II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Composite Standards 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FACILITATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPOSITE 

2 TECHNOLOGY IN INFRASTRUCTURE. 

3 (a) RESEARCH.—Subject to the availability of appro4 priations, the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 

5 Director of the National Institute of Standards and Tech6 nology, shall implement the recommendations contained in 

7 the December 2017 report entitled ‘‘Road Mapping Work8 shop Report on Overcoming Barriers to Adoption of Com9 posites in Sustainable Infrastructure’’, as appropriate, to 

10 help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in in11 frastructure in the United States. In implementing such 

12 recommendations, the Secretary, acting through the Di13 rector shall, with respect to the use of composite tech14 nology in infrastructure— 

15 (1) not later than 1 year after the date of the 

16 enactment of this Act, develop a design for a data 

17 clearinghouse to identify, gather, validate, and dis18 seminate existing design criteria, tools, evaluation 

19 methods and services, guidelines, and standards in a 

20 timely manner; 

21 (2) not later than 18 months after the date of 

22 the enactment of this Act, establish the data clear23 inghouse described in paragraph (1); 

24 (3) when it would not duplicate or displace 

25 building product-specific private sector developed 

26 methods and resources, develop methods and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.IS S451

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1 sources for testing and evaluating safe and appro2 priate uses of composite materials for infrastructure, 

3 including— 

4 (A) conditioning protocols, procedures and 

5 models; 

6 (B) screening and acceptance tools; and 

7 (C) minimum allowable design data sets 

8 that can be converted into design tools; and 

9 (4) work with other Federal agencies, as appro10 priate, to identify environmental impacts and 

11 recyclability of composite materials. 

12 (b) STANDARDS COORDINATION.—The Secretary, 

13 acting through the Director, shall assure that the appro14 priate Institute staff consult regularly with standards de15 velopers, evaluation and accreditation bodies, members of 

16 the composites industry, institutions of higher education, 

17 and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the adoption 

18 of standards for use of composite materials in infrastruc19 ture that are based on the research and testing results 

20 and other information developed by the Institute. 

21 (c) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

23 appropriations, commencing not later than 1 year 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di25 rector of the National Institute of Standards and 


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1 Technology shall, in consultation with the Industry2 University Cooperative Research Centers Program of 

3 the National Science Foundation, conduct a pilot 

4 program to assess the feasibility and advisability of 

5 adopting composite technology in sustainable infra6 structure. 

7 (2) DURATION.—The Director shall carry out 

8 the pilot program during the 4-year period beginning 

9 on the date of the commencement of the pilot pro10 gram. 

11 (3) REPORTS.— 

12 (A) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later 

13 than the date that is 2 years after the date of 

14 the commencement of the pilot program, the 

15 Director shall submit to the Committee on 

16 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

17 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 

18 and Technology of the House of Representa19 tives a report on the preliminary findings of the 

20 Director with respect to the pilot program. 

21 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than the 

22 date that is 90 days after the date of the com23 pletion of the pilot program, the Director shall 

24 submit to the committees referred to in subVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S451.IS S451

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1 paragraph (A) a report on the findings of the 

2 Director with respect to the pilot program. 

Æ 


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