[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5044 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5044

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities 
    relating to research for wood products, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

   Ms. Salinas (for herself, Mr. Duarte, Ms. Perez, and Ms. Pingree) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities 
    relating to research for wood products, 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 ``Timber Innovation for Building Rural 
Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY.

    In this Act, the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.

SEC. 3. FOREST AND WOOD PRODUCTS DATA PROVISION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary, in collaboration with the Chief of 
the Natural Resources Conservation Service and in consultation with 
federally recognized Indian Tribes, State foresters, and private sector 
partners, shall establish a platform to provide measurement, 
monitoring, verification, and reporting data regarding the carbon 
emissions, sequestration, storage, and related atmospheric impacts of 
forest management and wood products.
    (b) Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall source data, information, and data analysis from Department of 
Agriculture programs, including--
            (1) the Forest Inventory and Analysis program;
            (2) the Timber Products Output survey;
            (3) Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation 
        Service soil carbon estimations;
            (4) Department of Agriculture entity-level guidance;
            (5) the Forest Products Laboratory;
            (6) the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons;
            (7) Department of Agriculture entity level guidelines; and
            (8) other relevant programmatic data and information 
        sources, as they are published and made available.
    (c) Priorities.--The platform established by subsection (a) shall 
provide tools that calculate--
            (1) the above- and below-ground forest carbon stocks and 
        stock changes associated with species composition, forest 
        management regime, and landowner types, including small area 
        estimations for regional and localized geographies across the 
        United States, made available through Forest Inventory and 
        Analysis updates and annual reports;
            (2) the embodied carbon involved in the manufacture of 
        products, using data from published environmental product 
        declarations and life cycle assessments, updated as new and 
        more refined data becomes available;
            (3) the long-term stored carbon in manufactured timber 
        products; and
            (4) the carbon displacement of wood products, compared to 
        other materials, using substitution factors.
    (d) Timeframe.--To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 
shall establish the platform under subsection (a) not later than 2 
years after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM.

    Section 8643 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 
7655d) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (d), by inserting ``50 percent of'' 
        before ``the amount''; and
            (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
    ``(c) Targeting To Support Economic Development, Enhanced Building 
Design, and Impact Assessment.--In selecting among proposals of 
eligible entities under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may give 
priority to proposals for projects that--
            ``(1) include the use or retrofitting (or both) of existing 
        sawmill facilities located in counties in which the average 
        annual unemployment rate exceeded the national average 
        unemployment rate by more than 1 percent in the previous 
        calendar year;
            ``(2) recognize or enhance carbon reduction strategies in 
        building design, including forest impacts, which can be 
        improved or incentivized by North American procurement; or
            ``(3) report on the connection between their proposal and 
        the resilience and economic benefits associated with wood 
        products from anticipated wood supply areas, including wildfire 
        risk reduction, increased fiber flow, forest or mill jobs, and 
        support for forested communities created because of forest 
        management.''.

SEC. 5. WOOD BUILDING EDUCATION ACCELERATOR GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
                    (A) an engineering, architecture, or design school 
                at an institution of higher education; or
                    (B) a center of excellence that consists of 1 or 
                more partnerships between forestry, engineering, 
                architecture, or business schools at 1 or more 
                institutions of higher education.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary, 
        acting through the Research and Development deputy area and the 
        State, Private, and Tribal Forestry deputy area of the Forest 
        Service.
    (b) Grant Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program, 
        to be known as the ``Wood Building Education Accelerator Grant 
        Program'', to annually award grants to geographically diverse 
        eligible entities to support the development of curricula, 
        programs, and best practices relating to the critical elements 
        of designing and building with wood, including the use of 
        traditional wood products, mass timber, and other advanced wood 
        products.
            (2) Proposals.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this subsection, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
        Secretary a proposal at such time, in such manner, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may require.
            (3) Review and awards.--The Secretary shall review 
        proposals submitted under paragraph (2), and award grants under 
        this subsection, in consultation with nonprofit organizations, 
        research organizations, or other private entities providing 
        funding to eligible entities to support activities carried out 
        using grants under this section.
    (c) Matching Requirement.--As a condition of receiving a grant 
under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity shall provide funds equal 
to the amount received by the eligible entity under the grant, to be 
derived from non-Federal sources.
    (d) Limitation on Amount.--The total amount of grants awarded under 
subsection (b)(1) shall be not more than $10,000,000 for each fiscal 
year.
    (e) Allocation.--Subject to the availability of appropriations made 
in advance for such purposes, the Secretary shall allocate to carry out 
this section not more than $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
through 2028.

SEC. 6. RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
                    (A) a nonprofit organization;
                    (B) a community-based organization;
                    (C) a State, local, or municipal government;
                    (D) a tribally designated housing authority;
                    (E) a private entity, as determined by the 
                Secretary; and
                    (F) a consortium of 2 or more entities described in 
                subparagraphs (A) through (E).
            (2) Produced and assembled in the united states.--The term 
        ``produced and assembled in the United States'', with regard to 
        wood materials, means that--
                    (A) the wood materials, if manufactured, were 
                manufactured entirely in the United States; and
                    (B) if the wood materials were produced, all 
                production occurred entirely in the United States.
            (3) Public agency.--The term ``public agency'' means a 
        department, agency, other unit, or instrumentality of Federal, 
        State, Tribal, or local government.
            (4) Rural.--The term ``rural'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
        Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)).
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture, acting through the Under Secretary for Rural 
        Development, in consultation with the Under Secretary for 
        Natural Resources and Environment.
    (b) Grant Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants to 
        eligible entities to carry out pilot projects to demonstrate 
        the use of innovative wood products, systems, and technologies, 
        such as mass timber, in the construction and renovation of 
        rural infrastructure and building projects.
            (2) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this subsection, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
        Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may require.
    (c) Project Requirements.--A pilot project carried out using a 
grant received under subsection (b)(1) shall--
            (1) be not longer than 5 years;
            (2) include collaboration between 1 or more eligible 
        entities and 1 or more public agencies;
            (3) primarily use for construction materials wood products 
        that are manufactured and prefabricated offsite and assembled 
        onsite as a ``kit-of-parts'' or by assembling finished modules;
            (4) to the extent practicable, use wood materials that are 
        produced and assembled in the United States; and
            (5) be located in or provide benefits to a rural community 
        that, to the extent practicable, has a history in wood products 
        manufacturing.
    (d) Matching Requirement.--As a condition of receiving a grant 
under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity shall provide funds, to be 
derived from non-Federal sources--
            (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), equal to the 
        amount received by the eligible entity under the grant; or
            (2) in the case of a pilot project serving a population 
        of--
                    (A) less than 19,000 residents, equal to 50 percent 
                of the amount received by the eligible entity under the 
                grant; or
                    (B) less than 2,500 residents, equal to 25 percent 
                of the amount received by the eligible entity under the 
                grant.
    (e) Limitation on Amount.--The total amount of grants awarded under 
subsection (b)(1) shall be not more than $10,000,000 for each fiscal 
year.
    (f) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall provide for an independent 
evaluation of pilot projects carried out under this section that 
includes--
            (1) a summary of the activities conducted under the pilot 
        projects;
            (2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the project 
        requirements described in subsection (c); and
            (3) best practices regarding the use of public-private 
        partnerships for increased wood utilization to benefit rural 
        communities.
    (g) Allocation.--Subject to the availability of appropriations made 
in advance for such purposes, the Secretary shall allocate to carry out 
this section not more than $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
through 2028.
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