Rural and Remote Community Fairness Act of 1998

Summary: TABLE OF CONTENTS: 
     Title I:  Short Title 
     Title II:  Rural and Remote Community Development Block 
          Grants 
     Title III:  Rural and Remote Community Electrification Grants 
Title I:  Short Title
 - Rural and Remote Community Fairness Act of 1998. 
Title II:  Rural and Remote Community Development Block
 
Grants
 - Amends the Housing and Community Act of 1974 to authorize (including appropriations) a rural and remote community development block grant program.  Sets forth eligible program activities, including housing, water and waste water, and fuel and energy enhancements. 
Title III:  Rural and Remote Community Electrification
 
Grants
 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to authorize (including appropriations) rural and remote community electrification grants.

TITLE I--SHORT TITLE

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural and Remote Community Fairness 
Act of 1998''.

     TITLE II--RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS

    The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-
383) is amended by inserting at the end the following new title:

    ``TITLE IX--RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS

                         ``findings and purpose

    ``Sec. 901. (a) Findings.--The Congress finds and declares that--
            ``(1) a modern infrastructure, including efficient housing, 
        electricity, bulk fuel, waste water and water service, is a 
        necessary ingredient of a modern society and development of a 
        prosperous economy with minimal environmental impacts;
            ``(2) the Nation's rural and remote communities face 
        critical social, economic and environmental problems, arising 
        in significant measure from the high cost of infrastructure 
        development in sparsely populated and remote areas, that are 
        not adequately addressed by existing Federal assistance 
        programs;
            ``(3) in the past, Federal assistance has been instrumental 
        in establishing electric and other utility service in many 
        developing regions of the Nation, and that Federal assistance 
        continues to be appropriate to ensure that electric and other 
        utility systems in rural areas conform with modern standards of 
        safety, reliability, efficiency and environmental protection; 
        and
            ``(4) the future welfare of the Nation and the well-being 
        of its citizens depend on the establishment and maintenance of 
        viable rural and remote communities as social, economic and 
        political entities.
    ``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this title is the development and 
maintenance of viable rural and remote communities through the 
provision of efficient housing, and reasonably priced and 
environmentally sound energy, water, waste water, and bulk fuel and 
utility services to those communities that do not have those services 
or who currently bear costs for those services that are significantly 
above the national average.

                             ``definitions

    ``Sec. 902. As used in this title:
            ``(1) The term `unit of general local government' means any 
        city, county, town, township, parish, village, borough 
        (organized or unorganized) or other general purpose political 
        subdivision of a State, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of the Marshall 
        Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of 
        Palau, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa; a combination of 
        such political subdivisions that is recognized by the 
        Secretary; and the District of Columbia; or any other 
        appropriate organization of citizens of a rural and remote 
        community that the Secretary may identify.
            ``(2) The term `population' means total resident population 
        based on data compiled by the United States Bureau of the 
        Census and referable to the same point or period in time.
            ``(3) The term `Indian tribe' means any Indian tribe, band 
        group, and nation, including Alaska Indians, Aleuts, and 
        Eskimos, and any Alaskan Native Village, of the United States, 
        which is considered an eligible recipient under the Indian Self 
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638) 
        or was considered an eligible recipient under chapter 67 of 
        title 31, United States Code, prior to the repeal of such 
        chapter.
            ``(4) The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Housing 
        and Urban Development.
            ``(5) The term `rural and remote community' means a unit of 
        local general government or Indian tribe which represents or 
        contains a population not in excess of 10,000 permanent 
        inhabitants, and that has an average cost per kilowatt hour of 
        electricity that is equal to or greater than 150 persent of the 
average retail price per kilowatt hour for all consumers in the United 
States, as determined by data provided by the Department of Energy's 
Energy Information Administration.
            ``(6) Alternative energy sources include non-traditional 
        means of providing electrical energy, including, but not 
        limited to, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and tidal power.

                            ``authorizations

    ``Sec. 903. The Secretary is authorized to make grants to rural and 
remote communities to carry out activities in accordance with the 
provisions of this title. For purposes of assistance under section 906, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 1999 through 2005.

