IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5143 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2006 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary 

prizes for achievements in overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with hydrogen energy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘H-Prize Act of 2006’’. 

3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) ADMINISTERING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘ad6 ministering entity’’ means the entity with which the 

7 Secretary enters into an agreement under section 

8 3(c). 

9 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

10 means the Department of Energy. 

11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Energy. 

13 SEC. 3. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

15 program to competitively award cash prizes only in con16 formity with this Act to advance the research, develop17 ment, demonstration, and commercial application of hy18 drogen energy technologies. 

19 (b) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COMPETI20 TORS.— 

21 (1) ADVERTISING.—The Secretary shall widely 

22 advertise prize competitions to encourage broad par23 ticipation, including by individuals, universities (in24 cluding historically Black colleges and universities 

25 and other minority serving institutions), and large 

26 and small businesses (including businesses owned or 


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1 controlled by socially and economically disadvan2 taged persons). 

3 (2) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL REG4 ISTER NOTICE.—The Secretary shall announce each 

5 prize competition by publishing a notice in the Fed6 eral Register. This notice shall include the subject of 

7 the competition, the duration of the competition, the 

8 eligibility requirements for participation in the com9 petition, the process for participants to register for 

10 the competition, the amount of the prize, and the 

11 criteria for awarding the prize. 

12 (c) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITIONS.—The Sec13 retary shall enter into an agreement with a private, non14 profit entity to administer the prize competitions, subject 

15 to the provisions of this Act. The duties of the admin16 istering entity under the agreement shall include— 

17 (1) advertising prize competitions and their re18 sults; 

19 (2) raising funds from private entities and indi20 viduals to pay for administrative costs and to con21 tribute to cash prizes; 

22 (3) working with the Secretary to develop the 

23 criteria for selecting winners in prize competitions, 

24 based on goals provided by the Secretary; 


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1 (4) determining, in consultation with the Sec2 retary, the appropriate amount for each prize to be 

3 awarded; 

4 (5) selecting judges in accordance with section 

5 4(d), using criteria developed in consultation with 

6 the Secretary; and 

7 (6) preventing the unauthorized use or disclo8 sure of a registered participant’s intellectual prop9 erty, trade secrets, and confidential business infor10 mation. 

11 (d) FUNDING SOURCES.—Prizes under this Act shall 

12 consist of Federal appropriated funds and any funds pro13 vided by the administering entity (including funds raised 

14 pursuant to subsection (c)(2)) for such cash prizes. The 

15 Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies 

16 for such cash prizes. The Secretary may not give any spe17 cial consideration to any private sector entity or individual 

18 in return for a donation to the administering entity. 

19 (e) ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES.—The Secretary 

20 may not issue a notice required by subsection (b)(2) until 

21 all the funds needed to pay out the announced amount 

22 of the prize have been appropriated or committed in writ23 ing by the administering entity. The Secretary may in24 crease the amount of a prize after an initial announcement 

25 is made under subsection (b)(2) if— 


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1 (1) notice of the increase is provided in the 

2 same manner as the initial notice of the prize; and 

3 (2) the funds needed to pay out the announced 

4 amount of the increase have been appropriated or 

5 committed in writing by the administering entity. 

6 (f) SUNSET.—The authority to announce prize com7 petitions under this Act shall terminate on September 30, 

8 2017. 

9 SEC. 4. PRIZE CATEGORIES. 

10 (a) CATEGORIES.—The Secretary shall establish 

11 prizes for— 

12 (1) advancements in components or systems re13 lated to— 

14 (A) hydrogen production; 

15 (B) hydrogen storage; 

16 (C) hydrogen distribution; and 

17 (D) hydrogen utilization; 

18 (2) prototypes of hydrogen-powered vehicles or 

19 other hydrogen-based products that best meet or ex20 ceed objective performance criteria, such as comple21 tion of a race over a certain distance or terrain or 

22 generation of energy at certain levels of efficiency; 

23 and 

24 (3) transformational changes in technologies for 

25 the distribution or production of hydrogen that meet 


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1 or exceed far-reaching objective criteria, which shall 

2 include minimal carbon emissions and which may in3 clude cost criteria designed to facilitate the eventual 

4 market success of a winning technology. 

5 (b) AWARDS.— 

6 (1) ADVANCEMENTS.—To the extent permitted 

7 under section 3(e), the prizes authorized under sub8 section (a)(1) shall be awarded biennially to the 

9 most significant advance made in each of the four 

10 subcategories described in subparagraphs (A) 

11 through (D) of subsection (a)(1) since the submis12 sion deadline of the previous prize competition in the 

13 same category under subsection (a)(1) or the date of 

14 enactment of this Act, whichever is later, unless no 

15 such advance is significant enough to merit an 

16 award. No one such prize may exceed $1,000,000. If 

17 less than $4,000,000 is available for a prize competi18 tion under subsection (a)(1), the Secretary may omit 

19 one or more subcategories, reduce the amount of the 

20 prizes, or not hold a prize competition. 

21 (2) PROTOTYPES.—To the extent permitted 

22 under section 3(e), prizes authorized under sub23 section (a)(2) shall be awarded biennially in alter24 nate years from the prizes authorized under sub25 section (a)(1). The Secretary is authorized to award 


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1 up to one prize in this category in each 2-year pe2 riod. No such prize may exceed $4,000,000. If no 

3 registered participants meet the objective perform4 ance criteria established pursuant to subsection (c) 

5 for a competition under this paragraph, the Sec6 retary shall not award a prize. 

7 (3) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES.—To 

8 the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec9 retary shall announce one prize competition author10 ized under subsection (a)(3) as soon after the date 

11 of enactment of this Act as is practicable. A prize 

12 offered under this paragraph shall be not less than 

13 $10,000,000, paid to the winner in a lump sum, and 

14 an additional amount paid to the winner as a match 

15 for each dollar of private funding raised by the win16 ner for the hydrogen technology beginning on the 

17 date the winner was named. The match shall be pro18 vided for 3 years after the date the prize winner is 

19 named or until the full amount of the prize has been 

20 paid out, whichever occurs first. A prize winner may 

21 elect to have the match amount paid to another enti22 ty that is continuing the development of the winning 

23 technology. The Secretary shall announce the rules 

24 for receiving the match in the notice required by sec25 tion 3(b)(2). The Secretary shall award a prize 


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1 under this paragraph only when a registered partici2 pant has met the objective criteria established for 

3 the prize pursuant to subsection (c) and announced 

4 pursuant to section 3(b)(2). Not more than 

5 $10,000,000 in Federal funds may be used for the 

6 prize award under this paragraph. The admin7 istering entity shall seek to raise $40,000,000 to8 ward the matching award under this paragraph. 

9 (c) CRITERIA.—In establishing the criteria required 

10 by this Act, the Secretary shall consult with— 

11 (1) the Department’s Hydrogen Technical and 

12 Fuel Cell Advisory Committee; 

13 (2) other Federal agencies, including the Na14 tional Science Foundation; and 

15 (3) private organizations, including professional 

16 societies, industry associations, and the National 

17 Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of 

18 Engineering. 

19 (d) JUDGES.—For each prize competition, the Sec20 retary shall assemble a panel of qualified judges to select 

21 the winner or winners on the basis of the criteria estab22 lished under subsection (c). Judges for each prize competi23 tion shall include individuals from outside the Depart24 ment, including from the private sector. A judge may 

25 not— 


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1 (1) have personal or financial interests in, or be 

2 an employee, officer, director, or agent of, any entity 

3 that is a registered participant in the prize competi4 tion for which he or she will serve as a judge; or 

5 (2) have a familial or financial relationship with 

6 an individual who is a registered participant in the 

7 prize competition for which he or she will serve as 

8 a judge. 

9 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY. 

10 To be eligible to win a prize under this Act, an indi11 vidual or entity— 

12 (1) shall have complied with all the require13 ments in accordance with the Federal Register no14 tice required under section 3(b)(2); 

15 (2) in the case of a private entity, shall be in16 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi17 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in18 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

19 shall be a citizen of, or an alien lawfully admitted 

20 for permanent residence in, the United States; and 

21 (3) shall not be a Federal entity, a Federal em22 ployee acting within the scope of his employment, or 

23 an employee of a national laboratory acting within 

24 the scope of his employment. 


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1 SEC. 6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. 

2 The Federal Government shall not, by virtue of offer3 ing or awarding a prize under this Act, be entitled to any 

4 intellectual property rights derived as a consequence of, 

5 or direct relation to, the participation by a registered par6 ticipant in a competition authorized by this Act. This sec7 tion shall not be construed to prevent the Federal Govern8 ment from negotiating a license for the use of intellectual 

9 property developed for a prize competition under this Act. 

10 SEC. 7. LIABILITY. 

11 (a) WAIVER OF LIABILITY.—The Secretary may re12 quire registered participants to waive claims against the 

13 Federal Government and the administering entity (except 

14 claims for willful misconduct) for any injury, death, dam15 age, or loss of property, revenue, or profits arising from 

16 the registered participants’ participation in a competition 

17 under this Act. The Secretary shall give notice of any 

18 waiver required under this subsection in the notice re19 quired by section 3(b)(2). The Secretary may not require 

20 a registered participant to waive claims against the admin21 istering entity arising out of the unauthorized use or dis22 closure by the administering entity of the registered par23 ticipant’s intellectual property, trade secrets, or confiden24 tial business information. 

25 (b) LIABILITY INSURANCE.— 


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1 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Registered participants 

2 shall be required to obtain liability insurance or 

3 demonstrate financial responsibility, in amounts de4 termined by the Secretary, for claims by— 

5 (A) a third party for death, bodily injury, 

6 or property damage or loss resulting from an 

7 activity carried out in connection with participa8 tion in a competition under this Act; and 

9 (B) the Federal Government for damage or 

10 loss to Government property resulting from 

11 such an activity. 

12 (2) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INSURED.—The 

13 Federal Government shall be named as an additional 

14 insured under a registered participant’s insurance 

15 policy required under paragraph (1)(A), and reg16 istered participants shall be required to agree to in17 demnify the Federal Government against third party 

18 claims for damages arising from or related to com19 petition activities. 

20 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

22 (1) AWARDS.—There are authorized to be ap23 propriated to the Secretary for the period encom24 passing fiscal years 2007 through 2016 for carrying 

25 out this Act— 


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1 (A) $20,000,000 for awards described in 

2 section (4)(a)(1); 

3 (B) $20,000,000 for awards described in 

4 section 4(a)(2); and 

5 (C) $10,000,000 for the award described 

6 in section 4(a)(3). 

7 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—In addition to the 

8 amounts authorized in paragraph (1), there are au9 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for each 

10 of fiscal years 2007 through 2016 $2,000,000 for 

11 the administrative costs of carrying out this Act. 

12 (b) CARRYOVER OF FUNDS.—Funds appropriated for 

13 prize awards under this Act shall remain available until 

14 expended, and may be transferred, reprogrammed, or ex15 pended for other purposes only after the expiration of 10 

16 fiscal years after the fiscal year for which the funds were 

17 originally appropriated. No provision in this Act permits 

18 obligation or payment of funds in violation of section 1341 

19 of title 31 of the United States Code (commonly referred 

20 to as the Anti-Deficiency Act). 


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1 SEC. 9. NONSUBSTITUTION. 

2 The programs created under this Act shall not be 

3 considered a substitute for Federal research and develop4 ment programs. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 10, 2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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