[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3099 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3099

 To require the Secretary of Energy to further develop and support the 
 adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process 
 for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying 
          distributed energy systems, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 19, 2023

 Mr. Heinrich (for himself, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Padilla, 
and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Energy to further develop and support the 
 adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process 
 for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying 
          distributed energy systems, 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 ``Streamlining Home Installation of 
New Energies Act of 2023'' or the ``SHINE Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM TO FACILITATE VOLUNTARY STREAMLINED 
              PROCESS FOR LOCAL PERMITTING OF QUALIFYING DISTRIBUTED 
              ENERGY SYSTEMS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Authority having jurisdiction.--The term ``authority 
        having jurisdiction'' means any State, county, local, or Tribal 
        office or official with jurisdiction--
                    (A) to issue permits relating to qualifying 
                distributed energy systems;
                    (B) to conduct inspections to enforce the 
                requirements of a relevant code or standard relating to 
                qualifying distributed energy systems; or
                    (C) to approve the installation of, or the 
                equipment and materials used in the installation of, 
                qualifying distributed energy systems.
            (2) Qualifying distributed energy system.--The term 
        ``qualifying distributed energy system'' means any equipment or 
        materials installed in, on, or near a residential building to 
        support onsite or local energy use, including--
                    (A) to generate electricity from distributed 
                renewable energy sources, including from--
                            (i) solar photovoltaic systems or similar 
                        solar energy technologies; and
                            (ii) wind power systems;
                    (B) to store and discharge electricity from 
                batteries with a capacity of at least 2 kilowatt hours;
                    (C) to charge a plug-in electric drive vehicle at a 
                power rate of at least 2 kilowatts; or
                    (D) to refuel a hydrogen fuel cell electric 
                vehicle.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
    (b) Program.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with trade associations and 
other entities representing distributed energy system installers and 
organizations representing State, local, and Tribal governments engaged 
in permitting, shall carry out a program to further develop, expand, 
and support the adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and 
inspection process for authorities having jurisdiction to use for the 
permitting of qualifying distributed energy systems.
    (c) Activities of the Program.--In carrying out the program 
established under subsection (b), the Secretary shall--
            (1) further develop and expand an exemplary streamlined 
        permitting process that includes an online permitting 
        platform--
                    (A) for expediting, standardizing, and streamlining 
                permitting; and
                    (B) that authorities having jurisdiction may 
                voluntarily use to receive, review, and approve permit 
                applications relating to qualifying distributed energy 
                systems;
            (2) establish targets for the adoption of a streamlined, 
        expedited permitting process by authorities having 
        jurisdiction;
            (3) provide technical assistance and training directly or 
        indirectly to authorities having jurisdiction on using and 
        adopting the exemplary streamlined permitting process described 
        in paragraph (1), including the adoption of any necessary 
        building codes;
            (4) develop a voluntary inspection protocol and related 
        tools to expedite, standardize, and streamline the inspection 
        of qualifying distributed energy systems, including--
                    (A) by investigating the potential for using remote 
                inspections;
                    (B) by investigating the potential for sample-based 
                inspection for distributed energy system installers 
                with a demonstrated track record of high-quality work; 
                and
                    (C) by investigating opportunities to integrate the 
                voluntary inspection protocol into the online 
                permitting platform described in paragraph (1) and the 
                platforms of government software providers; and
            (5) take any other action to expedite, standardize, 
        streamline, or improve the process for permitting, inspecting, 
        or interconnecting qualifying distributed energy systems.
    (d) Support Services.--The Secretary shall--
            (1) support the provision of technical assistance to 
        authorities having jurisdiction, any administrator of the 
        online permitting platform described in subsection (c)(1), 
        government software providers, and any other entity determined 
        appropriate by the Secretary in carrying out the activities 
        described in subsection (c); and
            (2) provide such financial assistance as the Secretary 
        determines appropriate from any funds appropriated to carry out 
        this section.
    (e) Authority Having Jurisdiction Certification Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary may certify authorities 
        having jurisdiction that implement the exemplary streamlined 
        permitting process described in subsection (c)(1).
            (2) Process.--The Secretary may confer a certification 
        under paragraph (1) through existing programs within the 
        Department of Energy.
            (3) Prizes.--The Secretary may award prizes to authorities 
        having jurisdiction, using funds appropriated to the Secretary 
        to carry out this section, to encourage authorities having 
        jurisdiction to adopt the exemplary streamlined permitting 
        process or the voluntary inspection protocol established under 
        paragraphs (1) and (4) of subsection (c), respectively.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $20,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027.
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