[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3437 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3437

 To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide assistance to States to carry 
 out initiatives to promote the use of natural gas as a transportation 
  fuel and public and private investment in natural gas vehicles and 
                     transportation infrastructure.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2012

   Mr. Casey introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide assistance to States to carry 
 out initiatives to promote the use of natural gas as a transportation 
  fuel and public and private investment in natural gas vehicles and 
                     transportation infrastructure.

    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 ``State Natural Gas Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATES TO PROMOTE NATURAL GAS USE IN TRANSPORTATION.

    The Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating sections 25 and 26 (15 U.S.C. 717v, 
        717w) as sections 26 and 27, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after section 24 (15 U.S.C. 717u) the 
        following:

``SEC. 25. GRANTS TO STATES TO PROMOTE NATURAL GAS USE IN 
              TRANSPORTATION.

    ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            ``(1) to provide assistance to States to carry out 
        initiatives to promote--
                    ``(A) the use of natural gas as a transportation 
                fuel; and
                    ``(B) public and private investment in natural gas 
                vehicles and transportation infrastructure; and
            ``(2) to recognize that each State is different and 
        initiatives are most effective when the initiatives are 
        structured to meet the specific needs and challenges of an 
        individual State.
    ``(b) Grants.--The Secretary of Energy (referred to in this section 
as the `Secretary') shall make grants available to States to 
independently carry out initiatives within the States to promote the 
purposes of this section.
    ``(c) Eligibility.--A State shall be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section if--
            ``(1) the State submits an application to the Secretary at 
        such time, in such form, and containing such information as the 
        Secretary may prescribe, including a plan for initiatives to be 
        carried out using the grant; and
            ``(2) the Secretary--
                    ``(A) determines that the application and plan of 
                the State promote the purposes of this section; and
                    ``(B) approves the application.
    ``(d) Minimum Amount.--Subject to the availability of funds under 
subsection (f), the minimum amount of a grant provided to a State that 
submits an application that is approved by the Secretary under this 
section shall be $1,000,000.
    ``(e) Additional Amounts.--Subject to the availability of funds 
under subsection (f), in addition to the minimum amount that is 
provided under subsection (d), the Secretary shall increase the amount 
of grants available to eligible States to reflect the potential of 
applications and plans of the States to promote the purposes of this 
section (as determined by the Secretary), taking into consideration--
            ``(1) the relative amount of public and private funds that 
        are likely to be leveraged by initiatives described in the plan 
        of the State;
            ``(2) the degree that initiatives will support a need that 
        is unlikely to be met by the private sector absent grant 
        program funding;
            ``(3) the degree that initiatives will act as a bridge to 
        private investment and sustainable market conditions; and
            ``(4) the amount of funds invested in public and private 
        investment in States in natural gas transportation and 
        infrastructure.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $500,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2013 through 2022.''.
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