[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1223 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1223

 To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to improve the loan guarantee 
      program for innovative technologies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2015

 Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to improve the loan guarantee 
      program for innovative technologies, 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 ``Energy Loan Program Improvement Act 
of 2015''.

SEC. 2. BORROWER PAYMENT OF SUBSIDY COST.

    Section 1702 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16512) is 
amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Borrower Payment of Subsidy Cost.--No guarantee shall be made 
under subsection (a) unless the Secretary has received from the 
borrower a payment in full for the cost of the guarantee and deposited 
the payment into the Treasury.''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SUBORDINATION OF DEBT.

    Section 1702(d)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
16512(d)(3)) is amended by striking ``is not subordinate'' and 
inserting ``(including any reorganization, restructuring, or 
termination of the obligation) shall not at any time be subordinate''.

SEC. 4. LOAN PROGRAM TRANSPARENCY.

    Section 1703 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16513) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Loan Status.--
            ``(1) Request.--If the Secretary does not make a final 
        decision on an application for a loan guarantee under this 
        section by the date that is 270 days after receipt of the 
        application by the Secretary, on that date and every 90 days 
        thereafter until the final decision is made, the applicant may 
        request that the Secretary provide to the applicant a 
        description of the status of the application.
            ``(2) Response.--Not later than 10 days after receiving a 
        request from an applicant under paragraph (1), the Secretary 
        shall provide to the applicant a response that includes--
                    ``(A) a summary of any factors that are delaying a 
                final decision on the application; and
                    ``(B) an estimate of when review of the application 
                will be completed.''.

SEC. 5. TEMPORARY PROGRAM FOR RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AND 
              ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION PROJECTS.

    (a) Repeal.--Section 1705 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16516) is repealed.
    (b) Rescission.--There is rescinded the unobligated balance of 
amounts made available to carry out the loan guarantee program 
established under section 1705 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 16516) (before the amendment made by subsection (a)).
    (c) Management.--The Secretary of Energy shall ensure rigorous 
continued management and oversight of all outstanding loans guaranteed 
under the program described in subsection (b) until those loans have 
been repaid in full.
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