Tribal Power Act

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5541 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 10, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs AN ACT To amend the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to reauthorize programs to assist consenting Indian Tribes in meeting energy education, planning, and management needs, 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 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 5541 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Power Act’’. 2 SEC. 2. INDIAN ENERGY. 3 (a) DEFINITION OF INDIAN LAND.—Section 2601(2) 4 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501(2)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by striking ‘‘and’’; 7 (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘land.’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘land;’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following subpara- 10 graphs: 11 ‘‘(D) any land located in a census tract in 12 which the majority of residents are Natives (as 13 defined in section 3(b) of the Alaska Native 14 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602(b))); 15 and 16 ‘‘(E) any land located in a census tract in 17 which the majority of residents are persons who 18 are enrolled members of a federally recognized 19 Tribe or village.’’. 20 (b) REDUCTION OF COST SHARE.—Section 21 2602(b)(5) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 22 3502(b)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following 23 subparagraphs: 24 ‘‘(D) The Secretary of Energy may reduce any 25 applicable cost share required of an Indian tribe, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 5541 RFS intertribal organization, or tribal energy development 1 organization in order to receive a grant under this 2 subsection to not less than 10 percent if the Indian 3 tribe, intertribal organization, or tribal energy devel- 4 opment organization meets criteria developed by the 5 Secretary of Energy, including financial need. 6 ‘‘(E) Section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 7 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352) shall not apply to assist- 8 ance provided under this subsection.’’. 9 (c) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 2602(b)(7) of the En- 10 ergy Policy Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3502(b)(7)) is amend- 11 ed by striking ‘‘$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 12 through 2016’’ and inserting ‘‘$30,000,000 for each of fis- 13 cal years 2021 through 2025’’. 14 SEC. 3. REPORT ON ELECTRICITY ACCESS AND RELI- 15 ABILITY. 16 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of Energy shall 17 conduct an assessment of the status of access to electricity 18 by households residing in Tribal communities or on Indian 19 land, and the reliability of electric service available to 20 households residing in Tribal communities or on Indian 21 land, as compared to the status of access to and reliability 22 of electricity within neighboring States or within the State 23 in which Indian land is located. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 5541 RFS (b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of Energy shall 1 consult with Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, the 2 North American Electricity Reliability Corporation, and 3 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the devel- 4 opment and conduct of the assessment under subsection 5 (a). Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations shall have the 6 opportunity to review and make recommendations regard- 7 ing the development of the assessment and the findings 8 of the assessment, prior to the submission of the report 9 under subsection (c). 10 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 11 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 12 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 13 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 14 Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on 15 the results of the assessment conducted under subsection 16 (a), which shall include— 17 (1) a description of generation, transmission, 18 and distribution assets available to provide electricity 19 to households residing in Tribal communities or on 20 Indian land; 21 (2) a survey of the retail and wholesale prices 22 of electricity available to households residing in 23 Tribal communities or on Indian land; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 5541 RFS (3) a description of participation of Tribal 1 members in the electric utility workforce, including 2 the workforce for construction and maintenance of 3 renewable energy resources and distributed energy 4 resources; 5 (4) the percentage of households residing in 6 Tribal communities or on Indian land that do not 7 have access to electricity; 8 (5) the potential of distributed energy resources 9 to provide electricity to households residing in Tribal 10 communities or on Indian land; 11 (6) the potential for tribally-owned electric utili- 12 ties or electric utility assets to participate in or ben- 13 efit from regional electricity markets; 14 (7) a description of the barriers to providing ac- 15 cess to electric service to households residing in 16 Tribal communities or on Indian land; and 17 (8) recommendations to improve access to and 18 reliability of electric service for households residing 19 in Tribal communities or on Indian land. 20 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 21 (1) TRIBAL MEMBER.—The term ‘‘Tribal mem- 22 ber’’ means a person who is an enrolled member of 23 a federally recognized Tribe or village. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 5541 RFS (2) TRIBAL COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘Tribal 1 community’’ means a community in a United States 2 census tract in which the majority of residents are 3 persons who are enrolled members of a federally rec- 4 ognized Tribe or village. 5 Passed the House of Representatives December 9, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5541.RFS H5541 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS