Community Health and Clean Transit Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8447 To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to provide loans for the acquisition of electric or fuel cell buses and related infrastructure. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, and Mr. LOWENTHAL) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to provide loans for the acquisition of electric or fuel cell buses and related infrastructure. 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 ‘‘Community Health 4 and Clean Transit Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8447 IH (1) the term ‘‘covered loan’’ means a direct loan 1 made by the Secretary under section 4; 2 (2) the term ‘‘electric bus’’ means a bus that is 3 a zero emission vehicle (as defined in section 4 5339(c)(1) of title 49, United States Code) that is 5 fully battery-powered; 6 (3) the term ‘‘eligible area’’ means an area that 7 is— 8 (A) designated as a nonattainment area 9 for ozone or carbon monoxide under section 10 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 11 7407(d)); or 12 (B) any area that was nonattainment and 13 subsequently designated to attainment in ac- 14 cordance with section 107(d)(3) of that Act (42 15 U.S.C. 7407(d)(3)) and that is subject to a 16 maintenance plan under section 175A of that 17 Act (42 U.S.C. 7505a); 18 (4) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an eligible 19 recipient, as described in section 5339(a)(4) of title 20 49, United States Code; 21 (5) the term ‘‘eligible project’’ has the meaning 22 given the term in section 5339(c)(1) of title 49, 23 United States Code, except that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8447 IH (A) that definition shall be applied by sub- 1 stituting ‘‘electric or fuel cell buses’’ for ‘‘low or 2 no emission vehicles’’; and 3 (B) an eligible project only includes a 4 project in an eligible area (as defined in this 5 section); 6 (6) the term ‘‘eligible project cost’’— 7 (A) means the cost of an eligible project; 8 and 9 (B) includes (and in the case of an eligible 10 project described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of 11 section 5339(c)(1)(B), means only)— 12 (i) the incremental cost of acquiring 13 an electric or fuel cell bus necessary to 14 meet the needs of the eligible entity, as 15 compared to the average cost of a diesel 16 bus; and 17 (ii) the cost of technical assistance for 18 the acquisition, financing, and operation of 19 an electric or fuel cell bus and related in- 20 frastructure, including technical assistance 21 for route electrification, technology selec- 22 tion, and vehicle-to-grid interfacing; 23 (7) the term ‘‘fuel cell’’ means a method to pro- 24 pel by power derived from 1 or more cells which con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8447 IH vert chemical energy directly into electricity by com- 1 bining oxygen with hydrogen fuel which is stored on 2 board the vehicle in any form and may or may not 3 require reformation prior to use; 4 (8) the term ‘‘Secretary’’, except as otherwise 5 provided in this Act, means the Secretary of Trans- 6 portation; and 7 (9) the term ‘‘subsidy amount’’ means the 8 amount of budget authority sufficient to cover the 9 estimated long-term cost to the Federal Government 10 of a covered loan— 11 (A) calculated on a net present value basis; 12 and 13 (B) excluding administrative costs and any 14 incidental effects on governmental receipts or 15 outlays in accordance with the Federal Credit 16 Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.). 17 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 18 The purpose of this Act is to help entities that pro- 19 vide or finance public transportation to choose and be able 20 to afford the best vehicles for their needs, and to achieve 21 fuel and maintenance cost savings, by providing loans to 22 eligible entities to acquire electric or fuel cell buses and 23 related infrastructure. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8447 IH SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE. 1 The Secretary may make a direct loan to an eligible 2 entity for eligible project costs. 3 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a cov- 5 ered loan shall submit to the Secretary an application 6 that— 7 (1) includes an implementation plan for use of 8 the covered loan; 9 (2) estimates the amounts the eligible entity 10 will save on fuel and maintenance costs due to the 11 covered loan; and 12 (3) provides reasonable assurance that the eligi- 13 ble entity will make all payments on the covered 14 loan. 15 (b) LINK TO LOW OR NO EMISSION BUS AND BUS 16 FACILITIES GRANT APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 17 establish a procedure under which an eligible entity that 18 submits an application for a grant under section 5339 of 19 title 49, United States Code, may amend the application 20 to also be considered for a covered loan under this Act 21 without having to submit a separate application under this 22 section. 23 (c) GUIDANCE AND BEST PRACTICES.—Not later 24 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 25 Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8447 IH of Transportation, shall develop and publish on the 1 website of the Department of Energy guidance on best 2 practices for transit districts to enter into innovative rela- 3 tionships with public utilities and bus manufacturers to 4 incorporate into operations and financing of electric or 5 fuel cell buses and infrastructure— 6 (1) secondary use or recycling of the battery; 7 (2) vehicle-to-grid integration; 8 (3) charging infrastructure cost shares; or 9 (4) battery performance guarantees. 10 SEC. 6. TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—A covered loan— 12 (1) shall not accrue interest; and 13 (2) shall be on such terms and conditions and 14 contain such covenants, representations, warranties, 15 and requirements (including requirements for au- 16 dits) as the Secretary may prescribe. 17 (b) TERM OF LOAN.—The Secretary may provide a 18 covered loan only if the final maturity date of the covered 19 loan is not later than the date on which the electric or 20 fuel cell bus acquired using the covered loan is expected 21 to exceed its useful life, based on the average life expect- 22 ancy of the electric or fuel cell bus. 23 (c) BUY AMERICA.—Section 5323(j) of title 49, 24 United States Code, shall apply with respect to a project 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8447 IH funded using a covered loan in the same manner as to 1 a project funded using amounts appropriated to carry out 2 chapter 53 of such title 49. 3 (d) NON-FEDERAL SHARE FOR LOW-NO GRANTS.— 4 The proceeds of a covered loan may be used for any non- 5 Federal share of project costs required under section 6 5339(c) of title 49, United States Code, if the covered loan 7 is repayable from non-Federal funds. 8 SEC. 7. REPAYMENT. 9 (a) COMMENCEMENT.—Scheduled repayments of 10 principal on a covered loan provided to an eligible entity 11 shall commence not later than 180 days after the date on 12 which the eligible entity places in revenue service the elec- 13 tric or fuel cell bus and necessary infrastructure that were 14 acquired using the covered loan. 15 (b) PREPAYMENT.—An eligible entity may make re- 16 payments on a covered loan in advance of the scheduled 17 repayment date with no penalty. 18 (c) DELINQUENCY.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 19 vision of law, if an eligible entity fails to make a scheduled 20 repayment on a covered loan, the Secretary may withhold 21 from the eligible entity an equivalent amount of any assist- 22 ance that would otherwise be provided to the eligible entity 23 under a formula grant program under chapter 53 of title 24 49, United States Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8447 IH SEC. 8. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 1 Subject to the availability of funds and except as oth- 2 erwise provided in this Act, amounts provided by the Sec- 3 retary under this Act shall be available until expended. 4 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro- 6 priated $15,000,000 for each of the first 5 fiscal years 7 beginning after the date of enactment of this Act for the 8 subsidy amount of covered loans. 9 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—There is authorized to 10 be appropriated such sums as are necessary for the admin- 11 istrative cost of providing covered loans. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8447.IH H8447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS