II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 506 

To establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2021 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Clean School Bus Grant Program, 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 ‘‘Clean School Bus Act 

5 of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLEAN SCHOOL BUS GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUS.—The term ‘‘elec9 tric school bus’’ means a school bus that is pro10 pelled— 


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1 (A) to a significant extent by an electric 

2 motor that— 

3 (i) draws electricity from a battery; 

4 and 

5 (ii) is capable of being recharged from 

6 an external source of electricity; 

7 (B) by any necessary components or equip8 ment required to facilitate electric school bus 

9 operations; or 

10 (C) by 1 or more hydrogen fuel cells. 

11 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti12 ty’’ means— 

13 (A) 1 or more local, regional, or State gov14 ernmental entities, including a local educational 

15 agency, responsible for— 

16 (i) providing school bus service to 1 or 

17 more local educational agencies; or 

18 (ii) purchasing school buses for use by 

19 1 or more local educational agencies; 

20 (B) 1 or more contracting entities that 

21 provide school bus service to 1 or more local 

22 educational agencies; 

23 (C) a nonprofit school transportation asso24 ciation that provides school bus service to 1 or 

25 more local educational agencies; or 


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1 (D) a tribally controlled school (as defined 

2 in section 5212 of the Tribally Controlled 

3 Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 2511)). 

4 (3) FUEL CELL.—The term ‘‘fuel cell’’ has the 

5 meaning given the term in section 803 of the Energy 

6 Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16152). 

7 (4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

8 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

9 the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec10 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

11 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

12 the Clean School Bus Grant Program established 

13 under subsection (b)(1). 

14 (6) SCHOOL BUS.—The term ‘‘school bus’’ has 

15 the meaning given the term ‘‘schoolbus’’ in section 

16 30125(a) of title 49, United States Code. 

17 (7) SCRAP.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘scrap’’ 

19 means, with respect to a school bus engine re20 placed using funds awarded under the program, 

21 to recycle, crush, shred, or otherwise disable the 

22 engine within such period and in such manner 

23 as determined by the Secretary. 

24 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘scrap’’ does 

25 not include selling, leasing, exchanging, or othVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S506.IS S506

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1 erwise disposing of an engine described in sub2 paragraph (A) for use in another motor vehicle 

3 in any location. 

4 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Energy. 

6 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

7 (A) each of the several States of the 

8 United States; 

9 (B) the District of Columbia; and 

10 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

11 (b) CLEAN SCHOOL BUS GRANT PROGRAM.— 

12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es13 tablish in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Re14 newable Energy of the Department of Energy a pro15 gram, to be known as the ‘‘Clean School Bus Grant 

16 Program’’, for awarding grants on a competitive 

17 basis to eligible entities for the replacement of cer18 tain existing school buses. 

19 (2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 grant under the program, an eligible entity shall 

21 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 

22 in such manner, and containing such information as 

23 the Secretary shall require, including— 

24 (A) a certification that no public work or 

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1 ployee will be privatized or subcontracted in 

2 carrying out a project under the grant; and 

3 (B) to ensure a fair assessment of total 

4 workforce impact, a detailed accounting of the 

5 workforce of the eligible entity at the time of 

6 application, including— 

7 (i) the number of employees, orga8 nized by salary; 

9 (ii) the bargaining unit status of each 

10 employee; 

11 (iii) the full- or part-time status of 

12 each employee; and 

13 (iv) the job title of each employee. 

14 (3) PRIORITY OF GRANT APPLICATIONS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

16 give priority to eligible entities— 

17 (i) that have significant aging, ineffi18 cient, or high emission bus fleets that need 

19 improvement; 

20 (ii)(I) that serve a high percentage of 

21 students from low-income families, as de22 termined by the Secretary using data from 

23 the Small Area Income and Poverty Esti24 mates Program of the Bureau of the Cen25 sus; and 


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1 (II) with a participating local edu2 cational agency designated with a school 

3 district locale code of 41, 42, or 43, as de4 termined by the National Center for Edu5 cation Statistics in consultation with the 

6 Bureau of the Census; or 

7 (iii) that propose projects that will 

8 most reduce emissions, as described in sub9 paragraph (B). 

10 (B) MOST EMISSIONS-REDUCING PROJECTS

11 DESCRIBED.—The projects that will most re12 duce emissions referred to in subparagraph 

13 (A)(iii) are projects that— 

14 (i) will replace the most polluting die15 sel school buses with the cleanest running 

16 electric school buses, as indicated by— 

17 (I) the age of the school buses to 

18 be replaced; 

19 (II) the emissions control tech20 nologies on the school buses to be re21 placed; 

22 (III) the annual vehicle miles 

23 traveled by the school buses to be re24 placed; 


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1 (IV) the source of electricity or 

2 hydrogen used to power the electric 

3 school buses; and 

4 (V) any other factors the Sec5 retary determines to be relevant; or 

6 (ii) will complement the use of grant 

7 funds through other activities that— 

8 (I) will enable broader deploy9 ment of electric vehicles, such as se10 curing additional sources of funding 

11 through public-private partnerships 

12 with utilities, grants from other enti13 ties, or issuance of school bonds; or 

14 (II) will achieve further reduc15 tions in emissions, such as installing 

16 solar panels as part of recharging in17 frastructure to power electric school 

18 buses purchased with grant funds. 

19 (C) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA FOR CONSIDER20 ATION.—With respect to eligible entities seeking 

21 a grant to purchase electric school buses under 

22 the program, the Secretary may consider, in ad23 dition to the information included in the appli24 cation submitted under paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) whether the grant will benefit stu2 dents in a region that is in nonattainment 

3 of a national ambient air quality standard 

4 under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (42 

5 U.S.C. 7409); 

6 (ii) whether the eligible entity, or 

7 whether the local educational agency that 

8 would be served by the eligible entity, has 

9 taken other action to reduce emissions dur10 ing the transportation of students, such as 

11 instituting a no-idling policy; and 

12 (iii) whether the eligible entity serves 

13 geographic locations with potential barriers 

14 to the use of an electric school bus, includ15 ing— 

16 (I) significant weather events; 

17 and 

18 (II) distance challenges and limi19 tations. 

20 (4) USE OF SCHOOL BUS FLEET.—Each electric 

21 school bus acquired or leased with funds provided 

22 under the program— 

23 (A) shall be operated as part of the school 

24 bus fleet for which the grant was made for not 

25 less than 5 years; 


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1 (B) shall be maintained, operated, and 

2 charged according to manufacturer rec3 ommendations or State requirements; and 

4 (C) may not be manufactured or retro5 fitted with, or otherwise have installed, a power 

6 unit or other technology that creates air pollu7 tion within the school bus, such as an unvented 

8 diesel passenger heater. 

9 (5) GRANT AWARDS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may use 

11 funds made available to carry out the pro12 gram— 

13 (i) to award grants for— 

14 (I) the replacement of existing 

15 diesel school bus fleets with electric 

16 school buses; 

17 (II) the implementation of re18 charging infrastructure or other infra19 structure, including renewable energy 

20 generation infrastructure, needed to 

21 charge or maintain electric school 

22 buses; 

23 (III) workforce development and 

24 training, to support the maintenance, 


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1 charging, and operations of electric 

2 school buses; and 

3 (IV) planning and technical ac4 tivities to support the adoption and 

5 implementation of electric school 

6 buses; and 

7 (ii) to develop resources to inform, en8 courage, and support eligible entities in ap9 plying for and fulfilling the requirements 

10 of grants awarded under the program, in11 cluding materials to support the workforce 

12 development and training described in 

13 clause (i)(III) and the planning and tech14 nical activities described in clause (i)(IV). 

15 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—In order to receive 

16 a grant under the program, the Secretary 

17 shall— 

18 (i) require that grant recipients— 

19 (I) replace diesel school buses 

20 with electric school buses; 

21 (II)(aa) not later than 1 year 

22 after receiving the electric school bus 

23 purchased using a grant under the 

24 program, scrap the diesel engine of 

25 the school bus being replaced; or 


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1 (bb) receive a waiver under para2 graph (6); 

3 (III) do not, as a result of receiv4 ing the grant— 

5 (aa) lay off, transfer, or de6 mote any current employee; or 

7 (bb) reduce the salary or 

8 benefits of any current employee 

9 or worsen the conditions of work 

10 of any current employee; and 

11 (IV) provide current employees 

12 with training to effectively operate, 

13 maintain, or otherwise adapt to new 

14 technologies relating to electric school 

15 buses; and 

16 (ii) permit grant recipients to receive 

17 and retain any funds or benefits received 

18 from— 

19 (I) scrapping a diesel engine; 

20 (II) transferring or repurposing a 

21 diesel school bus as authorized under 

22 a waiver under paragraph (6); and 

23 (III) the resale or reuse of other 

24 parts of a school bus replaced using 

25 grant funds. 


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1 (C) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 

2 (i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—For each eli3 gible entity that submits an application 

4 under paragraph (2), the maximum 

5 amount of a grant under the program is 

6 $2,000,000. 

7 (ii) AMOUNTS FOR PURCHASE OF

8 ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES.— 

9 (I) IN GENERAL.—For any grant 

10 under the program, the amount of 

11 funds awarded for the purchase of an 

12 electric school bus shall not exceed 

13 110 percent of the amount equal to 

14 the difference between— 

15 (aa) the cost of an electric 

16 school bus; and 

17 (bb) the cost of a diesel 

18 school bus. 

19 (II) DETERMINATION OF COST

20 OF SCHOOL BUSES.—In determining 

21 the amount of funds under subclause 

22 (I), the Secretary may determine the 

23 cost of a school bus for the purpose of 

24 calculating the marginal cost under 

25 that subclause through— 


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1 (aa) a competitive solicita2 tion process for the manufacture 

3 of the school bus; 

4 (bb) a cooperative purchase 

5 agreement permitted by the laws 

6 of the State in which the grant 

7 recipient is located; or 

8 (cc) another method that the 

9 Secretary determines to be ap10 propriate. 

11 (iii) AMOUNTS FOR SUPPORTING AC12 TIVITIES.—For any grant under the pro13 gram, the amount of funds awarded for 

14 the purposes described in subclauses (II) 

15 through (IV) of subparagraph (A)(i), or 

16 other purposes related to those subclauses, 

17 as determined by the Secretary, shall not 

18 exceed $600,000. 

19 (D) BUY AMERICA.— 

20 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

21 in clause (ii), any electric school bus pur22 chased using funds awarded under the pro23 gram shall comply with the requirements 

24 described in section 5323(j) of title 49, 

25 United States Code. 


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1 (ii) EXCEPTIONS.— 

2 (I) WAIVER.—The Secretary may 

3 provide any waiver to the require4 ments described in clause (i) in the 

5 same manner and to the same extent 

6 as the Secretary of Transportation 

7 may provide a waiver under section 

8 5323(j)(2) of title 49, United States 

9 Code. 

10 (II) PERCENTAGE OF COMPO11 NENTS AND SUBCOMPONENTS.—The 

12 Secretary may grant a waiver in ac13 cordance with section 5323(j)(2)(C) of 

14 title 49, United States Code, when a 

15 grant recipient procures an electric 

16 school bus using funds awarded under 

17 the program for which the cost of 

18 components and subcomponents pro19 duced in the United States, for fiscal 

20 year 2022 and each fiscal year there21 after, is more than 70 percent of the 

22 cost of all components of the school 

23 bus. 


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1 (6) WAIVER.—On request of a grant recipient, 

2 the Secretary may grant a waiver under paragraph 

3 (5)(B)(i)(II)(bb) to authorize a grant recipient— 

4 (A) to transfer a diesel school bus replaced 

5 using grant funds under the program under an 

6 agreement— 

7 (i) between— 

8 (I) the grant recipient; and 

9 (II) an entity described in sub10 section (a)(2) that serves an area that 

11 is in attainment of national ambient 

12 air quality standards under the Clean 

13 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 

14 (ii) that provides that— 

15 (I) not later than 1 year after the 

16 transfer subject to the agreement, the 

17 entity receiving a school bus from the 

18 grant recipient will scrap a number of 

19 diesel engines of school buses that is 

20 equal to the number of school buses 

21 being received; and 

22 (II) any diesel engines described 

23 in subclause (I) are older and more 

24 polluting than the diesel engines in 

25 the school buses being received; and 


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1 (iii) provided to the Secretary; or 

2 (B) to delay the requirement under para3 graph (5)(B)(i)(II)(aa) for not more than 3 

4 years after receiving the school bus purchased 

5 using a grant under the program for the pur6 pose of using the school bus being replaced for 

7 a use determined by the Secretary to be appro8 priate. 

9 (7) DEPLOYMENT AND DISTRIBUTION.—In car10 rying out the program, the Secretary shall, to the 

11 maximum extent practicable— 

12 (A) achieve nationwide deployment of elec13 tric school buses through the program; and 

14 (B) ensure a broad geographic distribution 

15 of grant awards, with no State receiving more 

16 than 15 percent of the grant funding made 

17 available to carry out the program for each fis18 cal year. 

