating to energy 17 improvements. 18 (g) CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS.— 19 (1) DAVIS-BACON.—Any laborer or mechanic 20 employed by any contractor or subcontractor in the 21 performance of work on any energy improvements 22 funded by a grant under this section shall be paid 23 wages at rates not less than those prevailing on 24 similar construction in the locality as determined by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3322 IH the Secretary of Labor under subchapter IV of chap- 1 ter 31 of title 40, United States Code (commonly re- 2 ferred to as the ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’). 3 (2) COMPETITION.—Each eligible entity receiv- 4 ing a grant under this section shall ensure that, if 5 the eligible entity uses grant funds to carry out re- 6 pair or renovation through a contract, any such con- 7 tract process— 8 (A) ensures the maximum number of quali- 9 fied bidders, including small, minority, and 10 women-owned businesses, through full and open 11 competition; and 12 (B) gives priority to businesses located in, 13 or resources common to, the State or the geo- 14 graphical area in which the project is carried 15 out. 16 (h) REPORTING.—Each eligible entity receiving a 17 grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary, at 18 such time as the Secretary may require, a report describ- 19 ing the use of such funds for energy improvements, the 20 estimated cost savings realized by those energy improve- 21 ments, the results of any audit, the use of any utility pro- 22 grams and public benefit funds, and the use of perform- 23 ance tracking for energy improvements (such as the En- 24 ergy Star program established under section 324A of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3322 IH Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a) 1 or the United States Green Building Council Leadership 2 in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green 3 building rating system for existing buildings). 4 (i) BEST PRACTICES.—The Secretary shall develop 5 and publish guidelines and best practices for activities car- 6 ried out under this section. 7 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 8 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 9 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Jun 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3322.IH H3322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS