[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3221 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3221

  To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for 
           energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 14, 2011

Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Carnahan, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Courtney, Ms. 
   Schakowsky, Mr. Olver, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. Welch) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for 
           energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings.

    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 ``Job Creation and Energy Efficiency 
Act''.

SEC. 2. LOAN PROGRAM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY UPGRADES TO EXISTING 
              BUILDINGS.

    Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16511 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1706. BUILDING RETROFIT FINANCING PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Credit support.--The term `credit support' means a 
        guarantee or commitment to issue a guarantee or other forms of 
        credit enhancement to ameliorate risks for efficiency 
        obligations.
            ``(2) Efficiency obligation.--The term `efficiency 
        obligation' means a debt or repayment obligation incurred in 
        connection with financing a project, or a portfolio of such 
        debt or repayment obligations.
            ``(3) Project.--The term `project' means the installation 
        and implementation of efficiency, advanced metering, 
        distributed generation, or renewable energy technologies and 
        measures for a building (or for multiple buildings on a given 
        property) that are expected to increase the energy efficiency 
        of the building (including fixtures) in accordance with 
        criteria established by the Secretary.
    ``(b) Eligible Projects.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding sections 1703 and 1705, 
        the Secretary may provide credit support under this section, in 
        accordance with section 1702.
            ``(2) Inclusions.--Buildings eligible for credit support 
        under this section include commercial, multifamily residential, 
        industrial, municipal, government, institution of higher 
        education, school, and hospital facilities that satisfy 
        criteria established by the Secretary.
    ``(c) Guidelines.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) establish guidelines for credit support 
                provided under this section;
                    ``(B) publish the guidelines in the Federal 
                Register; and
                    ``(C) provide for an opportunity for public comment 
                on the guidelines.
            ``(2) Requirements.--The guidelines established by the 
        Secretary under this subsection shall include--
                    ``(A) standards for assessing the energy savings 
                that could reasonably be expected to result from a 
                project;
                    ``(B) examples of financing mechanisms (and 
                portfolios of such financing mechanisms) that qualify 
                as efficiency obligations;
                    ``(C) the threshold levels of energy savings that a 
                project, at the time of issuance of credit support, 
                shall be reasonably expected to achieve to be eligible 
                for credit support;
                    ``(D) the eligibility criteria the Secretary 
                determines to be necessary for making credit support 
                available under this section; and
                    ``(E) notwithstanding subsections (d)(3) and 
                (g)(2)(B) of section 1702, any lien priority 
                requirements that the Secretary determines to be 
                necessary, in consultation with the Director of the 
                Office of Management and Budget, which may include--
                            ``(i) mechanisms to preserve prior lien 
                        positions of mortgage lenders and other 
                        creditors in buildings eligible for credit 
                        support;
                            ``(ii) remedies available to the Secretary 
                        under chapter 176 of title 28, United States 
                        Code, in the event of default on the efficiency 
                        obligation by the borrower; and
                            ``(iii) measures to limit the exposure of 
                        the Secretary to financial risk in the event of 
                        default, such as--
                                    ``(I) the collection of a credit 
                                subsidy fee from the borrower as a loan 
                                loss reserve, taking into account the 
                                limitation on credit support under 
                                subsection (d);
                                    ``(II) minimum debt-to-income 
                                levels of the borrower;
                                    ``(III) minimum levels of value 
                                relative to outstanding mortgage or 
                                other debt on a building eligible for 
                                credit support;
                                    ``(IV) allowable thresholds for the 
                                percent of the efficiency obligation 
                                relative to the amount of any mortgage 
                                or other debt on an eligible building;
                                    ``(V) analysis of historic and 
                                anticipated occupancy levels and rental 
                                income of an eligible building;
                                    ``(VI) requirements of third-party 
                                contractors to guarantee energy savings 
                                that will result from a retrofit 
                                project, and whether financing on the 
                                efficiency obligation will amortize 
                                from the energy savings;
                                    ``(VII) requirements that the 
                                retrofit project incorporate protocols 
                                to measure and verify energy savings; 
                                and
                                    ``(VIII) recovery of payments 
