Rural Energy Savings Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3849 To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to modify provisions relating to the rural energy savings program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Mr. CLYBURN (for himself and Ms. BUDZINSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 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 provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to modify provisions relating to the rural energy savings program. 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 ‘‘Rural Energy Savings 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3849 IH SEC. 2. RURAL ENERGY SAVINGS PROGRAM MODIFICA- 1 TIONS. 2 Section 6407 of the Farm Security and Rural Invest- 3 ment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8107a) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (b)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 7 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 8 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 9 (C) as subparagraph (E); and 10 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 11 (B) the following: 12 ‘‘(C) any Indian Tribe (as defined in sec- 13 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 14 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); 15 ‘‘(D) any public, quasipublic, or nonprofit 16 entity that uses innovative financing techniques 17 and market development tools to accelerate the 18 deployment of clean energy technology (com- 19 monly known as a ‘green bank’); and’’; and 20 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 21 ing the following: 22 ‘‘(2) ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURE.—The 23 term ‘energy efficiency measure’, with respect to any 24 property served by an eligible entity, means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3849 IH ‘‘(A) a structural improvement or invest- 1 ment in a cost-effective, commercial technology 2 to increase energy efficiency (including cost-ef- 3 fective on- or off-grid renewable energy or en- 4 ergy storage systems); and 5 ‘‘(B) the replacement of a manufactured 6 housing unit or large appliance with a substan- 7 tially similar manufactured housing unit or ap- 8 pliance, respectively, if that replacement is a 9 cost-effective option with respect to energy sav- 10 ings.’’; 11 (2) in subsection (c)— 12 (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 13 ‘‘AND GRANTS’’ after ‘‘LOANS’’; 14 (B) by striking paragraph (1) and insert- 15 ing the following: 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the require- 17 ments of this subsection, the Secretary shall pro- 18 vide— 19 ‘‘(A) loans to eligible entities that agree to 20 use the loan funds to make loans under sub- 21 section (d) to qualified consumers for the pur- 22 pose of implementing energy efficiency meas- 23 ures; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3849 IH ‘‘(B) at the election of any eligible entity 1 that receives a loan under subparagraph (A), a 2 grant in accordance with paragraph (10).’’; 3 (C) in paragraph (2)— 4 (i) in the paragraph heading, by in- 5 serting ‘‘FOR LOANS’’ after ‘‘REQUIRE- 6 MENTS’’; and 7 (ii) in subparagraph (A)(i), by strik- 8 ing ‘‘that is’’; 9 (D) in paragraph (5)— 10 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 11 (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec- 12 tively, and indenting the clauses appro- 13 priately; 14 (ii) in the matter preceding clause (i) 15 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘With re- 16 spect to a loan under paragraph (1)’’ and 17 inserting the following: 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 19 graph (B), with respect to a loan under para- 20 graph (1)(A)’’; and 21 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(B) EXTENSIONS.—The Secretary may 24 extend the term of a loan under subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3849 IH (A)(i), or the deadline for the repayment of an 1 advance under subparagraph (A)(ii), as the Sec- 2 retary determines to be appropriate.’’; 3 (E) in paragraph (7)— 4 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 5 ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 6 (1)(A)’’; and 7 (ii) in subparagraph (C), in the mat- 8 ter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘Re- 9 payment of the special advance’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘Subject to an applicable extension 11 under paragraph (5)(B), repayment of a 12 special advance under this paragraph’’; 13 (F) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘para- 14 graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)(A)’’; 15 and 16 (G) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(10) GRANTS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At the election of an 19 eligible entity that receives a loan under this 20 subsection, the Secretary shall provide to the el- 21 igible entity a grant to pay for a portion of the 22 costs incurred in— 23 ‘‘(i) applying for the loan; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3849 IH ‘‘(ii) making a loan to a qualified con- 1 sumer under subsection (d); 2 ‘‘(iii) making repairs to the property 3 of a qualified consumer that facilitate the 4 energy efficiency measures for the property 5 financed through a loan provided to the 6 qualified consumer under subsection (d); 7 ‘‘(iv) entering into a contract under 8 subsection (e); or 9 ‘‘(v) carrying out any other duties of 10 the eligible entity under this section. 11 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.— 12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 13 vided in clause (ii), the amount of a grant 14 provided to an eligible entity under this 15 paragraph shall be equal to not more than 16 5 percent of the amount of the loan pro- 17 vided to the eligible entity under this sub- 18 section. 19 ‘‘(ii) PERSISTENT POVERTY COUN- 20 TIES.—The amount of a grant provided 21 under this paragraph to an eligible entity 22 that will use the grant to make loans 23 under subsection (d) to qualified con- 24 sumers located in a persistent poverty 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3849 IH county (as determined by the Secretary) 1 shall be equal to 10 percent of the amount 2 of the loan provided to the eligible entity 3 under this subsection.’’; 4 (3) in subsection (d)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 6 (i) in the matter preceding subpara- 7 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘or grant’’ before 8 ‘‘funds’’; 9 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 10 (I) by striking ‘‘(B) shall fi- 11 nance’’ and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘(B)(i) may have a term and amortization 13 schedule the length of which is the useful life 14 of the energy efficiency measures implemented 15 using the loan, provided that the loan to the 16 qualified consumer does not exceed 20 years; 17 and 18 ‘‘(ii) shall finance’’; and 19 (II) in clause (ii) (as so des- 20 ignated), by striking ‘‘a loan term of 21 not more than 10 years’’ and insert- 22 ing ‘‘the applicable loan term de- 23 scribed in clause (i)’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3849 IH (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 1 ‘‘unless the personal property is or be- 2 comes attached to real property (including 3 a manufactured home) as a fixture;’’ and 4 inserting ‘‘unless the personal property— 5 ‘‘(i) is a manufactured housing unit or 6 large appliance described in subsection 7 (b)(2)(B); or 8 ‘‘(ii) is or becomes attached to real 9 property as a fixture;’’; and 10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(3) CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—Not- 12 withstanding any other provision of law (including 13 regulations), an eligible entity may make a loan 14 under this subsection to any qualified consumer lo- 15 cated within the service territory of the eligible enti- 16 ty, regardless of whether the qualified consumer is 17 located in a rural area.’’; 18 (4) in subsection (e)— 19 (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 20 ‘‘OUTREACH,’’ after ‘‘TRAINING,’’; 21 (B) in paragraph (1)— 22 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 23 ‘‘and technical assistance of the program’’ 24 and inserting ‘‘outreach, and technical as- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3849 IH sistance relating to the program under this 1 section’’; and 2 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by insert- 3 ing ‘‘, outreach,’’ after ‘‘technical assist- 4 ance’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(3) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made avail- 7 able under subsection (i), the Secretary may use 8 such sums as are necessary to provide outreach, 9 training, and technical assistance under this sub- 10 section.’’; and 11 (5) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘2023’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘2033’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3849.IH H3849 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB