II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4726 

To amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to require 

the Secretary of Transportation to develop and carry out a program 

to improve energy efficiency in transportation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 

2007 to require the Secretary of Transportation to develop and carry out a program to improve energy efficiency in transportation. 

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 ‘‘Better Utilizing Inno5 vative Low-emission Development Strategies Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘BUILDS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROMOTE ENERGY EFFI2 CIENCY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XI of the Energy Independ4 ence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140; 121 

5 Stat. 1756) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘Subtitle E—Energy Efficiency 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1141. GRANT PROGRAM TO PROMOTE ENERGY EFFI8 CIENCY IN TRANSPORTATION. 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this subtitle: 

10 ‘‘(1) DYNAMIC TRANSPORTATION AND DEMAND

11 MANAGEMENT PROJECT.—The term ‘dynamic trans12 portation and demand management project’ means a 

13 project for the dynamic management, control, and 

14 influence of travel demand, traffic demand, and traf15 fic flow relating to a transportation facility. 

16 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en17 tity’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) a State; 

19 ‘‘(B) a unit of Tribal or local government; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(C) a public entity with jurisdiction over, 

22 or expertise relating to, infrastructure in a re23 gion, State, or locality (including a transit 

24 agency). 

25 ‘‘(3) ENERGY EFFICIENT.—The term ‘energy 

26 efficient’, with respect to a mode of transportation, 


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1 means that the mode of transportation uses a sys2 tem of infrastructure and vehicles in transporting in3 dividuals or goods that requires a quantity of energy 

4 consumption (as measured per person-mile or per 

ton-mile of freight) equal to less than 2 5 ⁄3 of the 

6 quantity of energy consumed by other modes of 

7 transportation in the United States (calculated 

8 based on the average person-mile or ton-mile of 

9 freight). 

10 ‘‘(4) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 

11 means an area located outside of an urbanized area, 

12 which urbanized area has a population of more than 

13 150,000 residents, as determined by the Bureau of 

14 the Census. 

15 ‘‘(5) RURAL STATE.—The term ‘rural State’ 

16 means a State with a population density of 50 or 

17 fewer residents per square mile, based on the most 

18 recent decennial census. 

19 ‘‘(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

20 the Secretary of Transportation. 

21 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

22 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in co23 ordination with the Secretary of Energy and other 

24 appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall 

25 establish a program under which the Secretary shall 


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1 provide discretionary grants, on a competitive basis, 

2 to eligible entities to carry out projects that the Sec3 retary determines will promote reductions in trans4 portation energy use, accelerate the adoption of new 

5 and existing energy efficient technologies for trans6 portation applications, and significantly enhance 

7 transportation infrastructure in the United States, 

8 including by accelerating the application of informa9 tion and communications technology to increase the 

10 availability and competitiveness of energy efficient 

11 modes for transporting passengers or freight. 

12 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re14 ceive a grant under this subsection, an eligible 

15 entity shall submit to the Secretary an applica16 tion at such time, in such manner, and con17 taining such information as the Secretary deter18 mines to be appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—An application under 

20 this paragraph shall include a description of the 

21 means by which the proposed project of an eli22 gible entity will, with respect to the area pro23 posed to be served by the project— 

24 ‘‘(i) promote a major reduction in 

25 transportation energy use; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) otherwise enhance energy effi2 ciency. 

3 ‘‘(C) CRITERIA FOR PROJECT EVALUATION

4 AND SELECTION.— 

5 ‘‘(i) PRIMARY FACTORS FOR CONSID6 ERATION.—The Secretary shall evaluate 

7 applications submitted under this para8 graph primarily— 

9 ‘‘(I) on the basis of the benefits 

10 of the proposed project with respect 

11 to— 

12 ‘‘(aa) enhanced energy effi13 ciency; 

14 ‘‘(bb) economic competitive15 ness; 

16 ‘‘(cc) environmental sustain17 ability; and 

18 ‘‘(dd) such other benefits as 

19 the Secretary determines to be 

20 appropriate; and 

21 ‘‘(II) in a manner that ensures, 

22 to the maximum extent practicable— 

23 ‘‘(aa) an equitable geo24 graphical distribution of funds; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) an appropriate bal2 ance in addressing the needs of 

3 urban and rural areas. 

