Clean School Bus Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3973 To establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mrs. HAYES (for herself, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. COSTA, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. HIMES, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. LARSON of Con- necticut, and Mr. LEVIN of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program, 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 ‘‘Clean School Bus Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. CLEAN SCHOOL BUS GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUS.—The term ‘‘elec- 8 tric school bus’’ means a school bus that is pro- 9 pelled— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3973 IH (A) to a significant extent by an electric 1 motor that— 2 (i) draws electricity from a battery; 3 and 4 (ii) is capable of being recharged from 5 an external source of electricity; or 6 (B) by 1 or more hydrogen fuel cells. 7 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 8 ty’’ means— 9 (A) 1 or more local, regional, or State gov- 10 ernmental entities responsible for— 11 (i) providing school bus service to 1 or 12 more public school systems; or 13 (ii) purchasing school buses for use by 14 1 or more public school systems; 15 (B) a nonprofit school transportation asso- 16 ciation; or 17 (C) a tribally controlled school (as defined 18 in section 5212 of the Tribally Controlled 19 Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 2511)). 20 (3) FUEL CELL.—The term ‘‘fuel cell’’ has the 21 meaning given the term in section 803 of the Energy 22 Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16152). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3973 IH (4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 1 the Clean School Bus Grant Program established 2 under subsection (b)(1). 3 (5) SCHOOL BUS.—The term ‘‘school bus’’ has 4 the meaning given the term ‘‘schoolbus’’ in section 5 30125(a) of title 49, United States Code. 6 (6) SCRAP.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘scrap’’ 8 means, with respect to a school bus engine re- 9 placed using funds awarded under the program, 10 to recycle, crush, or shred the engine within 11 such period and in such manner as determined 12 by the Secretary. 13 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘scrap’’ does 14 not include selling, leasing, exchanging, or oth- 15 erwise disposing of an engine described in sub- 16 paragraph (A) for use in another motor vehicle 17 in any location. 18 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19 the Secretary of Energy. 20 (b) CLEAN SCHOOL BUS GRANT PROGRAM.— 21 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es- 22 tablish in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Re- 23 newable Energy of the Department of Energy a pro- 24 gram, to be known as the ‘‘Clean School Bus Grant 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3973 IH Program’’, for awarding grants on a competitive 1 basis to eligible entities for the replacement of cer- 2 tain existing school buses. 3 (2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 4 grant under the program, an eligible entity shall 5 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 6 in such manner, and containing such information as 7 the Secretary shall require, including— 8 (A) a certification that no public work or 9 service normally performed by a public em- 10 ployee will be privatized or subcontracted in 11 carrying out a project under the grant; and 12 (B) to ensure a fair assessment of total 13 workforce impact, a detailed accounting of the 14 workforce of the eligible entity at the time of 15 application, including— 16 (i) the number of employees, orga- 17 nized by salary; 18 (ii) the bargaining unit status of each 19 employee; 20 (iii) the full- or part-time status of 21 each employee; and 22 (iv) the job title of each employee. 23 (3) PRIORITY OF GRANT APPLICATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3973 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 1 give highest priority under the program to pro- 2 posed projects of eligible entities that— 3 (i) serve the neediest students, as de- 4 scribed in subparagraph (B); and 5 (ii) will most reduce emissions, as de- 6 scribed in subparagraph (C). 7 (B) NEEDIEST STUDENTS DESCRIBED.— 8 The neediest students referred to in subpara- 9 graph (A)(i) are students who are eligible for 10 free or reduced price lunches under the Richard 11 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 12 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 13 (C) MOST EMISSIONS-REDUCING PROJECTS 14 DESCRIBED.—The projects that will most re- 15 duce emissions referred to in subparagraph 16 (A)(ii) are projects that— 17 (i) will replace the most polluting die- 18 sel school buses with the cleanest running 19 electric school buses, as indicated by— 20 (I) the age of the school buses to 21 be replaced; 22 (II) the emissions control tech- 23 nologies on the school buses to be re- 24 placed; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3973 IH (III) the annual vehicle miles 1 traveled by the school buses to be re- 2 placed; 3 (IV) the source of electricity or 4 hydrogen used to power the electric 5 school buses; and 6 (V) any other factors the Sec- 7 retary determines to be relevant; or 8 (ii) will complement the use of grant 9 funds through other activities that— 10 (I) will enable broader deploy- 11 ment of electric vehicles, such as se- 12 curing additional sources of funding 13 through public-private partnerships 14 with utilities, grants from other enti- 15 ties, or issuance of school bonds; or 16 (II) will achieve further reduc- 17 tions in emissions, such as installing 18 solar panels to charge electric school 19 buses purchased with grant funds. 20 (D) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In 21 giving additional consideration to eligible enti- 22 ties seeking grants to purchase electric school 23 buses under the program that meet the prior- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3973 IH ities described in subparagraph (A), the Sec- 1 retary may consider— 2 (i) whether the grant will benefit stu- 3 dents in a region that is in nonattainment 4 of a national ambient air quality standard 5 under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (42 6 U.S.C. 7409); or 7 (ii) whether the eligible entity, or 8 whether the school system or school that 9 would be served by the eligible entity, has 10 taken other action to reduce emissions dur- 11 ing the transportation of students, such as 12 instituting a no-idling policy. 13 (4) USE OF SCHOOL BUS FLEET.