                  ``statement of activities and review

    ``Sec. 904. (a) Prior to the receipt in any fiscal year of a grant 
under section 906 by any rural and remote community, the grantee shall 
have prepared and submitted to the Secretary a final statement of rural 
and remote community development objectives and projected use of funds.
    ``(b) In order to permit public examination and appraisal of such 
statements, to enhance the public accountability of grantees, and to 
facilitate coordination of activities with different levels of 
government, the grantee shall in a timely manner--
            ``(1) furnish citizens information concerning the amount of 
        funds available for rural and remote community development 
        activities and the range of activities that may be undertaken;
            ``(2) publish a proposed statement in such manner to afford 
        affected citizens an opportunity to examine its content and to 
        submit comments on the proposed statement and on the community 
        development performance of the grantee;
            ``(3) provide citizens with reasonable access to records 
        regarding the past use of funds received under section 906 by 
        the grantee; and
            ``(4) provide citizens with reasonable notice of, and 
        opportunity to comment on, any substantial change proposed to 
        be made in the use of funds received under section 906 from one 
        eligible activity to another.
The final statement shall be made available to the public, and a copy 
shall be furnished to the Secretary. Any final statement of activities 
may be modified or amended from time to time by the grantee in 
accordance with the same procedures required in this paragraph for the 
preparation and submission of such statement.
    ``(c) Each grantee shall submit to the Secretary, at a time 
determined by the Secretary, a performance and evaluation report, 
concerning the use of funds made available under section 906, together 
with an assessment by the grantee of the relationship of such use to 
the objectives identified in the grantee's statement under subsection 
(a) and to the requirements of subsection (b). The grantee's report 
shall indicate its programmatic accomplishments, the nature of and 
reasons for any changes in the grantee's program objectives, and 
indications of how the grantee would change its programs as a result of 
its experiences.
    ``(d) Any rural and remote community may retain any program income 
that is realized from any grant made by the Secretary under section 906 
if (1) such income was realized after the initial disbursement of the 
funds received by such unit of general local government under such 
section; and (2) such unit of general local government has agreed that 
it will utilize the program income for eligible rural and remote 
community development activities in accordance with the provisions of 
this title; except that the Secretary may, by regulation, exclude from 
consideration as program income any amounts determined to be so small 
that compliance with this subsection creates an unreasonable 
administrative burden on the rural and remote community.

                         ``eligible activities

    ``Sec. 905. (a) Eligible activities assisted under this title may 
include only--
            ``(1) the provision of assistance, including loans, grants, 
        and services, for low-cost weatherization and other cost-
        effective energy-related repair of homes and other buildings;
            ``(2) the acquisition, construction, repair, 
        reconstruction, or installation of reliable and cost-efficient 
        facilities for the generation, transmission or distribution of 
        electricity for consumption in a rural and remote community or 
        communities;
            ``(3) the acquisition, construction, repair, 
        reconstruction, remediation or installation of facilities for 
        the safe storage and efficient management of bulk fuel by rural 
        and remote communities, and facilities for the distribution of 
        such fuel to consumers in a rural and remote community or 
        communities;
            ``(4) facilities and training to reduce costs of 
        maintaining and operating generation, distribution or 
        transmission systems to a rural and remote community or 
        communities;
            ``(5) the institution of professional management and 
        maintenance services for electricity generation, transmission 
        or distribution to a rural and remote community or communities;
            ``(6) the investigation of the feasibility of alternate 
        energy sources for a rural and remote community or communities;
            ``(7) acquisition, construction, repair, reconstruction, 
        operation, maintenance, or installation of facilities for water 
        or waste water service;
            ``(8) the acquisition or disposition of real property 
        (including air rights, water rights, and other interests 
        therein) for eligible rural and remote community development 
        activities; and
            ``(9) activities necessary to develop and implement a 
        comprehensive rural and remote development plan, including 
        payment of reasonable administrative costs related to planning 
        and execution of rural and remote community development 
        activities.
    ``(b) Eligible activities may be undertaken either directly by the 
rural and remote community, or by the rural and remote community 
through local electric utilities.

                 ``allocation and distribution of funds

    ``Sec. 906. For each fiscal year, of the amount approved in an 
appropriation Act under section 903 for grants in any year, the 
Secretary shall distribute to each rural and remote community which has 
filed a final statement of rural and remote community development 
objectives and projected use of funds under section 904, an amount 
which shall be allocated among the rural and remote communities that 
filed a final statement of rural and remote community development 
objectives and projected use of funds under section 904 proportionate 
to the percentage that the average retail price per kilowatt hour of 
electricity for all classes of consumers in the rural and remote 
community exceeds the national average retail price per kilowatt hour 
for electricity for all consumers in the United States, as determined 
by data provided by the Department of Energy's Energy Information 
Administration. In allocating funds under this section, the Secretary 
shall give special consideration to those rural and remote communities 
that increase economies of scale through consolidation of services, 
affiliation and regionalization of eligible activities under this 
title.

                      ``remedies for noncompliance

    ``Sec. 907. The provisions of section 111 of the Housing and 
Community Development Act of 1974 shall apply to assistance distributed 
under this title.''.

      TITLE III--RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITY ELECTRIFICATION GRANTS

    After section 313(b) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, add 
the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Rural and Remote Community Electrification Grants.--The 
Secretary is authorized to provide grants to eligible borrowers under 
this Act for the purpose of increasing energy efficiency, lowering or 
stabilizing electric rates to end users, or providing or modernizing 
electric facilities in rural and remote communities that have an 
average cost per kilowatt hour of electricity that is equal to or 
greater than 150% of the average retail price per kilowatt hour for all 
consumers in the United States, as determined by data provided by the 
Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.
    ``(d) For purposes of subsection (c), there is authorized to be 
appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999-2005.''.