4 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL CONSIDER5 ATIONS.—In addition to the criteria de6 scribed in clause (i), the Secretary shall 

7 take into consideration the extent to which 

8 a proposed project— 

9 ‘‘(I) leverages Federal investment 

10 by encouraging non-Federal contribu11 tions to the project, including con12 tributions from public-private partner13 ships; 

14 ‘‘(II) supports the rehabilitation 

15 of existing assets; 

16 ‘‘(III) improves resilience to ex17 treme weather events; and 

18 ‘‘(IV) improves technology inno19 vation and the use of information and 

20 communication technologies. 

21 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity may 

22 use a grant provided under this subsection to carry 

23 out a project described in paragraph (1), includ24 ing— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a dynamic transportation and de2 mand management project to reduce recurring 

3 and nonrecurring congestion; 

4 ‘‘(B) a program based on mobile com5 puting to facilitate the use of transit, carshar6 ing, ridesharing, or bikesharing; 

7 ‘‘(C) an improvement to a multimodal 

8 freight facility to permit the use of information 

9 and communications technology to facilitate 

10 shared use of vehicles; 

11 ‘‘(D) a roadway improvement to permit ve12 hicle-to-infrastructure communications that will 

13 help to reduce energy consumption; 

14 ‘‘(E) a public transportation project eligi15 ble under chapter 53 of title 49, United States 

16 Code (including investment in a project partici17 pating in the New Starts or Small Starts pro18 grams that will expedite the completion of that 

19 project and entry of the project into revenue 

20 service); 

21 ‘‘(F) a passenger or freight rail transpor22 tation project; 

23 ‘‘(G) port infrastructure investment (in24 cluding a project that connects a port to anVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:38 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4726.IS S4726

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1 other mode of transportation and improves the 

2 efficiency of freight movement); 

3 ‘‘(H) the construction or expansion of an 

4 electric charging or hydrogen fueling station or 

5 other related infrastructure; 

6 ‘‘(I) an infrastructure project that pro7 motes the efficient use of aircraft; 

8 ‘‘(J) a project that promotes walking, bike 

9 transit, and other nonmotorized modes of trans10 portation; 

11 ‘‘(K) a project to deploy automation tech12 nology in personal vehicles to achieve a net re13 duction in energy consumption; and 

14 ‘‘(L) such other projects as the Secretary 

15 determines to be eligible. 

16 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of 

18 a grant provided under this subsection shall be 

19 not more than $50,000,000. 

20 ‘‘(B) TERM.—The term of a grant pro21 vided under this subsection shall not exceed 5 

22 years. 

23 ‘‘(C) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal 

24 share of the cost of a project carried out using 


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1 a grant provided under this subsection shall be 

2 not more than 80 percent. 

3 ‘‘(D) REPORTS TO SECRETARY.—Not later 

4 than the date that is 5 years, 10 years, and 20 

5 years after the date of completion of a project 

6 for which a grant is provided under this sub7 section, the applicable eligible entity shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) reassess system performance to 

9 determine whether the outcomes of the 

10 project have met the preconstruction pro11 jections for— 

12 ‘‘(I) reduction in transportation 

13 energy use; and 

14 ‘‘(II) enhancement of energy effi15 ciency; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) submit to the Secretary a report 

17 describing those determinations. 

18 ‘‘(5) STATE LIMITATION.—In selecting projects 

19 to receive grants under this subsection, the Sec20 retary shall ensure that not more than 20 percent of 

21 the funds made available to carry out this subsection 

22 may be awarded to projects in a single State. 

23 ‘‘(6) RURAL PROJECTS.—Not less than 20 per24 cent of the amounts made available to carry out this 


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1 subsection for a fiscal year shall be allocated for 

2 projects in rural areas or rural States. 

3 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the amounts 

4 made available under subsection (d), the Secretary may 

5 use not more than 4 percent for administrative expenses 

6 of carrying out the program under subsection (b). 

7 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

9 out this section $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

10 through 2025.’’. 

11 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

12 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 

13 U.S.C. 17001 note; Public Law 110–140) is amended by 

14 adding at the end of the items relating to title XI the fol15 lowing: 

‘‘Subtitle E—Energy Efficiency 

‘‘Sec. 1141. Grant program to promote energy efficiency in transportation.’’. 

Æ 


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