[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2662 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2662
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities
relating to research for wood products, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 27, 2023
Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities
relating to research for wood products, 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 ``Timber Innovation for Building Rural
Communities Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY.
In this Act, the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.
SEC. 3. FOREST AND WOOD PRODUCTS DATA PROVISION.
(a) In General.--The Secretary, in collaboration with the Chief of
the Natural Resources Conservation Service and in consultation with
federally recognized Indian Tribes, State Foresters, and private sector
partners, shall establish a platform to provide measurement,
monitoring, verification, and reporting data regarding the carbon
emissions, sequestration, storage, and related atmospheric impacts of
forest management and wood products.
(b) Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary
shall source data, information, and analyses from Department of
Agriculture programs, including--
(1) the Forest Inventory and Analysis program;
(2) the Timber Products Output survey;
(3) Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation
Service soil carbon estimations;
(4) Department of Agriculture entity-level guidance;
(5) the Forest Products Laboratory;
(6) the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons;
(7) Department of Agriculture entity-level guidelines; and
(8) other relevant programmatic data and information
sources that are published and made available.
(c) Priorities.--The platform established by subsection (a) shall
provide tools that calculate--
(1) the above- and below-ground forest carbon stocks and
stock changes associated with species composition, forest
management regime, and landowner types, including small area
estimations for regional and localized geographies across the
United States, which shall be made available through the Forest
Inventory and Analysis program updates and annual reports;
(2) the embodied carbon involved in the manufacturing of
products, using data from published environmental product
declarations and life cycle assessments, which shall be updated
as new and more refined data becomes available;
(3) the long-term stored carbon in manufactured timber
products; and
(4) the carbon displacement of wood products, compared to
other materials, using substitution factors.
(d) Timeframe.--To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary
shall establish the platform under subsection (a) not later than 2
years after the date of enactment of this Act.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.
SEC. 4. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 8643 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C.
7655d) is amended--
(1) in subsection (d), by inserting ``50 percent of''
before ``the amount''; and
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
``(c) Targeting Support for Economic Development, Enhanced Building
Design, and Impact Assessment.--In selecting among proposals of
eligible entities under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may give
priority to proposals for projects that--
``(1) include the use or retrofitting (or both) of existing
sawmill facilities located in counties in which the average
annual unemployment rate exceeded the national average
unemployment rate by more than 1 percent in the previous
calendar year;
``(2) recognize or enhance carbon reduction strategies in
building design, including forest impacts, which can be
improved or incentivized by North American procurement; or
``(3) report on the connection between the proposal and the
resilience and economic benefits associated with wood products
from anticipated wood supply areas, including wildfire risk
reduction, increased fiber flow, forest or mill jobs, and
support for forested communities created because of forest
management.''.
SEC. 5. WOOD BUILDING EDUCATION ACCELERATOR GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) an engineering, architecture, or design school
at an institution of higher education; or
(B) a center of excellence that consists of 1 or
more partnerships between forestry, engineering,
architecture, or business schools at 1 or more
institutions of higher education.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary,
acting through the Research and Development deputy area and the
State, Private, and Tribal Forestry deputy area of the Forest
Service.
(b) Grant Program.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program,
to be known as the ``Wood Building Education Accelerator Grant
Program'', to annually award grants to geographically diverse
eligible entities to support the development of curricula,
programs, and best practices relating to the critical elements
of designing and building with wood, including the use of
traditional wood products, mass timber, and other advanced wood
products.
(2) Proposals.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this subsection, an eligible entity shall submit to the
Secretary a proposal at such time, in such manner, and
containing such information as the Secretary may require.
(3) Review and awards.--The Secretary shall review
proposals submitted under paragraph (2), and award grants under
this subsection, in consultation with nonprofit organizations,
research organizations, or other private entities providing
funding to eligible entities to support activities carried out
using grants under this section.
(c) Matching Requirement.--As a condition of receiving a grant
under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity shall provide funds equal
to the amount received by the eligible entity under the grant, to be
derived from non-Federal sources.
(d) Limitation on Amount.--The total amount of grants awarded under
subsection (b)(1) shall be not more than $10,000,000 for each fiscal
year.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.
SEC. 6. RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) a nonprofit organization;
(B) a community-based organization;
(C) a State, local, or municipal government;
(D) a tribally designated housing authority;
(E) a private entity, as determined by the
Secretary; and
(F) a consortium of 2 or more entities described in
subparagraphs (A) through (E).
(2) Produced and assembled in the united states.--The term
``produced and assembled in the United States'', with regard to
wood materials, means that--
(A) the wood materials, if manufactured, were
manufactured entirely in the United States; and
(B) if the wood materials were produced, all
production occurred entirely in the United States.
(3) Public agency.--The term ``public agency'' means a
department, agency, other unit, or instrumentality of Federal,
State, Tribal, or local government.
(4) Rural.--The term ``rural'' has the meaning given the
term in section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)).
(5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Agriculture, acting through the Under Secretary for Rural
Development, in consultation with the Under Secretary for
Natural Resources and Environment.
(b) Grant Program.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants to
eligible entities to carry out pilot projects to demonstrate
the use of innovative wood products, systems, and technologies,
such as mass timber, in the construction and renovation of
rural infrastructure and building projects.
(2) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this subsection, an eligible entity shall submit to the
Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and
containing such information as the Secretary may require.
(c) Project Requirements.--A pilot project carried out using a
grant received under subsection (b)(1) shall--
(1) be not longer than 5 years;
(2) include collaboration between 1 or more eligible
entities and 1 or more public agencies;
(3) primarily use for construction materials wood products
that are manufactured and prefabricated offsite and assembled
onsite as a ``kit-of-parts'' or by assembling finished modules;
(4) to the extent practicable, use wood materials that are
produced and assembled in the United States; and
(5) be located in or provide benefits to a rural community
that, to the extent practicable, has a history in wood products
manufacturing.
(d) Matching Requirement.--As a condition of receiving a grant
under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity shall provide funds, to be
derived from non-Federal sources--
(1) except as provided in paragraph (2), equal to the
amount received by the eligible entity under the grant; or
(2) in the case of a pilot project serving a population
of--
(A) less than 19,000 residents, equal to 50 percent
of the amount received by the eligible entity under the
grant; or
(B) less than 2,500 residents, equal to 25 percent
of the amount received by the eligible entity under the
grant.
(e) Limitation on Amount.--The total amount of grants awarded under
subsection (b)(1) shall be not more than $10,000,000 for each fiscal
year.
(f) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall provide for an independent
evaluation of pilot projects carried out under this section that
includes--
(1) a summary of the activities conducted under the pilot
projects;
(2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the project
requirements described in subsection (c); and
(3) best practices regarding the use of public-private
partnerships for increased wood utilization to benefit rural
communities.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.
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