[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 280 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 280

To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department of Housing 
  and Urban Development for the cleanup and economic redevelopment of 
                              brownfields.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2005

Mr. Gary G. Miller of California (for himself, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Oxley, 
  Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Ney, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. Leach, Ms. 
Hart, Mr. Souder, and Mr. Turner) introduced the following bill; which 
          was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department of Housing 
  and Urban Development for the cleanup and economic redevelopment of 
                              brownfields.

    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 ``Brownfields Redevelopment 
Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) returning the Nation's brownfield sites to productive 
        economic use could generate more than 550,000 additional jobs 
        and up to $2,400,000,000 in new tax revenues for cities and 
        towns;
            (2) redevelopment of brownfield sites and reuse of 
        infrastructure at such sites will protect natural resources and 
        open spaces;
            (3) lack of funding for redevelopment is a primary obstacle 
        impeding the reuse of brownfield sites;
            (4) the Department of Housing and Urban Development is the 
        agency of the Federal Government that is principally 
        responsible for supporting community development and 
        encouraging productive land use in urban areas of the United 
        States;
            (5) grants under the Brownfields Economic Development 
        Initiative of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        provide local governments with a flexible source of funding to 
        pursue brownfields redevelopment through land acquisition, site 
        preparation, economic development, and other activities;
            (6) to be eligible for such grant funds, a community must 
        be willing to pledge community development block grant funds as 
        partial collateral for a loan guarantee under section 108 of 
        the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, and this 
        requirement is a barrier to many local communities that are 
        unable or unwilling to pledge such block grant funds as 
        collateral; and
            (7) by de-linking grants for brownfields development from 
        section 108 community development loan guarantees and the 
        related pledge of community development block grant funds, more 
        communities will have access to funding for redevelopment of 
        brownfield sites.
    (b) Purposes.--The purpose of this Act is to provide cities and 
towns with more flexibility for brownfields development, increased 
accessibility to brownfields redevelopment funds, and greater capacity 
to coordinate and collaborate with other government agencies--
            (1) by providing additional incentives to invest in the 
        cleanup and development of brownfield sites; and
            (2) by de-linking grants for brownfields development from 
        community development loan guarantees and the related pledge of 
        community development block grant funds.

SEC. 3. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE.

    Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 
U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 123. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may make grants under this 
section, on a competitive basis as specified in section 102 of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989 (42 
U.S.C. 3545), only to eligible public entities (as such term is defined 
in section 108(o) of this title) and Indian tribes for carrying out 
projects and activities to assist the environmental cleanup and 
development of brownfield sites, which shall include mine-scarred 
lands.
    ``(b) Use of Grant Amounts.--Amounts from grants under this section 
shall--
            ``(1) be used, as provided in subsection (a) of this 
        section, only for activities specified in section 108(a); and
            ``(2) be subject to the same requirements that, under 
        section 101(c) and paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 104(b), 
        apply to grants under section 106.
    ``(c) Availability of Assistance.--The Secretary shall not require, 
for eligibility for a grant under this section, that such grant amounts 
be used only in connection or conjunction with projects and activities 
assisted with a loan guaranteed under section 108.
    ``(d) Applications.--Applications for assistance under this section 
shall be in the form and in accordance with procedures as shall be 
established by the Secretary.
    ``(e) Selection Criteria and Leveraging.--The Secretary shall 
establish criteria for awarding grants under this section, which may 
include the extent to which the applicant has obtained other Federal, 
State, local, or private funds for the projects and activities to be 
assisted with grant amounts and such other criteria as the Secretary 
considers appropriate. Such criteria shall include consideration of the 
appropriateness of the extent of financial leveraging involved in the 
projects and activities to be funded with the grant amounts.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated for grants under this section such sums as may be 
necessary for each of fiscal years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.''.

SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT AS ELIGIBLE CDBG 
              ACTIVITY.

    (a) Technical Correction.--The penultimate proviso of the first 
undesignated paragraph of the item relating to ``Community Development 
Block Grants Fund'' in title II of the Departments of Veterans Affairs 
and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-204; 110 Stat. 2887) shall be 
treated as having amended section 105(a) of the Housing and Community 
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) to read as such section was 
in effect on September 30, 1995.
    (b) Brownfields Redevelopment Activities.--Section 105(a) of the 
Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)), as 
in effect pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (24), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (25), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(26) environmental cleanup and economic development 
        activities related to brownfield projects in conjunction with 
        the appropriate environmental regulatory agencies.''.

SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL REDEVELOPMENT OF BROWNFIELDS.

    Section 108(q) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 
(42 U.S.C. 5308(q)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(5) Pilot program for national redevelopment of 
        brownfields.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Using any amounts made available 
                under this subsection, the Secretary may establish a 
                pilot program under which grants under this subsection 
                are used to develop, maintain, and administer 
                (including the payment of an entity or entities 
                selected pursuant to subparagraph (B)) a common loan 
                pool of development loans for brownfield redevelopment 
                projects made on behalf of eligible public entities 
                with the proceeds of obligations guaranteed under this 
                section, including related security and a common loans 
                loss reserve account, for the benefit of participants 
                in the pilot program.
                    ``(B) Selection of program managers and 
                contractors.--The Secretary may select an entity or 
                entities on a competitive or noncompetitive basis to 
                carry out any of the functions involved in the pilot 
                program.
                    ``(C) Terms for participation.--Participation by 
                eligible public entities in the pilot program shall be 
                under such terms and conditions as the Secretary may 
                require.
                    ``(D) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
                authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
                necessary--
                            ``(i) for grants under this subsection to 
                        be used only in conjunction with the pilot 
                        program under this paragraph; and
                            ``(ii) for costs of carrying out the pilot 
                        program under this paragraph and ensuring that 
                        the program is carried out in an effective, 
                        efficient, and viable manner.''.

SEC. 6. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO ALLOW USE OF CDBG FUNDS TO ADMINISTER 
              RENEWAL COMMUNITIES.

    Section 105(a)(13) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(13)) is amended by inserting ``and renewal 
communities'' after ``enterprise zones''.

SEC. 7. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply only with respect to 
amounts made available for fiscal year 2006 and fiscal years thereafter 
for use under the provisions of law amended by this Act.
                                 <all>