                                equally by the Secretary and the 
                                retrofit.
            ``(3) Efficiency obligations.--The financing mechanisms 
        qualified by the Secretary under paragraph (2)(B) may include--
                    ``(A) loans, including loans made by the Federal 
                Financing Bank;
                    ``(B) power purchase agreements, including energy 
                efficiency power purchase agreements;
                    ``(C) energy services agreements, including energy 
                performance contracts;
                    ``(D) property assessed clean energy bonds and 
                other tax assessment-based financing mechanisms;
                    ``(E) aggregate on-meter agreements that finance 
                retrofit projects; and
                    ``(F) any other efficiency obligations the 
                Secretary determines to be appropriate.
            ``(4) Priorities.--In carrying out this section, the 
        Secretary shall prioritize--
                    ``(A) the maximization of energy savings with the 
                available credit support funding;
                    ``(B) the establishment of a clear application and 
                approval process that allows private building owners, 
                lenders, and investors to reasonably expect to receive 
                credit support for projects that conform to guidelines;
                    ``(C) the distribution of projects receiving credit 
                support under this section across States or 
                geographical regions of the United States; and
                    ``(D) projects designed to achieve whole-building 
                retrofits.
    ``(d) Limitation.--Notwithstanding section 1702(c), the Secretary 
shall not issue credit support under this section in an amount that 
exceeds--
            ``(1) 90 percent of the principal amount of the efficiency 
        obligation that is the subject of the credit support; or
            ``(2) $25,000,000 for any single project.
    ``(e) Aggregation of Projects.--To the extent provided in the 
guidelines developed in accordance with subsection (c), the Secretary 
may issue credit support on a portfolio, or pool of projects, that are 
not required to be geographically contiguous, if each efficiency 
obligation in the pool fulfills the requirements described in this 
section.
    ``(f) Application.--
            ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive credit support 
        under this section, the applicant shall submit to the Secretary 
        an application at such time, in such manner, and containing 
        such information as the Secretary determines to be necessary.
            ``(2) Contents.--An application submitted under this 
        section shall include assurances by the applicant that--
                    ``(A) each contractor carrying out the project 
                meets minimum experience level criteria, including 
                local retrofit experience, as determined by the 
                Secretary;
                    ``(B) the project is reasonably expected to achieve 
                energy savings, as set forth in the application using 
                any methodology that meets the standards described in 
                the program guidelines;
                    ``(C) the project meets any technical criteria 
                described in the program guidelines;
                    ``(D) the recipient of the credit support and the 
                parties to the efficiency obligation will provide the 
                Secretary with--
                            ``(i) any information the Secretary 
                        requests to assess the energy savings that 
                        result from the project, including historical 
                        energy usage data, a simulation-based 
                        benchmark, and detailed descriptions of the 
                        building work, as described in the program 
                        guidelines; and
                            ``(ii) permission to access information 
                        relating to building operations and usage for 
                        the period described in the program guidelines; 
                        and
                    ``(E) any other assurances that the Secretary 
                determines to be necessary.
            ``(3) Determination.--Not later than 90 days after 
        receiving an application, the Secretary shall make a final 
        determination on the application, which may include requests 
        for additional information.
    ``(g) Fees.--
            ``(1) In general.--In addition to the fees required by 
        section 1702(h)(1), the Secretary may charge reasonable fees 
        for credit support provided under this section.
            ``(2) Availability.--Fees collected under this section 
        shall be subject to section 1702(h)(2).
    ``(h) Underwriting.--The Secretary may delegate the underwriting 
activities under this section to 1 or more entities that the Secretary 
determines to be qualified.
    ``(i) Status Report.--Not later than 1 year after commencement of 
the program, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report that 
describes in reasonable detail--
            ``(1) the manner in which this section is being carried 
        out;
            ``(2) the number and type of projects supported;
            ``(3) the types of funding mechanisms used to provide 
        credit support to projects;
            ``(4) the energy savings expected to result from projects 
        supported by this section;
            ``(5) any tracking efforts the Secretary is using to 
        calculate the actual energy savings produced by the projects; 
        and
            ``(6) any plans to improve the tracking efforts described 
        in paragraph (5).
    ``(j) Buy American Report.--The Secretary shall submit to the 
Congress an annual report that estimates the percentage of American-
made materials used in conducting retrofit activities funded pursuant 
to this section.
    ``(k) Funding.--
            ``(1) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
        $15,000,000,000 for the period encompassing fiscal years 2012 
        through 2021.
            ``(2) Administrative costs.--Not more than 1 percent of any 
        amounts made available to the Secretary for carrying out this 
        section may be used by the Secretary for administrative costs 
        incurred in carrying out this section.''.
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