[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3016 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3016

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to require 
  the Secretary of Agriculture to establish research, extension, and 
    educational programs to implement biobased energy technologies, 
  products, and economic diversification in rural areas of the United 
                                States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 30, 2002

  Mr. Daschle introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to require 
  the Secretary of Agriculture to establish research, extension, and 
    educational programs to implement biobased energy technologies, 
  products, and economic diversification in rural areas of the United 
                                States.

    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 ``Sun Grant Initiative for Renewable 
Energy and Biobased Products Act''.

SEC. 2. RESEARCH, EXTENSION, AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ON BIOBASED 
              ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS.

    Title IX of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 
U.S.C. 8101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 9011. RESEARCH, EXTENSION, AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ON BIOBASED 
              ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS.

    ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of the programs established under 
this section are--
            ``(1) to enhance national energy security through the 
        development, distribution, and implementation of biobased 
        energy technologies;
            ``(2) to promote diversification in, and the environmental 
        sustainability of, agricultural production in the United States 
        through biobased energy and product technologies; and
            ``(3) to promote economic diversification in rural areas of 
        the United States through biobased energy and product 
        technologies.
    ``(b) Definition of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities.--In this 
section, the term `land-grant colleges and universities' means--
            ``(1) 1862 Institutions (as defined in section 2 of the 
        Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 
        1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601));
            ``(2) 1890 Institutions (as defined in section 2 of that 
        Act); and
            ``(3) 1994 Institutions (as defined in section 2 of that 
        Act).
    ``(c) Establishment.--To carry out the purposes described in 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall establish programs under which--
            ``(1) the Secretary shall provide grants to sun grant 
        centers specified in subsection (d)(1); and
            ``(2) the sun grant centers shall use the grants in 
        accordance with this section.
    ``(d) Grants to Centers.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall use amounts made 
        available for a fiscal year under subsection (i) to provide a 
        grant to each of the following sun grant centers:
                    ``(A) North central center.--A northern sun grant 
                center at South Dakota State University for the region 
                composed of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
                Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South 
                Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
                    ``(B) Southeastern center.--A southeastern sun 
                grant center at the University of Tennessee at 
                Knoxville for the region composed of--
                            ``(i) the States of Alabama, Florida, 
                        Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
                        South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia;
                            ``(ii) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and
                            ``(iii) the United States Virgin Islands.
                    ``(C) South central center.--A southern sun grant 
                center at Oklahoma State University for the region 
                composed of the States of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, 
                Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.
                    ``(D) Western center.--A western sun grant center 
                at Oregon State University for the region composed of--
                            ``(i) the States of Alaska, Arizona, 
                        California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, 
                        Utah, and Washington; and
                            ``(ii) territories and possessions of the 
                        United States (other than the territories 
                        referred to in clauses (ii) and (iii) of 
                        subparagraph (B)).
                    ``(E) Northeastern center.--A northeastern sun 
                grant center at Cornell University for the region 
                composed of the States of Connecticut, Delaware, 
                Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New 
                Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
                Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia.
            ``(2) Equal amounts.--Of the amount of funds that are made 
        available for grants for fiscal year under paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall provide an equal amount of grants to each of 
        the sun grant centers specified in paragraph (1).
    ``(e) Use of Funds.--
            ``(1) Centers of excellence.--Of the amount of funds that 
        are made available for a fiscal year to a sun grant center 
        under subsection (d), the center shall use not more than 25 
        percent of the amount for administration and support centers of 
        excellence in science, engineering, and economics at the 
        university to promote the purposes described in subsection (a) 
        through the State agricultural experiment station, cooperative 
        extension services, and relevant educational programs of the 
        university.
            ``(2) Grants to land-grant colleges and universities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The sun grant center established 
                for a region shall use the funds that remain available 
                for a fiscal year after expenditures made under 
                paragraph (1) to provide competitive grants to land-
                grant colleges and universities in the region of the 
                sun grant center to conduct, consistent with the 
                purposes described in subsection (a), 
                multiinstitutional and multistate--
                            ``(i) research, extension, and educational 
                        programs on technology development; and
                            ``(ii) integrated research, extension, and 
                        educational programs on technology 
                        implementation.
                    ``(B) Programs.--Of the amount of funds that are 
                used to provide grants for a fiscal year under 
                subparagraph (A), the center shall use--
                            ``(i) not less than 20 percent of the funds 
                        to carry out programs described in subparagraph 
                        (A)(i); and
                            ``(ii) not less than 20 percent of the 
                        funds to carry out programs described in 
                        subparagraph (A)(ii).
            ``(3) Indirect costs.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), a sun grant center may recover the 
                indirect costs of making a grant under this subsection 
                in an amount that does not exceed 19 percent of the 
                amount of the direct costs of making the grant.
                    ``(B) Other land-grant colleges and universities.--
                A sun grant center may not recover the indirect costs 
                of making grants under paragraph (2) to other land-
                grant colleges and universities.
    ``(f) Plan.--Subject to the availability of funds under subsection 
(i), in cooperation with other land-grant colleges and universities and 
private industry, the sun grant centers shall jointly develop and 
submit to the Secretary, for approval, a plan for the making of grants 
under subsections (e)(1) and (e)(2) for programs that will facilitate 
the development of--
            ``(1) not later than January 1, 2008, critical biobased-
        based products industries;
            ``(2) not later than January 1, 2013--
                    ``(A) a biobased transportation fuels production 
                industry; and
                    ``(B) an independent biobased power production 
                industry; and
            ``(3) not later than January 1, 2018, hydrogen production 
        systems for biobased products.
    ``(g) Grants to Other Land-Grant Colleges and Universities.--
            ``(1) Priority for grants.--In making grants under 
        subsection (e)(2), a sun grant center shall give a higher 
        priority to programs that are consistent with the plan approved 
        by the Secretary under subsection (f).
            ``(2) Term of grants.--The term of a grant provided by a 
        sun grant center under subsection (e)(2) shall not exceed 5 
        years.
            ``(3) Coordination with bioenergy and biobased product 
        development programs.--The sun grant centers shall jointly 
        develop and submit to the Secretary, for approval, a plan for 
        coordination of activities of the centers with, and input from, 
        the bioenergy and biobased product development programs of the 
        Secretary of Energy, including those conducted at the Oak Ridge 
        National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy 
        Laboratory.
    ``(h) Grant Information Analysis Center.--The sun grant centers 
shall maintain a Sun Grant Information Analysis Center to provide sun 
grant centers analysis and data management support.
    ``(i) Annual Reports.--Not later than March 1 following the end of 
each fiscal year for which a sun grant center receives a grant under 
subsection (d), the sun grant center shall submit to the Secretary a 
report that describes the policies, priorities, and operations of the 
program carried out by the center during the fiscal year, including a 
description of progress made in facilitating the priorities described 
in subsection (f).
    ``(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2003 through 2020, of which $4,000,000 for each fiscal year shall 
be made available to carry out subsection (h).''.

SEC. 3. BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Board.--Section 305(b) of the Biomass Research and Development 
Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 7624 note; Public Law 106-224) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs 
        (4) and (5), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
                    ``(3) a representative of the Cooperative Research, 
                Extension, and Educational Service; and''; and
            (3) in paragraph (5) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)), by 
        striking ``(3)'' and inserting ``(4)''.
    (b) Technical Advisory Committee.--Section 306(b)(1) of the Biomass 
Research and Development Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 7624 note; Public Law 
106-224) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (I), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as subparagraph (K); 
        and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the following:
                    ``(J) a representative of sun grant centers 
                specified in section 9011(d)(1) of the Farm Security 
                and Rural Investment Act of 2002; and''.
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