II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1380 To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to provide States and communities with additional assistance to plant and maintain trees, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to provide States and communities with additional assist- ance to plant and maintain trees, 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 ‘‘Neighborhood Tree 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the presence of a healthy and well-main- 8 tained urban forest can— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1380 IS (A) support— 1 (i) the physical and mental health of 2 community residents; 3 (ii) the regulation of air quality; 4 (iii) the mitigation of the urban heat 5 island effect; 6 (iv) the reduction of energy demand; 7 and 8 (v) stormwater management; and 9 (B) provide other benefits; 10 (2) according to research of the Forest Service, 11 the estimated value of benefits described in para- 12 graph (1) exceeds $18,000,000,000; 13 (3) the maintenance and management of an 14 urban forest offers additional opportunities relating 15 to workforce development, job creation, and enhance- 16 ment of property values; 17 (4) urban forest canopy cover is inequitably dis- 18 tributed among racial groups and income levels, ex- 19 acerbating disparities in exposure, for example, to 20 the urban heat island effect and in related health 21 risks or financial burdens relating to cooling; 22 (5) the effects of historical discriminatory poli- 23 cies, such as redlining, continue to have effects on 24 urban environments; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1380 IS (6) a recent analysis shows that— 1 (A) urbanized neighborhoods with mostly 2 people of color have 33 percent less tree canopy 3 on average than majority white neighborhoods; 4 and 5 (B) low-income neighborhoods have 41 per- 6 cent less tree cover than neighborhoods with 7 low rates of poverty; 8 (7) additional analyses of cities in the United 9 States found that— 10 (A) communities primarily inhabited by 11 United States-born, white populations contain 12 more than twice the urban forest canopy cover 13 of communities primarily inhabited by racial 14 and ethnic minorities; and 15 (B) there were elevated land temperatures 16 in formerly redlined areas compared to their 17 nonredlined counterparts, by an average 2.6 de- 18 grees Celsius and up to 7 degrees Celsius; and 19 (8) to reduce disparities in the enjoyment of the 20 social, environmental, and economic benefits of 21 healthy and well-maintained urban forests and man- 22 age risks relating to heat exposure and other urban 23 stressors, the Federal Government should accelerate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1380 IS actions to enhance the health and resilience of urban 1 forests, with investment in priority communities. 2 SEC. 3. NEIGHBORHOOD TREE FUND. 3 Section 9 of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act 4 of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105) is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating subsections (h) and (i) as 6 subsections (i) and (j), respectively; and 7 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(h) NEIGHBORHOOD TREE FUND.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the pur- 11 poses described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall 12 establish the Neighborhood Tree Fund (referred to 13 in this subsection as the ‘Fund’). 14 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall use 15 amounts from the Fund to provide assistance to eli- 16 gible entities described in paragraph (3) to increase 17 and improve the overall health of the tree canopy in 18 a community. 19 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity that is eligible to 20 receive assistance under paragraph (2) is— 21 ‘‘(A) a State; 22 ‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1380 IS ‘‘(C) a local unit of government, approved 1 organization, or local community tree volunteer 2 group described in subsection (b)(4). 3 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary, in con- 4 sultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 5 Development, shall establish requirements for the re- 6 ceipt of assistance under paragraph (2), including 7 requirements with respect to— 8 ‘‘(A) engagement with communities and 9 stakeholders; 10 ‘‘(B) the conduct of a tree canopy assess- 11 ment; 12 ‘‘(C) the use of climate change science in 13 the design of a project using the assistance; 14 ‘‘(D) the conduct of site preparation and 15 tree species selection; and 16 ‘‘(E) the conduct of monitoring and main- 17 tenance to ensure the successful establishment 18 of the tree canopy. 19 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri- 20 ority to the provision of assistance under paragraph 21 (2) to eligible entities that propose projects that— 22 ‘‘(A) include and prioritize tree planting 23 and tree maintenance in— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1380 IS ‘‘(i) a census tract with a poverty rate 1 of not less than 20 percent, as measured 2 by the 5-year data series available from the 3 American Community Survey of the Bu- 4 reau of the Census for the period of 2014 5 through 2018, including such a census 6 tract that includes an area that was des- 7 ignated as ‘hazardous’ or ‘definitely declin- 8 ing’ in maps drawn by the Home Owners’ 9 Loan Corporation; or 10 ‘‘(ii) a community or neighborhood 11 with lower tree canopy and higher max- 12 imum daytime summer temperatures com- 13 pared to surrounding communities or 14 neighborhoods, as determined by the Sec- 15 retary, based on publicly available informa- 16 tion; or 17 ‘‘(B) optimize outcomes for climate mitiga- 18 tion and resilience for the purpose of public 19 health, as determined by the Secretary. 20 ‘‘(6) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF AMOUNTS FOR 21 COMMUNITY TREE ASSESSMENTS.—Not more than 22 10 percent of the amount made available under 23 paragraph (7) for a fiscal year may be used for the 24 development of community tree assessments. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1380 IS ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 1 There are authorized to be appropriated for deposit 2 into the Fund, for use by the Secretary to carry out 3 this subsection, not less than— 4 ‘‘(A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 5 ‘‘(B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 6 ‘‘(C) $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 7 ‘‘(D) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 8 and 9 ‘‘(E) $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.’’. 10 SEC. 4. NATIONAL URBAN AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY AD- 11 VISORY COUNCIL COMPOSITION. 12 Section 9(g)(2)(A) of the Cooperative Forestry As- 13 sistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105(g)(2)(A)) is amend- 14 ed— 15 (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by strik- 16 ing ‘‘15’’ and inserting ‘‘16’’; 17 (2) in each of clauses (i) through (viii), by 18 striking the comma at the end and inserting a pe- 19 riod; 20 (3) in clause (ix), by striking ‘‘, and’’ at the end 21 and inserting a period; and 22 (4) by striking clause (x) and inserting the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1380 IS ‘‘(x) 3 members who are not officers 1 or employees of any governmental body 2 and who have expertise and have been ac- 3 tive in urban and community forestry, of 4 whom— 5 ‘‘(I) 1 is a resident of a commu- 6 nity with a population of less than 7 50,000 as of the most recent census; 8 and 9 ‘‘(II) 1 is a resident of a low-in- 10 come community, as determined by 11 the Secretary.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1380.IS S1380 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS