I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6413 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to improve 

biorefinery, renewable chemical, and biobased product manufacturing assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2023 

Mr. NUNN of Iowa (for himself, Ms. BUDZINSKI, and Mr. VAN ORDEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act 

of 2002 to improve biorefinery, renewable chemical, and 

biobased product manufacturing assistance, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Bio5 refinery Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BIOREFINERY, RENEWABLE CHEMICAL, AND 

2 BIOBASED PRODUCT MANUFACTURING AS3 SISTANCE. 

4 Section 9003 of the Farm Security and Rural Invest5 ment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8103) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 

7 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘to assist’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘to develop advanced biofuels (which, for purposes 

9 of this section, shall include ultra-low-carbon bioeth10 anol and zero-carbon bioethanol), renewable chemi11 cals, and biobased product manufacturing and as12 sist’’; 

13 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘technologically new’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘end-user products’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘end-user products, renewable chemi17 cals, and biobased products’’; 

18 (3) in subsection (c)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall make 

20 available to eligible entities guarantees’’ and in21 serting the following: ‘‘Subject to the avail22 ability of funding, the Secretary shall make 

23 available to eligible entities— 

24 ‘‘(1) on a year-round basis, guarantees’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), by 

2 striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘, 

3 in accordance with subsection (d); and’’; and 

4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(2) grants, on a competitive basis, to develop, 

6 construct, or retrofit pilot or demonstration-scale 

7 biorefineries to demonstrate the commercial viability 

8 of 1 or more processes for converting renewable bio9 mass to advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and 

10 biobased products in accordance with subsection 

11 (e).’’; 

12 (4) in subsection (d)(1)— 

13 (A) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 

14 (C); 

15 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 

16 and (D) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respec17 tively; 

18 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so redesig19 nated)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘In approving a loan 

21 guarantee application’’ and inserting the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In approving an 

24 application for a loan guarantee under sub25 section (c)(1)’’; and 


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1 (ii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(ii) WAIVER.—The Secretary may 

4 waive the feasibility study under clause (i) 

5 for proven or otherwise commercially avail6 able technologies.’’; and 

7 (D) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesig8 nated), by striking ‘‘loan guarantee applica9 tions’’ and inserting ‘‘applications for loan 

10 guarantees under subsection (c)(1)’’; 

11 (5) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub12 section (k); 

13 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In approving applica18 tions for grants under subsection (c)(2), the 

19 Secretary shall establish a priority scoring sys20 tem that assigns priority scores to each applica21 tion and only approve applications that exceed 

22 a specified minimum score, as determined by 

23 the Secretary. 

24 ‘‘(B) FEASIBILITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In approving an 

2 application for a grant under subsection 

3 (c)(2), the Secretary shall determine the 

4 technical and economic feasibility of the 

5 project based on a feasibility study of the 

6 project described in the application con7 ducted by an independent third party. 

8 ‘‘(ii) WAIVER.—The Secretary may 

9 waive the feasibility study under clause (i) 

10 for proven or otherwise commercially avail11 able technologies. 

12 ‘‘(C) SCORING SYSTEM.—The priority scor13 ing system established under subparagraph (A) 

14 shall consider, with respect to a project pro15 posed in an application for a grant under sub16 section (c)(2)— 

17 ‘‘(i) the potential market for the ad18 vanced biofuel, renewable chemical, or 

19 biobased product, and the byproducts pro20 duced under the project; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the level of financial participation 

22 by the eligible entity, including support 

23 from non-Federal and private sources; 

24 ‘‘(iii) whether the eligible entity is 

25 proposing to use— 


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1 ‘‘(I) a feedstock not previously 

2 used in the production of advanced 

3 biofuels; or 

4 ‘‘(II) a feedstock, process, or 

5 technology in an innovative manner in 

6 the production of renewable chemicals 

7 or biobased products; 

8 ‘‘(iv) whether the eligible entity is pro9 posing to work with producer associations 

10 or cooperatives; 

11 ‘‘(v) whether the eligible entity has es12 tablished that the adoption of the process 

13 proposed in the application will have a 

14 positive impact on resource conservation, 

15 public health, and the environment; 

16 ‘‘(vi) the potential for rural economic 

17 development; 

18 ‘‘(vii) whether the project can be rep19 licated; 

20 ‘‘(viii) scalability for commercial use; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ix) in the case of an advanced 

23 biofuels project, the contribution of the 

24 project to domestic energy security. 

25 ‘‘(2) COST SHARING.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) LIMITS.—The amount of a grant 

2 awarded under subsection (c)(2) shall not ex3 ceed an amount that is 60 percent of the cost 

4 of the project carried out using the grant. 

5 ‘‘(B) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non6 Federal share of the cost of a project may be 

7 provided in the form of cash or material, sub8 ject to the condition that the material provided 

9 does not exceed 30 percent of the non-Federal 

10 share.’’; 

11 (7) in subsection (g)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

13 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

14 (I) in the matter preceding clause 

15 (i), by inserting ‘‘and grants’’ after 

16 ‘‘loan guarantees’’; 

17 (II) in clause (iii), by striking 

18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

19 (III) in clause (iv), by striking 

20 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

21 and’’; and 

22 (IV) by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(v) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal 

25 years 2024 through 2028.’’; and 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 ‘‘Of the total’’ and all that follows through 

3 ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘Of the 

4 total amount of funds made available for 

5 each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 

6 under subparagraph (A)’’; and 

7 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘2023’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘2028’’; 

9 (8) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘sub10 sections (a) through (e), and (g)’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘subsections (a) through (e), (g), and (k)’’; 

12 (9) in subsection (i)(1), by striking ‘‘subsections 

13 (a) through (e) and subsection (g)’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘subsections (a) through (e), (g), and (k)’’; and 

15 (10) in subsection (j)(1), by striking ‘‘sub16 sections (a) through (e) and (g)’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘subsections (a) through (e), (g), and (k)’’. 

Æ 


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