[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5906 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5906
To amend the America COMPETES Act to establish Department of Energy
policy for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 22, 2018
Mr. Lucas (for himself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Smith
of Texas, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Knight, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Norman, Mr.
Babin, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, and Mrs. Lesko) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space,
and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the America COMPETES Act to establish Department of Energy
policy for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, 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 ``ARPA-E Act of 2018''.
SEC. 2. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY-ENERGY.
(a) Establishment.--Section 5012(b) of the America COMPETES Act (42
U.S.C. 16538(b)) is amended by striking ``development of energy
technologies'' and inserting ``development of transformative science
and technology solutions to address energy, environmental, economic,
and national security challenges''.
(b) Goals.--Section 5012(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(c)) is
amended--
(1) by striking paragraph (1)(A) and inserting the
following:
``(A) to enhance the economic and energy security
of the United States through the development of energy
technologies that--
``(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign
sources;
``(ii) reduce energy-related emissions,
including greenhouse gases;
``(iii) improve the energy efficiency of
all economic sectors;
``(iv) provide transformative solutions to
improve the management, clean-up, and disposal
of--
``(I) low-level radioactive waste;
``(II) spent nuclear fuel; and
``(III) high-level radioactive
waste;
``(v) improve efficiency and reduce the
environmental impact of all forms of energy
production;
``(vi) improve the resiliency, reliability,
and security of the electric grid; and
``(vii) address other challenges within the
mission of the Department as determined by the
Secretary; and''; and
(2) in paragraph (2) by striking ``energy technology
projects'' and inserting ``advanced technology projects''.
(c) Responsibilities.--Section 5012(e)(3)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
16538(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ``energy''.
(d) Strategic Vision Roadmap.--Section 5012(h)(2) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 16538(h)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
``(2) Strategic vision roadmap.--In the report required
under paragraph (1), the Director shall include a roadmap
describing the strategic vision that ARPA-E will use to guide
the choices of ARPA-E for future technology investments over
the following 2 fiscal years.''.
(e) Coordination and Nonduplication.--Section 5012(i)(1) of such
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(i)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
``(1) In general.--To the maximum extent practicable, the
Director shall ensure that--
``(A) the activities of ARPA-E are coordinated
with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, programs and
laboratories within the Department and other relevant
research agencies; and
``(B) ARPA-E does not provide funding for a project
unless the prospective grantee demonstrates--
``(i) sufficient attempts to secure private
financing; or
``(ii) that the project is not
independently commercially viable.''.
(f) Evaluation.--Section 5012(l) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(l))
is amended--
(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of
enactment of the ARPA-E Act of 2018, the Secretary may offer to
enter into a contract with the National Academy of Sciences
under which the National Academy shall conduct an evaluation of
how well ARPA-E is achieving the goals and mission of ARPA-
E.''; and
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by striking ``shall'' and inserting ``may'';
and
(B) by striking ``the recommendation of the
National Academy of Sciences'' and inserting ``a
recommendation''.
(g) Protection of Proprietary Information.--Section 5012 of such
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (n) as subsection (o); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (m) the following new
subsection:
``(n) Protection of Proprietary Information.--
``(1) In general.--The following categories of information
collected by ARPA-E from recipients of awards under this
section shall be considered privileged and confidential and not
subject to disclosure pursuant to section 552 of title 5,
United States Code:
``(A) Plans for commercialization of technologies
developed under the award, including business plans,
technology-to-market plans, market studies, and cost
and performance models.
``(B) Investments provided to an awardee from third
parties (such as venture capital firms, hedge funds,
and private equity firms), including amounts and the
percentage of ownership of the awardee provided in
return for the investments.
``(C) Additional financial support that the
awardee--
``(i) plans to invest, or has invested,
into the technology developed under the award;
or
``(ii) is seeking from third parties.
``(D) Revenue from the licensing or sale of new
products or services resulting from research conducted
under the award.
``(2) Effect of subsection.--Nothing in this subsection
shall be construed to affect--
``(A) the authority of the Secretary to use
information without publicly disclosing such
information; or
``(B) the responsibility of the Secretary to
transmit information to Congress as required by law.''.
(h) Funding.--Section 5012(o)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
16538(o)(4)), as redesignated by subsection (f)(1), is amended by
striking ``during the 5-year period beginning on the date of enactment
of this Act''.
(i) Technical Amendments.--
(1) Section 5012(g)(3)(A)(iii) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
16538(g)(3)(A)(iii)) is amended by striking ``subpart'' each
place it appears and inserting ``subparagraph''.
(2) Section 5012(o)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(o)(2)),
as redesignated by subsection (f)(1), is amended by striking
``paragraphs (4) and (5)'' and inserting ``paragraph (4)''.
<all>