[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 706 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 706

To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a pilot program to award 
 grants and loan guarantees to hospitals to carry out projects for the 
 purpose of reducing energy costs and increasing resilience to improve 
                               security.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 15, 2011

Mr. Engel (for himself and Mr. Bartlett) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 
    addition to the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a pilot program to award 
 grants and loan guarantees to hospitals to carry out projects for the 
 purpose of reducing energy costs and increasing resilience to improve 
                               security.

    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 ``Hospital Energy Independence Act''.

SEC. 2. ENERGY CONSERVATION GRANT AND LOAN GUARANTEE PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy shall establish a pilot 
program to award grants and loan guarantees to hospitals to carry out 
energy conservation projects for the purpose of--
            (1) significantly improving the energy efficiency of such 
        hospitals; and
            (2) encouraging onsite power generation and energy storage, 
        capable of operating independent of the grid, and providing 
        sufficient onsite emergency backup power for essential hospital 
        functions.
    (b) Number of Hospitals.--The Secretary shall award grants and loan 
guarantees under the pilot program to no more than 6 hospitals during 
the period described in subsection (f).
    (c) Applications.--A hospital seeking a grant or loan guarantee 
under the pilot program shall submit an application to the Secretary at 
such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the 
Secretary may require.
    (d) Considerations.--In selecting a hospital to award a grant or 
loan guarantee to under the pilot program, the Secretary shall give 
special consideration to applications from such hospitals that can 
demonstrate that they are able to commence an energy conservation 
project more promptly.
    (e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 
implementation of the pilot program. Such report shall include 
information that would allow for Congress to evaluate the effectiveness 
of the pilot program and to advance best practices.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The terms ``hospital'' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 391 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 
        U.S.C. 6371), and also includes academic facilities that 
        specialize in scientific research, provide patient care, and 
        serve as health and medical education centers.
            (2) The term ``energy conservation project'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 391 of the Energy Policy and 
        Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6371).
    (g) Recission; Source of Funding.--Of the unobligated balances of 
the discretionary appropriations made available by division A of the 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), 
there are rescinded and made available $90,000,000 to carry out the 
pilot program, which shall be committed during fiscal years 2011 and 
2012.
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