II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2662 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities relating 

to research for wood products, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain 

activities relating to research for wood products, 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 ‘‘Timber Innovation for 

5 Building Rural Communities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec8 retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For9 est Service. 


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1 SEC. 3. FOREST AND WOOD PRODUCTS DATA PROVISION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in collaboration 

3 with the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation 

4 Service and in consultation with federally recognized In5 dian Tribes, State Foresters, and private sector partners, 

6 shall establish a platform to provide measurement, moni7 toring, verification, and reporting data regarding the car8 bon emissions, sequestration, storage, and related atmos9 pheric impacts of forest management and wood products. 

10 (b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

11 Secretary shall source data, information, and analyses 

12 from Department of Agriculture programs, including— 

13 (1) the Forest Inventory and Analysis program; 

14 (2) the Timber Products Output survey; 

15 (3) Forest Service and Natural Resources Con16 servation Service soil carbon estimations; 

17 (4) Department of Agriculture entity-level guid18 ance; 

19 (5) the Forest Products Laboratory; 

20 (6) the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Com21 mons; 

22 (7) Department of Agriculture entity-level 

23 guidelines; and 

24 (8) other relevant programmatic data and infor25 mation sources that are published and made avail26 able. 


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1 (c) PRIORITIES.—The platform established by sub2 section (a) shall provide tools that calculate— 

3 (1) the above- and below-ground forest carbon 

4 stocks and stock changes associated with species 

5 composition, forest management regime, and land6 owner types, including small area estimations for re7 gional and localized geographies across the United 

8 States, which shall be made available through the 

9 Forest Inventory and Analysis program updates and 

10 annual reports; 

11 (2) the embodied carbon involved in the manu12 facturing of products, using data from published en13 vironmental product declarations and life cycle as14 sessments, which shall be updated as new and more 

15 refined data becomes available; 

16 (3) the long-term stored carbon in manufac17 tured timber products; and 

18 (4) the carbon displacement of wood products, 

19 compared to other materials, using substitution fac20 tors. 

21 (d) TIMEFRAME.—To the maximum extent prac22 ticable, the Secretary shall establish the platform under 

23 subsection (a) not later than 2 years after the date of en24 actment of this Act. 


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1 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec3 essary to carry out this section. 

4 SEC. 4. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

5 Section 8643 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 

6 2018 (7 U.S.C. 7655d) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘50 percent 

8 of’’ before ‘‘the amount’’; and 

9 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(c) TARGETING SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC DEVEL12 OPMENT, ENHANCED BUILDING DESIGN, AND IMPACT

13 ASSESSMENT.—In selecting among proposals of eligible 

14 entities under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may give 

15 priority to proposals for projects that— 

16 ‘‘(1) include the use or retrofitting (or both) of 

17 existing sawmill facilities located in counties in 

18 which the average annual unemployment rate ex19 ceeded the national average unemployment rate by 

20 more than 1 percent in the previous calendar year; 

21 ‘‘(2) recognize or enhance carbon reduction 

22 strategies in building design, including forest im23 pacts, which can be improved or incentivized by 

24 North American procurement; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) report on the connection between the pro2 posal and the resilience and economic benefits asso3 ciated with wood products from anticipated wood 

4 supply areas, including wildfire risk reduction, in5 creased fiber flow, forest or mill jobs, and support 

6 for forested communities created because of forest 

7 management.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. WOOD BUILDING EDUCATION ACCELERATOR 

9 GRANT PROGRAM. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

13 (A) an engineering, architecture, or design 

14 school at an institution of higher education; or 

15 (B) a center of excellence that consists of 

16 1 or more partnerships between forestry, engi17 neering, architecture, or business schools at 1 

18 or more institutions of higher education. 

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

20 the Secretary, acting through the Research and De21 velopment deputy area and the State, Private, and 

22 Tribal Forestry deputy area of the Forest Service. 

23 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

25 a program, to be known as the ‘‘Wood Building 


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1 Education Accelerator Grant Program’’, to annually 

2 award grants to geographically diverse eligible enti3 ties to support the development of curricula, pro4 grams, and best practices relating to the critical ele5 ments of designing and building with wood, includ6 ing the use of traditional wood products, mass tim7 ber, and other advanced wood products. 

