II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 384 

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 7, 2019 

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. FACILITATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPOSITE 

4 TECHNOLOGY IN INFRASTRUCTURE. 

5 (a) RESEARCH.—The Secretary of Commerce, acting 

6 through the Director of the National Institute of Stand7 ards and Technology, shall implement the recommendaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S384.IS S384

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•S 384 IS

1 tions contained in the December 2017 report entitled 

2 ‘‘Road Mapping Workshop Report on Overcoming Bar3 riers to Adoption of Composites in Sustainable Infrastruc4 ture’’, as appropriate, to help facilitate the adoption of 

5 composite technology in infrastructure in the United 

6 States. In implementing such recommendations, the Sec7 retary, acting through the Director shall, with respect to 

8 the use of composite technology in infrastructure— 

9 (1) not later than 9 months after the date of 

10 the enactment of this Act, develop a design for a 

11 data clearinghouse to identify, gather, validate, and 

12 disseminate existing design criteria, tools, guidelines, 

13 and standards in a timely manner; 

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

15 the enactment of this Act, establish the data clear16 inghouse described in paragraph (1); and 

17 (3) develop methods and resources required for 

18 testing and evaluating safe and appropriate uses of 

19 composite materials for infrastructure, including— 

20 (A) conditioning protocols, procedures and 

21 models; 

22 (B) screening and acceptance tools; and 

23 (C) minimum allowable design data sets 

24 that can be converted into design tools. 


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1 (b) STANDARDS COORDINATION.—The Secretary, 

2 acting through the Director, shall assure that the appro3 priate Institute staff consult regularly with standards de4 velopers, members of the composites industry, institutions 

5 of higher education, and other stakeholders in order to fa6 cilitate the adoption of standards for use of composite ma7 terials in infrastructure that are based on the research and 

8 testing results and other information developed by the In9 stitute. 

10 (c) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Commencing not later than 

12 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

13 the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

14 and Technology shall, in consultation with the In15 dustry-University Cooperative Research Centers Pro16 gram of the National Science Foundation, conduct a 

17 pilot program to assess the feasibility and advis18 ability of adopting composite technology in sustain19 able infrastructure. 

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

21 the pilot program during the 4-year period beginning 

22 on the date of the commencement of the pilot pro23 gram. 

24 (3) REPORTS.— 


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1 (A) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later 

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

3 the commencement of the pilot program, the 

4 Director shall submit to the Committee on 

5 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

6 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 

7 and Technology of the House of Representa8 tives a report on the preliminary findings of the 

9 Director with respect to the pilot program. 

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

11 date that is 90 days after the date of the com12 pletion of the pilot program, the Director shall 

13 submit to the committees referred to in sub14 paragraph (A) a report on the findings of the 

15 Director with respect to the pilot program. 

Æ 


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