[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2867 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2867

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish a program for making 
     prizes for advanced or transformational technologies for the 
    production, consumption, and distribution of nonpetroleum-based 
               alternative energy and energy efficiency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2007

 Mr. McHenry introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on Science and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish a program for making 
     prizes for advanced or transformational technologies for the 
    production, consumption, and distribution of nonpetroleum-based 
               alternative energy and energy efficiency.

    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 ``Independence Prize Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) it is critical to eliminate the United States' 
        dependence on foreign sources of oil;
            (2) the United States imports 58 percent of the total oil 
        requirements of the United States, 41 percent of which comes 
        from countries belonging to the Organization of Petroleum 
        Exporting Countries, including Iran, Venezuela, and Libya; and
            (3) American taxpayers have funded over $20,000,000,000 of 
        research and development in the areas of energy and renewable 
        energy programs, nuclear energy, and science in the last 5 
        fiscal years.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    The Secretary of Energy shall establish a program for awarding 
prizes to United States' entities for research, development, and 
commercialization of advanced or transformational technologies for the 
production, consumption, and distribution of nonpetroleum-based 
alternative energy and energy efficiency, with the goal of eliminating 
the United States' reliance on foreign sources of energy.

SEC. 4. PRIZE COMPETITION GUIDELINES.

    The Secretary, in consultation with the advisory committee 
established under section 5, shall publish guidelines for advertising 
prize competitions and their results, determining the amount of each 
prize, selecting the winners of prize competitions, and otherwise 
administering prize competitions under this Act.

SEC. 5. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish an advisory 
committee, consisting of experts on the subjects for which prizes may 
be awarded under this Act. The advisory committee shall advise the 
Secretary on designing the program, establishing the guidelines 
required under section 4, selecting the winners of prize competitions, 
and otherwise administering this Act.
    (b) Limitations.--Members of the advisory committee may not--
            (1) have personal or financial interests in, or be an 
        employee, officer, director, or agent of, any entity that is a 
        participant in a prize competition under this Act; or
            (2) have a familial or financial relationship with an 
        individual who is a participant in a prize competition under 
        this Act.

SEC. 6. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.

    The Secretary shall design the program under this Act to prevent 
the unauthorized use or disclosure of a prize competition participant's 
intellectual property, trade secrets, and confidential business 
information.

SEC. 7. FUNDING.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 
carrying out this Act $250,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 
through 2011.
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