8 (2) PROPOSALS.—To be eligible to receive a 

9 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

10 submit to the Secretary a proposal at such time, in 

11 such manner, and containing such information as 

12 the Secretary may require. 

13 (3) REVIEW AND AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

14 review proposals submitted under paragraph (2), 

15 and award grants under this subsection, in consulta16 tion with nonprofit organizations, research organiza17 tions, or other private entities providing funding to 

18 eligible entities to support activities carried out 

19 using grants under this section. 

20 (c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re21 ceiving a grant under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity 

22 shall provide funds equal to the amount received by the 

23 eligible entity under the grant, to be derived from non24 Federal sources. 


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1 (d) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The total amount of 

2 grants awarded under subsection (b)(1) shall be not more 

3 than $10,000,000 for each fiscal year. 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec6 essary to carry out this section. 

7 SEC. 6. RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING PILOT 

8 PROGRAM. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti11 ty’’ means— 

12 (A) a nonprofit organization; 

13 (B) a community-based organization; 

14 (C) a State, local, or municipal govern15 ment; 

16 (D) a tribally designated housing author17 ity; 

18 (E) a private entity, as determined by the 

19 Secretary; and 

20 (F) a consortium of 2 or more entities de21 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E). 

22 (2) PRODUCED AND ASSEMBLED IN THE

23 UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘produced and assem24 bled in the United States’’, with regard to wood ma25 terials, means that— 


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1 (A) the wood materials, if manufactured, 

2 were manufactured entirely in the United 

3 States; and 

4 (B) if the wood materials were produced, 

5 all production occurred entirely in the United 

6 States. 

7 (3) PUBLIC AGENCY.—The term ‘‘public agen8 cy’’ means a department, agency, other unit, or in9 strumentality of Federal, State, Tribal, or local gov10 ernment. 

11 (4) RURAL.—The term ‘‘rural’’ has the mean12 ing given the term in section 343(a) of the Consoli13 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

14 1991(a)). 

15 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

17 Under Secretary for Rural Development, in con18 sultation with the Under Secretary for Natural Re19 sources and Environment. 

20 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

22 grants to eligible entities to carry out pilot projects 

23 to demonstrate the use of innovative wood products, 

24 systems, and technologies, such as mass timber, in 


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1 the construction and renovation of rural infrastruc2 ture and building projects. 

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

4 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

5 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 

6 in such manner, and containing such information as 

7 the Secretary may require. 

8 (c) PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—A pilot project car9 ried out using a grant received under subsection (b)(1) 

10 shall— 

11 (1) be not longer than 5 years; 

12 (2) include collaboration between 1 or more eli13 gible entities and 1 or more public agencies; 

14 (3) primarily use for construction materials 

15 wood products that are manufactured and prefab16 ricated offsite and assembled onsite as a ‘‘kit-of17 parts’’ or by assembling finished modules; 

18 (4) to the extent practicable, use wood mate19 rials that are produced and assembled in the United 

20 States; and 

21 (5) be located in or provide benefits to a rural 

22 community that, to the extent practicable, has a his23 tory in wood products manufacturing. 

24 (d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re25 ceiving a grant under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity 


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1 shall provide funds, to be derived from non-Federal 

2 sources— 

3 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), equal 

4 to the amount received by the eligible entity under 

5 the grant; or 

6 (2) in the case of a pilot project serving a popu7 lation of— 

8 (A) less than 19,000 residents, equal to 50 

9 percent of the amount received by the eligible 

10 entity under the grant; or 

11 (B) less than 2,500 residents, equal to 25 

12 percent of the amount received by the eligible 

13 entity under the grant. 

14 (e) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The total amount of 

15 grants awarded under subsection (b)(1) shall be not more 

16 than $10,000,000 for each fiscal year. 

17 (f) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall provide for an 

18 independent evaluation of pilot projects carried out under 

19 this section that includes— 

20 (1) a summary of the activities conducted under 

21 the pilot projects; 

22 (2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

23 project requirements described in subsection (c); and 


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1 (3) best practices regarding the use of public2 private partnerships for increased wood utilization to 

3 benefit rural communities. 

4 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec6 essary to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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