I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5628 

To accelerate the use of wood in buildings, especially tall wood buildings, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 6, 2016 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mrs. MCMORRIS

RODGERS, and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee 

on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To accelerate the use of wood in buildings, especially tall 

wood buildings, 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 Act 

5 of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) wood products play a significant role in the 

2 United States economy; 

3 (2) the United States wood products industry 

4 employs more than 548,000 individuals in manufac5 turing and forestry; 

6 (3) private forest owners in the United States 

7 support approximately 2,400,000 jobs and 

8 $87,000,000,000 in payroll; 

9 (4) support for wood buildings and growing 

10 market opportunities for the use of wood products, 

11 such as tall wood building markets, could— 

12 (A) help ensure that forests in the United 

13 States remain healthy; and 

14 (B) create income streams for private for15 est owners that may help the owners keep their 

16 land forested instead of selling the land for de17 velopment; 

18 (5) developing new markets for wood use in 

19 buildings may drive additional investment in haz20 ardous fuels treatments on forest land; 

21 (6) innovative wood product technologies and 

22 building systems— 

23 (A) have enabled longer wood spans, taller 

24 walls, and higher buildings; and 


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1 (B) continue to expand the possibilities for 

2 wood use in construction; 

3 (7) wood, because it is a building material that 

4 sequesters carbon, has the potential to reduce the 

5 overall carbon footprint of a project that uses wood 

6 as a building material; 

7 (8) research helps to modernize building codes 

8 on an international basis, and that modernization is 

9 needed in the United States for tall wood buildings; 

10 (9) building codes specify a level of safety that 

11 each building material and system shall meet and 

12 that level of safety is the same regardless of the con13 struction materials used; 

14 (10) in the case of wood, building codes ensure 

15 that the allowable size, configuration, and required 

16 structural and fire protection features of a construc17 tion project allow for the safety of all occupants; 

18 (11) mass timber buildings, due to the thick, 

19 solid wood panels of which the buildings are com20 posed, are slow to burn and have inherent fire resist21 ance that, under many configurations, establishes a 

22 fire performance equal to or better than other con23 struction materials, allowing mass timber to be used 

24 appropriately for buildings that are significantly tall25 er and larger than traditional wood buildings; and 


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1 (12) National Forest System lands offer a 

2 ready source of wood for use in the production of 

3 mass timber and tall wood buildings. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) MASS TIMBER.—The term ‘‘mass timber’’ 

7 means a type of building component or system that 

8 uses large panelized wood construction, including— 

9 (A) cross-laminated timber; 

10 (B) nail laminated timber; 

11 (C) glue laminated timber; 

12 (D) laminated strand lumber; and 

13 (E) laminated veneer lumber. 

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

15 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

16 (3) TALL WOOD BUILDING.—The term ‘‘tall 

17 wood building’’ means a building designed to be— 

18 (A) constructed with mass timber; and 

19 (B) more than 85 feet in height. 

20 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOP21 MENT PROGRAM FOR ADVANCING TALL 

22 WOOD BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

24 performance-driven research and development program for 

25 the purpose of advancing tall wood building construction 


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1 in the United States (referred to in this section as the 

2 ‘‘program’’). 

3 (b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the program, the 

4 Secretary, in consultation with the State and Private For5 estry deputy area of the Forest Service, shall— 

6 (1) after receipt of input and guidance from, 

7 and collaboration with, the wood products industry, 

8 conservation organizations, and institutions of high9 er education, conduct research at the Forest Prod10 ucts Laboratory that meets measurable performance 

11 goals for the achievement of the priorities described 

12 in subsection (c); and 

13 (2) after coordination and collaboration with 

14 the wood products industry and conservation organi15 zations, make competitive grants to institutions of 

16 higher education to conduct research that meets 

17 measurable performance goals for the achievement 

18 of the priorities described in subsection (c). 

