Natural Infrastructure and Resilience Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5871 To amend title 23, United States Code, to make certain natural infrastructure projects eligible for surface transportation block grant funding, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Mr. MALINOWSKI (for himself, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to make certain natural infrastructure projects eligible for surface trans- portation block grant funding, 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 ‘‘Natural Infrastructure 4 and Resilience Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESILIENCE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(a) of title 23, United 7 States Code, is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5871.IH H5871 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5871 IH (1) by redesignating paragraphs (17) through 1 (34) as paragraphs (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), 2 (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30), (31), (32), (33), 3 (34), and (35), respectively; 4 (2) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(17) NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 7 ‘natural infrastructure’ means infrastructure that 8 uses, restores, or emulates natural ecological proc- 9 esses and— 10 ‘‘(A) is created through the action of nat- 11 ural physical, geological, biological, and chem- 12 ical processes over time; 13 ‘‘(B) is created by human design, engineer- 14 ing, and construction to emulate or act in con- 15 cert with natural processes; or 16 ‘‘(C) involves the use of plants, soils, and 17 other natural features, including through the 18 creation, restoration, or preservation of vege- 19 tated areas using materials appropriate to the 20 region to manage stormwater and runoff, to at- 21 tenuate flooding and storm surges, and for 22 other related purposes.’’; 23 (3) by inserting after paragraph (23) (as so re- 24 designated) the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5871.IH H5871 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5871 IH ‘‘(24) RESILIENCE.—The term ‘resilience’, with 1 respect to a project, means a project with the ability 2 to anticipate, prepare for, or adapt to conditions or 3 withstand, respond to, or recover rapidly from dis- 4 ruptions, including the ability— 5 ‘‘(A)(i) to resist hazards or withstand im- 6 pacts from weather events and natural disas- 7 ters; or 8 ‘‘(ii) to reduce the magnitude, duration, or 9 impact of a disruptive weather event or natural 10 disaster to a project; and 11 ‘‘(B) to have the absorptive capacity, 12 adaptive capacity, and recoverability to decrease 13 project vulnerability to weather events or other 14 natural disasters.’’; and 15 (4) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (32) (as 16 so redesignated)— 17 (A) by striking the period at the end and 18 inserting ‘‘; and’’; 19 (B) by striking ‘‘through the implementa- 20 tion’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘through— 21 ‘‘(i) the implementation’’; and 22 (C) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(ii) the consideration of incorpor- 24 ating natural infrastructure.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5871.IH H5871 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5871 IH (b) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BLOCK GRANT PRO- 1 GRAM.—Section 133(b) of title 23, United States Code, 2 is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 4 (15) as paragraphs (5) through (16), respectively; 5 and 6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(4) Projects that use natural infrastructure 9 alone or in combination with other eligible projects 10 to enhance resilience of a transportation facility oth- 11 erwise eligible for assistance under this section.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5871.IH H5871 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS