I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 280

To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department of Housing and 

Urban Development for the cleanup and economic redevelopment of 

brownfields. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2005

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. OXLEY, 

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. NEY, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. LEACH, 

Ms. HART, Mr. SOUDER, and Mr. TURNER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development for the cleanup and 

economic redevelopment of brownfields.

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 ‘‘Brownfields Redevelop5 ment Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) returning the Nation’s brownfield sites to 

2 productive economic use could generate more than 

3 550,000 additional jobs and up to $2,400,000,000 

4 in new tax revenues for cities and towns; 

5 (2) redevelopment of brownfield sites and reuse 

6 of infrastructure at such sites will protect natural 

7 resources and open spaces; 

8 (3) lack of funding for redevelopment is a pri9 mary obstacle impeding the reuse of brownfield sites; 

10 (4) the Department of Housing and Urban De11 velopment is the agency of the Federal Government 

12 that is principally responsible for supporting commu13 nity development and encouraging productive land 

14 use in urban areas of the United States; 

15 (5) grants under the Brownfields Economic De16 velopment Initiative of the Department of Housing 

17 and Urban Development provide local governments 

18 with a flexible source of funding to pursue 

19 brownfields redevelopment through land acquisition, 

20 site preparation, economic development, and other 

21 activities; 

22 (6) to be eligible for such grant funds, a com23 munity must be willing to pledge community devel24 opment block grant funds as partial collateral for a 

25 loan guarantee under section 108 of the Housing 
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1 and Community Development Act of 1974, and this 

2 requirement is a barrier to many local communities 

3 that are unable or unwilling to pledge such block 

4 grant funds as collateral; and 

5 (7) by de-linking grants for brownfields develop6 ment from section 108 community development loan 

7 guarantees and the related pledge of community de8 velopment block grant funds, more communities will 

9 have access to funding for redevelopment of 

10 brownfield sites. 

11 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

12 cities and towns with more flexibility for brownfields devel13 opment, increased accessibility to brownfields redevelop14 ment funds, and greater capacity to coordinate and col15 laborate with other government agencies—

16 (1) by providing additional incentives to invest 

17 in the cleanup and development of brownfield sites; 

18 and 

19 (2) by de-linking grants for brownfields develop20 ment from community development loan guarantees 

21 and the related pledge of community development 

22 block grant funds. 
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1 SEC. 3. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

2 Title I of the Housing and Community Development 

3 Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is amended by add4 ing at the end the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 123. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

7 under this section, on a competitive basis as specified in 

8 section 102 of the Department of Housing and Urban De9 velopment Reform Act of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545), only to 

10 eligible public entities (as such term is defined in section 

11 108(o) of this title) and Indian tribes for carrying out 

12 projects and activities to assist the environmental cleanup 

13 and development of brownfield sites, which shall include 

14 mine-scarred lands. 

15 ‘‘(b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Amounts from 

16 grants under this section shall—

17 ‘‘(1) be used, as provided in subsection (a) of 

18 this section, only for activities specified in section 

19 108(a); and 

20 ‘‘(2) be subject to the same requirements that, 

21 under section 101(c) and paragraphs (2) and (3) of 

22 section 104(b), apply to grants under section 106. 

23 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

24 shall not require, for eligibility for a grant under this sec25 tion, that such grant amounts be used only in connection 
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1 or conjunction with projects and activities assisted with 

2 a loan guaranteed under section 108. 

3 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for assistance 

4 under this section shall be in the form and in accordance 

5 with procedures as shall be established by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(e) SELECTION CRITERIA AND LEVERAGING.—The 

7 Secretary shall establish criteria for awarding grants 

8 under this section, which may include the extent to which 

9 the applicant has obtained other Federal, State, local, or 

10 private funds for the projects and activities to be assisted 

11 with grant amounts and such other criteria as the Sec12 retary considers appropriate. Such criteria shall include 

13 consideration of the appropriateness of the extent of finan14 cial leveraging involved in the projects and activities to 

15 be funded with the grant amounts. 

16 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated for grants under this 

18 section such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

19 years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOP21 MENT AS ELIGIBLE CDBG ACTIVITY. 

22 (a) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.—The penultimate pro23 viso of the first undesignated paragraph of the item relat24 ing to ‘‘Community Development Block Grants Fund’’ in 

25 title II of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Hous-
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1 ing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies 

2 Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104–204; 110 Stat. 

3 2887) shall be treated as having amended section 105(a) 

4 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 

5 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) to read as such section was in effect 

6 on September 30, 1995. 

7 (b) BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.—

8 Section 105(a) of the Housing and Community Develop9 ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)), as in effect pursu10 ant to subsection (a) of this section, is amended—

11 (1) in paragraph (24), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

12 end; 

13 (2) in paragraph (25), by striking the period at 

14 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

16 paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(26) environmental cleanup and economic de18 velopment activities related to brownfield projects in 

19 conjunction with the appropriate environmental reg20 ulatory agencies.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. PILOT PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL REDEVELOPMENT 

22 OF BROWNFIELDS. 

23 Section 108(q) of the Housing and Community De24 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5308(q)) is amended 

25 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
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1 ‘‘(5) PILOT PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL REDEVEL2 OPMENT OF BROWNFIELDS.—

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Using any amounts 

4 made available under this subsection, the Sec5 retary may establish a pilot program under 

6 which grants under this subsection are used to 

7 develop, maintain, and administer (including 

8 the payment of an entity or entities selected 

9 pursuant to subparagraph (B)) a common loan 

10 pool of development loans for brownfield rede11 velopment projects made on behalf of eligible 

12 public entities with the proceeds of obligations 

13 guaranteed under this section, including related 

14 security and a common loans loss reserve ac15 count, for the benefit of participants in the pilot 

16 program. 

17 ‘‘(B) SELECTION OF PROGRAM MANAGERS

18 AND CONTRACTORS.—The Secretary may select 

19 an entity or entities on a competitive or non20 competitive basis to carry out any of the func21 tions involved in the pilot program. 

22 ‘‘(C) TERMS FOR PARTICIPATION.—Par23 ticipation by eligible public entities in the pilot 

24 program shall be under such terms and condi25 tions as the Secretary may require. 
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1 ‘‘(D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA2 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated such sums as may be necessary—

4 ‘‘(i) for grants under this subsection 

5 to be used only in conjunction with the 

6 pilot program under this paragraph; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) for costs of carrying out the pilot 

8 program under this paragraph and ensur9 ing that the program is carried out in an 

10 effective, efficient, and viable manner.’’. 

11 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO ALLOW USE OF CDBG 

12 FUNDS TO ADMINISTER RENEWAL COMMU13 NITIES. 

14 Section 105(a)(13) of the Housing and Community 

15 Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(13)) is 

16 amended by inserting ‘‘and renewal communities’’ after 

17 ‘‘enterprise zones’’. 

18 SEC. 7. APPLICABILITY. 

19 The amendments made by this Act shall apply only 

20 with respect to amounts made available for fiscal year 

21 2006 and fiscal years thereafter for use under the provi22 sions of law amended by this Act.

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