19 (c) PROGRAM PRIORITIES.—The research carried out 

20 under the program shall give priority to— 

21 (1) ways to improve the commercialization of 

22 tall wood building materials; 

23 (2) analyzing the safety of tall wood building 

24 materials; 


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1 (3) calculations by the Forest Products Labora2 tory of the life cycle environmental footprint, from 

3 extraction of raw materials through the manufac4 turing process, of tall wood building construction; 

5 (4) identifying the building code modifications 

6 necessary to construct tall wood buildings; 

7 (5) analyzing methods to reduce the life cycle 

8 environmental footprint of tall wood building con9 struction; 

10 (6) analyzing the potential implications of the 

11 broad adoption of tall wood building technology and 

12 architecture in the commercial and residential build13 ing market on wildlife and forest biodiversity; and 

14 (7) one or more other research areas identified 

15 by the Secretary, in consultation with the State and 

16 Private Forestry deputy area of the Forest Service, 

17 conservation organizations, institutions of higher 

18 education, and the wood products industry. 

19 (d) TIMEFRAME.—To the maximum extent prac20 ticable, the measurable performance goals for the research 

21 carried out under the program shall be achievable within 

22 a 5-year timeframe. 

23 SEC. 5. TALL WOOD BUILDING COMPETITION. 

24 Subject to availability of appropriations, not less fre25 quently than once during each fiscal year for the period 


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1 of fiscal years 2017 through 2021, the Secretary shall 

2 carry out a competition for a tall wood building design 

3 in accordance with section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler 

4 Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719). 

5 SEC. 6. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

6 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec7 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 

8 (1) an individual; 

9 (2) a public or private entity (including a center 

10 of excellence that consists of one or more partner11 ships between forestry, engineering, architecture, or 

12 business schools at one or more institutions of high13 er education); or 

14 (3) a State, local, or tribal government. 

15 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary, in car16 rying out the wood innovation grant program of the Sec17 retary described in the notice of the Secretary entitled 

18 ‘‘Request for Proposals: 2016 Wood Innovations Funding 

19 Opportunity’’ (80 Fed. Reg. 63498 (October 20, 2015)), 

20 may make a wood innovation grant to one or more eligible 

21 entities each year for the purpose of the acceleration of 

22 the adoption of emerging technologies in the development 

23 of innovative wood products for tall wood building con24 struction. 


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1 (c) INCENTIVIZING USE OF EXISTING MILLING CA2 PACITY.—In selecting among eligible proposals for the 

3 wood innovation grant program, the Secretary shall give 

4 priority to proposals which include the use or retrofitting 

5 (or both) of existing sawmill facilities located in Counties 

6 where the average annual unemployment rate exceeded the 

7 national average by more than 1 percent in the previous 

8 calendar year. 

9 (d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re10 ceiving a grant under subsection (b), a recipient shall pro11 vide funds equal to the amount the recipient receives 

12 under the grant, to be derived from non-Federal sources. 

13 SEC. 7. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in cooperation 

15 with State foresters and State extension directors (or 

16 equivalent State officials), shall carry out a program of 

17 education and technical assistance for mass timber appli18 cations (referred to in this section as the ‘‘program’’). 

19 (b) ACTIVITIES.—Activities under the program shall 

20 include— 

21 (1) the provision of assistance to an individual, 

22 a public or private entity, or a local or tribal govern23 ment in the development of skills and knowledge re24 lating to the use of wood in mass timber applications 

25 and other wood technologies; 


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1 (2) the provision of assistance to an individual, 

2 a public or private entity, or a State, local, or tribal 

3 government in the identification of opportunities for 

4 the use of mass timber; and 

5 (3) activities to increase public understanding 

6 of— 

7 (A) the environmental, economic, and so8 cial values associated with using wood in the 

9 construction of buildings; and 

10 (B) the relationship between the develop11 ment of markets for wood products and the 

12 ability to carry out sustainable forest manage13 ment. 

14 (c) METHODS.—The program may include the devel15 opment and distribution of educational materials and 

16 holding events designed to transfer knowledge. 

17 (d) EXPERTISE.—The Secretary shall— 

18 (1) maintain, within the Forest Service, suffi19 cient professional expertise relating to the uses of 

20 wood products to conduct the program; and 

21 (2) improve that expertise by collaborating with 

22 other Federal and non-Federal experts on the uses 

23 of wood products. 

24 (e) PARTNERS.—The Secretary shall collaborate and 

25 partner with one or more non-Federal entities, including 


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1 the governments of other countries, States, local govern2 ments, not-for-profit organizations, businesses, and insti3 tutions of higher education— 

4 (1) to enhance tall wood building commer5 cialization in the United States; 

6 (2) to develop technical assistance relating to 

7 tall wood building commercialization; and 

8 (3) to carry out the program. 

Æ 


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