[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 3221 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3221
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for
energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 14, 2011
Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Carnahan, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Courtney, Ms.
Schakowsky, Mr. Olver, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. Welch)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for
energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Job Creation and Energy Efficiency
Act''.
SEC. 2. LOAN PROGRAM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY UPGRADES TO EXISTING
BUILDINGS.
Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16511 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 1706. BUILDING RETROFIT FINANCING PROGRAM.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Credit support.--The term `credit support' means a
guarantee or commitment to issue a guarantee or other forms of
credit enhancement to ameliorate risks for efficiency
obligations.
``(2) Efficiency obligation.--The term `efficiency
obligation' means a debt or repayment obligation incurred in
connection with financing a project, or a portfolio of such
debt or repayment obligations.
``(3) Project.--The term `project' means the installation
and implementation of efficiency, advanced metering,
distributed generation, or renewable energy technologies and
measures for a building (or for multiple buildings on a given
property) that are expected to increase the energy efficiency
of the building (including fixtures) in accordance with
criteria established by the Secretary.
``(b) Eligible Projects.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding sections 1703 and 1705,
the Secretary may provide credit support under this section, in
accordance with section 1702.
``(2) Inclusions.--Buildings eligible for credit support
under this section include commercial, multifamily residential,
industrial, municipal, government, institution of higher
education, school, and hospital facilities that satisfy
criteria established by the Secretary.
``(c) Guidelines.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall--
``(A) establish guidelines for credit support
provided under this section;
``(B) publish the guidelines in the Federal
Register; and
``(C) provide for an opportunity for public comment
on the guidelines.
``(2) Requirements.--The guidelines established by the
Secretary under this subsection shall include--
``(A) standards for assessing the energy savings
that could reasonably be expected to result from a
project;
``(B) examples of financing mechanisms (and
portfolios of such financing mechanisms) that qualify
as efficiency obligations;
``(C) the threshold levels of energy savings that a
project, at the time of issuance of credit support,
shall be reasonably expected to achieve to be eligible
for credit support;
``(D) the eligibility criteria the Secretary
determines to be necessary for making credit support
available under this section; and
``(E) notwithstanding subsections (d)(3) and
(g)(2)(B) of section 1702, any lien priority
requirements that the Secretary determines to be
necessary, in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, which may include--
``(i) mechanisms to preserve prior lien
positions of mortgage lenders and other
creditors in buildings eligible for credit
support;
``(ii) remedies available to the Secretary
under chapter 176 of title 28, United States
Code, in the event of default on the efficiency
obligation by the borrower; and
``(iii) measures to limit the exposure of
the Secretary to financial risk in the event of
default, such as--
``(I) the collection of a credit
subsidy fee from the borrower as a loan
loss reserve, taking into account the
limitation on credit support under
subsection (d);
``(II) minimum debt-to-income
levels of the borrower;
``(III) minimum levels of value
relative to outstanding mortgage or
other debt on a building eligible for
credit support;
``(IV) allowable thresholds for the
percent of the efficiency obligation
relative to the amount of any mortgage
or other debt on an eligible building;
``(V) analysis of historic and
anticipated occupancy levels and rental
income of an eligible building;
``(VI) requirements of third-party
contractors to guarantee energy savings
that will result from a retrofit
project, and whether financing on the
efficiency obligation will amortize
from the energy savings;
``(VII) requirements that the
retrofit project incorporate protocols
to measure and verify energy savings;
and
``(VIII) recovery of payments
equally by the Secretary and the
retrofit.
``(3) Efficiency obligations.--The financing mechanisms
qualified by the Secretary under paragraph (2)(B) may include--
``(A) loans, including loans made by the Federal
Financing Bank;
``(B) power purchase agreements, including energy
efficiency power purchase agreements;
``(C) energy services agreements, including energy
performance contracts;
``(D) property assessed clean energy bonds and
other tax assessment-based financing mechanisms;
``(E) aggregate on-meter agreements that finance
retrofit projects; and
``(F) any other efficiency obligations the
Secretary determines to be appropriate.
``(4) Priorities.--In carrying out this section, the
Secretary shall prioritize--
``(A) the maximization of energy savings with the
available credit support funding;
``(B) the establishment of a clear application and
approval process that allows private building owners,
lenders, and investors to reasonably expect to receive
credit support for projects that conform to guidelines;
``(C) the distribution of projects receiving credit
support under this section across States or
geographical regions of the United States; and
``(D) projects designed to achieve whole-building
retrofits.
``(d) Limitation.--Notwithstanding section 1702(c), the Secretary
shall not issue credit support under this section in an amount that
exceeds--
``(1) 90 percent of the principal amount of the efficiency
obligation that is the subject of the credit support; or
``(2) $25,000,000 for any single project.
``(e) Aggregation of Projects.--To the extent provided in the
guidelines developed in accordance with subsection (c), the Secretary
may issue credit support on a portfolio, or pool of projects, that are
not required to be geographically contiguous, if each efficiency
obligation in the pool fulfills the requirements described in this
section.
``(f) Application.--
``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive credit support
under this section, the applicant shall submit to the Secretary
an application at such time, in such manner, and containing
such information as the Secretary determines to be necessary.
``(2) Contents.--An application submitted under this
section shall include assurances by the applicant that--
``(A) each contractor carrying out the project
meets minimum experience level criteria, including
local retrofit experience, as determined by the
Secretary;
``(B) the project is reasonably expected to achieve
energy savings, as set forth in the application using
any methodology that meets the standards described in
the program guidelines;
``(C) the project meets any technical criteria
described in the program guidelines;
``(D) the recipient of the credit support and the
parties to the efficiency obligation will provide the
Secretary with--
``(i) any information the Secretary
requests to assess the energy savings that
result from the project, including historical
energy usage data, a simulation-based
benchmark, and detailed descriptions of the
building work, as described in the program
guidelines; and
``(ii) permission to access information
relating to building operations and usage for
the period described in the program guidelines;
and
``(E) any other assurances that the Secretary
determines to be necessary.
``(3) Determination.--Not later than 90 days after
receiving an application, the Secretary shall make a final
determination on the application, which may include requests
for additional information.
``(g) Fees.--
``(1) In general.--In addition to the fees required by
section 1702(h)(1), the Secretary may charge reasonable fees
for credit support provided under this section.
``(2) Availability.--Fees collected under this section
shall be subject to section 1702(h)(2).
``(h) Underwriting.--The Secretary may delegate the underwriting
activities under this section to 1 or more entities that the Secretary
determines to be qualified.
``(i) Status Report.--Not later than 1 year after commencement of
the program, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report that
describes in reasonable detail--
``(1) the manner in which this section is being carried
out;
``(2) the number and type of projects supported;
``(3) the types of funding mechanisms used to provide
credit support to projects;
``(4) the energy savings expected to result from projects
supported by this section;
``(5) any tracking efforts the Secretary is using to
calculate the actual energy savings produced by the projects;
and
``(6) any plans to improve the tracking efforts described
in paragraph (5).
``(j) Buy American Report.--The Secretary shall submit to the
Congress an annual report that estimates the percentage of American-
made materials used in conducting retrofit activities funded pursuant
to this section.
``(k) Funding.--
``(1) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section
$15,000,000,000 for the period encompassing fiscal years 2012
through 2021.
``(2) Administrative costs.--Not more than 1 percent of any
amounts made available to the Secretary for carrying out this
section may be used by the Secretary for administrative costs
incurred in carrying out this section.''.
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