—Each electric 14 school bus acquired with funds provided under the 15 program— 16 (A) shall be operated as part of the school 17 bus fleet for which the grant was made for not 18 less than 5 years; 19 (B) shall be maintained, operated, and 20 charged according to manufacturer rec- 21 ommendations or State requirements; and 22 (C) may not be manufactured or retro- 23 fitted with, or otherwise have installed, a power 24 unit or other technology that creates air pollu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3973 IH tion within the school bus, such as an unvented 1 diesel passenger heater. 2 (5) GRANT AWARDS.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may use 4 funds made available to carry out the pro- 5 gram— 6 (i) to award grants for— 7 (I) the replacement of existing 8 diesel school bus fleets with electric 9 school buses; 10 (II) the implementation of re- 11 charging infrastructure or other infra- 12 structure needed to charge or main- 13 tain electric school buses; 14 (III) workforce development and 15 training, to support the maintenance, 16 charging, and operations of electric 17 school buses; and 18 (IV) planning and technical ac- 19 tivities to support the adoption and 20 implementation of electric school 21 buses; and 22 (ii) to develop resources to inform, en- 23 courage, and support eligible entities in ap- 24 plying for and fulfilling the requirements 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3973 IH of grants awarded under the program, in- 1 cluding materials to support the workforce 2 development and training described in 3 clause (i)(III) and the planning and tech- 4 nical activities described in clause (i)(IV). 5 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—In order to receive 6 a grant under the program, the Secretary 7 shall— 8 (i) require that grant recipients— 9 (I) replace diesel school buses 10 with electric school buses; 11 (II)(aa) not later than 1 year 12 after receiving the electric school bus 13 purchased using a grant under the 14 program, scrap the diesel engine of 15 the school bus being replaced; or 16 (bb) receive a waiver under para- 17 graph (6); 18 (III) do not, as a result of receiv- 19 ing the grant— 20 (aa) lay off, transfer, or de- 21 mote any current employee; or 22 (bb) reduce the salary or 23 benefits of any current employee 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3973 IH or worsen the conditions of work 1 of any current employee; and 2 (IV) provide current employees 3 with training to effectively operate, 4 maintain, or otherwise adapt to new 5 technologies relating to electric school 6 buses; and 7 (ii) permit grant recipients to receive 8 and retain any funds or benefits received 9 from— 10 (I) scrapping a diesel engine; 11 (II) transferring or repurposing a 12 diesel school bus as authorized under 13 a waiver under paragraph (6); and 14 (III) the resale or reuse of other 15 parts of a school bus replaced using 16 grant funds. 17 (C) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 18 (i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The max- 19 imum amount of a grant under the pro- 20 gram is $2,000,000 per eligible entity. 21 (ii) AMOUNTS FOR PURCHASE OF 22 ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES.— 23 (I) IN GENERAL.—For any grant 24 under the program, the amount of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3973 IH funds awarded for the purchase of an 1 electric school bus shall not exceed 2 110 percent of the amount equal to 3 the difference between— 4 (aa) the cost of an electric 5 school bus; and 6 (bb) the cost of a diesel 7 school bus. 8 (II) DETERMINATION OF COST 9 OF SCHOOL BUSES.—In determining 10 the amount of funds under subclause 11 (I), the Secretary may determine the 12 cost of a school bus for the purpose of 13 calculating the marginal cost under 14 that subclause through— 15 (aa) a competitive solicita- 16 tion process for the manufacture 17 of the school bus; 18 (bb) a cooperative purchase 19 agreement permitted by the laws 20 of the State in which the grant 21 recipient is located; or 22 (cc) another method that the 23 Secretary determines to be ap- 24 propriate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3973 IH (iii) AMOUNTS FOR SUPPORTING AC- 1 TIVITIES.—For any grant under the pro- 2 gram, the amount of funds awarded for 3 the purposes described in subclauses (II) 4 through (IV) of subparagraph (A)(i), or 5 other purposes related to those subclauses, 6 as determined by the Secretary, shall not 7 exceed $600,000. 8 (D) BUY AMERICA.— 9 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 10 in clause (ii), any electric school bus pur- 11 chased using funds awarded under the pro- 12 gram shall comply with the requirements 13 described in section 5323(j) of title 49, 14 United States Code. 15 (ii) EXCEPTIONS.— 16 (I) WAIVER.—The Secretary may 17 provide any waiver to the require- 18 ments described in clause (i) in the 19 same manner and to the same extent 20 as the Secretary of Transportation 21 may provide a waiver under section 22 5323(j)(2) of title 49, United States 23 Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3973 IH (II) PERCENTAGE OF COMPO- 1 NENTS AND SUBCOMPONENTS.—The 2 Secretary may grant a waiver in ac- 3 cordance with section 5323(j)(2)(C) of 4 title 49, United States Code, when a 5 grant recipient procures an electric 6 school bus using funds awarded under 7 the program for which the cost of 8 components and subcomponents pro- 9 duced in the United States— 10 (aa) for each of fiscal years 11 2020 through 2024, is more than 12 60 percent of the cost of all com- 13 ponents of the school bus; and 14 (bb) for fiscal year 2025 and 15 each fiscal year thereafter, is 16 more than 70 percent of the cost 17 of all components of the school 18 bus. 19 (6) WAIVER.—On request of a grant recipient, 20 the Secretary may grant a waiver under paragraph 21 (5)(B)(i)(II)(bb) to authorize a grant recipient— 22 (A) to transfer a diesel school bus replaced 23 using grant funds under the program under an 24 agreement— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 3973 IH (i) between— 1 (I) the grant recipient; and 2 (II) an entity described in sub- 3 section (a)(2) that serves an area that 4 is in attainment of national ambient 5 air quality standards under the Clean 6 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 7 (ii) that provides that— 8 (I) not later than 1 year after the 9 transfer subject to the agreement, the 10 entity receiving a school bus from the 11 grant recipient will scrap a number of 12 diesel engines of school buses that is 13 equal to the number of school buses 14 being received; and 15 (II) any diesel engines described 16 in subclause (I) are older and more 17 polluting than the diesel engines in 18 the school buses being received; and 1 [Text truncated for display. 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