19 (8) ANNUAL REPORTING.— 

20 (A) DATA RELEASE.—The Secretary shall 

21 make available to the public on the website of 

22 the Department of Energy a downloadable elec23 tronic database of information with respect to 

24 each grant made under the program, includ25 ing— 


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1 (i) the name and location of the grant 

2 recipient; 

3 (ii) the school district served by the 

4 grant recipient, if the grant recipient is not 

5 a school district; 

6 (iii) the criteria that the grant recipi7 ent met under subparagraphs (B) and (C) 

8 of paragraph (3), if any; 

9 (iv) the grant amount, including a de10 scription of the amounts of the grant used 

11 for— 

12 (I) the purchase of electric school 

13 buses; 

14 (II) the purchase of infrastruc15 ture; 

16 (III) workforce development; 

17 (IV) the purchase of hydrogen or 

18 electricity; and 

19 (V) any other purpose; 

20 (v) with respect to an electric school 

21 bus purchased using a grant under the 

22 program, the number, make and model, 

23 year of make, cost, estimated annual vehi24 cle miles to be traveled, and estimated 

25 number of students to be transported per 


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1 day, as provided by the eligible entity 

2 awarded the grant; 

3 (vi) with respect to a school bus re4 placed using a grant under the program, 

5 the number, make and model, year of 

6 make, fuel type, annual vehicle miles trav7 eled, and the average number of students 

8 transported per day, as provided by the eli9 gible entity awarded the grant; 

10 (vii) whether the grant recipient re11 ceived a waiver under paragraph (6) and, 

12 if the grant recipient received such a waiv13 er, with respect to a school bus scrapped 

14 by the receiving entity described in para15 graph (6)(A), the number, make and 

16 model, year of make, fuel type, type of 

17 school bus, annual vehicle miles traveled, 

18 and the average number of students trans19 ported per day, as provided by the eligible 

20 entity awarded the grant; 

21 (viii) an estimate of the local air pol22 lution emissions and global greenhouse gas 

23 emissions avoided as a result of the grant; 

24 and 


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1 (ix) any other data determined by the 

2 Secretary to enable an analysis of the use 

3 and impact of grants under the program. 

4 (B) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

5 than January 31 of each year, the Secretary 

6 shall submit to Congress and make available on 

7 the website of the Department of Energy a re8 port that describes— 

9 (i) the grant applications received 

10 under the program, including a summary 

11 of the grant applications meeting the cri12 teria described in subparagraphs (B) and 

13 (C) of paragraph (3), if any; 

14 (ii) the grants awarded under the pro15 gram, including a summary of the data de16 scribed in subparagraph (A); 

17 (iii) the effect of the receipt of the 

18 grant on students, schools, local commu19 nities, industry, and the workforce; 

20 (iv) the impact of the awarded grants 

21 on local air pollution and greenhouse gas 

22 emissions; and 

23 (v) any other information determined 

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1 derstand the implementation, outcomes, 

2 and effectiveness of the program. 

3 (C) REPORT ON BUY AMERICA WAIVERS.— 

4 Not later than 1 year after the date of enact5 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 

6 Secretary shall submit a report describing any 

7 waiver granted under paragraph (5)(D)(ii)(I) 

8 during the preceding year to— 

9 (i) the Committee on Environment 

10 and Public Works of the Senate; 

11 (ii) the Committee on Energy and 

12 Natural Resources of the Senate; 

13 (iii) the Committee on Appropriations 

14 of the Senate; 

15 (iv) the Committee on Transportation 

16 and Infrastructure of the House of Rep17 resentatives; 

18 (v) the Committee on Energy and 

19 Commerce of the House of Representa20 tives; and 

21 (vi) the Committee on Appropriations 

22 of the House of Representatives. 

23 (c) EDUCATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

25 funds are appropriated to carry out the Program, 


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1 the Secretary shall develop an education outreach 

2 campaign to promote and explain the program. 

3 (2) COORDINATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS.— 

4 The outreach campaign under this subsection shall 

5 be designed and conducted in conjunction with na6 tional school bus transportation associations, edu7 cators, local educational agencies, school bus drivers, 

8 school bus leasing or contracting operators, the 

9 school bus manufacturing and supply industries, and 

10 other stakeholders. 

11 (3) COMPONENTS.—The outreach campaign 

12 under this subsection shall— 

13 (A) inform eligible entities of the process 

14 of applying for grants; 

15 (B) describe the available technologies and 

16 the benefits of the technologies; 

17 (C) explain the benefits of participating in 

18 the program; 

19 (D) facilitate the sharing of best practices 

20 and lessons learned among grant recipients and 

21 between grant recipients and eligible entities; 

22 and 

23 (E) include, as appropriate, information 

24 from the annual reports required under sub25 section (b)(8). 


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1 (d) COST SHARING.—The Secretary shall not require 

2 cost sharing for any project carried out using a grant 

3 awarded under the program. 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

6 out the program $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

7 2022 through 2027, to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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