[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5154 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5154
To authorize public housing agencies to use public housing operating
funds as collateral for financing energy conservation improvements and
to freeze utility consumption levels for purposes of determining
Operating Fund assistance, and for other purposes.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2010
Mr. Himes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize public housing agencies to use public housing operating
funds as collateral for financing energy conservation improvements and
to freeze utility consumption levels for purposes of determining
Operating Fund assistance, and for other purposes.
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 ``Public Housing Energy Savings Act of
2010''.
SEC. 2. UTILITY AND WASTE MANAGEMENT COST SAVINGS.
Subparagraph (C) of section 9(e)(2) of the United States Housing
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(e)(2)(C)) is amended--
(1) by striking the subparagraph designation and heading
and all that follows through ``Contracts described in clause
(i)'' in clause (ii) and inserting the following:
``(C) Treatment of utility and waste management
cost savings.--
``(i) In general.--The treatment of utility
and waste management costs under the formula
shall provide that a public housing agency
shall receive the full financial benefit from
any reduction in the cost of utilities or waste
management resulting from energy conservation
improvements in one or more of its public
housing projects, subject to the following:
``(I) Third party contracts.--In
the case of energy conservation
improvements in public housing
undertaken pursuant to a contract with
a third party, such contracts'';
(2) in clauses (iii) and (iv), by striking ``clause (i)''
each place such term appears and inserting ``subclause (I)'';
(3) in clause (iv), by striking ``the date of the enactment
of this clause'' and inserting ``December 26, 2007,'';
(4) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) as subclauses
(II) and (III), respectively, and realigning such subclauses,
as so redesignated, so as to be indented 8 ems from the left
margin; and
(5) by adding at the end the following new clauses:
``(ii) Financing of improvements.--Energy
conservation improvements may be undertaken
pursuant to a contract for the improvements
only, and the public housing agency may finance
such improvements for a period of up to 20
years. A public housing agency may pledge
operating assistance under this subsection as
security for such financings in an amount not
to exceed the lesser of--
``(I) the amount of the debt
service, plus such appropriate debt
service coverage factor as the
Secretary may establish; and
``(II) the amount of the reasonably
anticipated utility cost savings
resulting from the improvements, as
determined by the Secretary.
The Secretary may also permit the pledging of
the installed equipment related to such
improvements.
``(iii) Freeze of consumption levels.--
``(I) In general.--A public housing
agency may elect to be paid for its
utility costs, including utility
allowances, under the formula for a
period, at the discretion of the
agency, of not longer than 20 years
based on the agency's average annual
consumption during the 3-year period
preceding the year in which the
election is made (in this clause
referred to as the `consumption base
level').
``(II) Initial adjustments in
consumption base level.--The Secretary
shall make an initial one-time
adjustment in the consumption base
level to account for differences in the
heating degree day average over the
most recent 20-year period compared to
the average in the consumption base
level.
``(III) Ongoing adjustments in
consumption base level.--The Secretary
shall make adjustments in the
consumption base level to account for
an increase or reduction in units, a
change in fuel source, a change in
resident-controlled electricity
consumption, or for such other reasons
as the Secretary considers appropriate.
``(IV) Third parties.--A public
housing agency making an election under
subclause (I) may use, but shall not be
required to use, the services of a
third party in its energy conservation
program. The agency shall have the sole
discretion to determine the source,
terms, and conditions of any financing
used for its program.''.
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