[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 451 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 451

 To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate 
 the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United 
                    States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 25, 2021

Mrs. Capito (for herself and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate 
 the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United 
                    States, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Composite Standards Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FACILITATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY IN 
              INFRASTRUCTURE.

    (a) Research.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, the 
Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology, shall implement the 
recommendations contained in the December 2017 report entitled ``Road 
Mapping Workshop Report on Overcoming Barriers to Adoption of 
Composites in Sustainable Infrastructure'', as appropriate, to help 
facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in 
the United States. In implementing such recommendations, the Secretary, 
acting through the Director shall, with respect to the use of composite 
technology in infrastructure--
            (1) not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, develop a design for a data clearinghouse to 
        identify, gather, validate, and disseminate existing design 
        criteria, tools, evaluation methods and services, guidelines, 
        and standards in a timely manner;
            (2) not later than 18 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, establish the data clearinghouse 
        described in paragraph (1);
            (3) when it would not duplicate or displace building 
        product-specific private sector developed methods and 
        resources, develop methods and resources for testing and 
        evaluating safe and appropriate uses of composite materials for 
        infrastructure, including--
                    (A) conditioning protocols, procedures and models;
                    (B) screening and acceptance tools; and
                    (C) minimum allowable design data sets that can be 
                converted into design tools; and
            (4) work with other Federal agencies, as appropriate, to 
        identify environmental impacts and recyclability of composite 
        materials.
    (b) Standards Coordination.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Director, shall assure that the appropriate Institute staff consult 
regularly with standards developers, evaluation and accreditation 
bodies, members of the composites industry, institutions of higher 
education, and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the adoption 
of standards for use of composite materials in infrastructure that are 
based on the research and testing results and other information 
developed by the Institute.
    (c) Pilot Program.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to the availability of 
        appropriations, commencing not later than 1 year after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National 
        Institute of Standards and Technology shall, in consultation 
        with the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers 
        Program of the National Science Foundation, conduct a pilot 
        program to assess the feasibility and advisability of adopting 
        composite technology in sustainable infrastructure.
            (2) Duration.--The Director shall carry out the pilot 
        program during the 4-year period beginning on the date of the 
        commencement of the pilot program.
            (3) Reports.--
                    (A) Preliminary report.--Not later than the date 
                that is 2 years after the date of the commencement of 
                the pilot program, the Director shall submit to the 
                Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
                the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                Technology of the House of Representatives a report on 
                the preliminary findings of the Director with respect 
                to the pilot program.
                    (B) Final report.--Not later than the date that is 
                90 days after the date of the completion of the pilot 
                program, the Director shall submit to the committees 
                referred to in subparagraph (A) a report on the 
                findings of the Director with respect to the pilot 
                program.
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