II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1375

To promote energy conservation investments in Federal facilities, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 5, 1997

Mr. KOHL (for himself, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. BUMPERS, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr.

BINGAMAN, and Mr. JEFFORDS) introduced the following bill; which was

read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To promote energy conservation investments in Federal

facilities, 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 ‘‘Federal Energy Bank

5 Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) energy conservation is a cornerstone of na9 tional energy security policy;
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1 (2) the Federal Government is the largest

2 consumer of energy in the economy of the United

3 States;

4 (3) many opportunities exist for significant en5 ergy cost savings within the Federal Government;

6 and

7 (4) to achieve the energy savings required by

8 Executive order, the Federal Government must make

9 significant investments in energy savings systems

10 and products, including energy management control

11 systems.

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to promote

13 energy conservation investments in Federal facilities.

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

15 In this Act:

16 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means—

17 (A) an Executive agency (as defined in sec18 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code, except

19 that the term also includes the United States

20 Postal Service);

21 (B) Congress and any other entity in the

22 legislative branch; and

23 (C) a court and any other entity in the ju24 dicial branch.
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1 (2) BANK.—The term ‘‘Bank’’ means the Fed2 eral Energy Bank established by section 4.

3 (3) ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECT.—The term

4 ‘‘energy efficiency project’’ means a project that as5 sists an agency in meeting or exceeding the energy

6 efficiency goals stated in—

7 (A) part 3 of title V of the National En8 ergy Conservation Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 8251

9 et seq.);

10 (B) subtitle F of title I of the Energy Pol11 icy Act of 1992; and

12 (C) applicable Executive orders, including

13 Executive Order Nos. 12759 and 12902.

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

15 the Secretary of Energy.

16 (5) TOTAL UTILITY PAYMENTS.—The term

17 ‘‘total utility payments’’ means payments made to

18 supply electricity, natural gas, and any other form

19 of energy to provide the heating, ventilation, and air

20 conditioning, lighting, and other energy needs of an

21 agency facility.

22 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF BANK.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the Treas24 ury of the United States a trust fund to be known as the

25 ‘‘Federal Energy Bank’’, consisting of—
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1 (1) such amounts as are appropriated to the

2 Bank under section 8;

3 (2) such amounts as are transferred to the

4 Bank under subsection (b);

5 (3) such amounts as are repaid to the Bank

6 under section 5(b)(4); and

7 (4) any interest earned on investment of

8 amounts in the Bank under subsection (c).

9 (b) TRANSFERS TO BANK.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the beginning of each of

11 fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001, each agency shall

12 transfer to the Secretary of the Treasury, for deposit

13 in the Bank, an amount equal to 5 percent of the

14 total utility payments paid by the agency in the pre15 ceding fiscal year.

16 (2) UTILITIES PAID FOR AS PART OF RENTAL

17 PAYMENTS.—The Secretary shall by regulation es18 tablish a formula by which the appropriate portion

19 of a rental payment that covers the cost of utilities

20 shall be considered to be a utility payment for the

21 purposes of paragraph (1).

22 (c) INVESTMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of the

23 Treasury shall invest such portion of funds in the Bank

24 as is not, in the Secretary’s judgment, required to meet
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1 current withdrawals. Investments may be made only in in2 terest-bearing obligations of the United States.

3 SEC. 5. LOANS FROM THE BANK.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury

5 shall transfer from the Bank to the Secretary such

6 amounts as are appropriated to carry out the loan pro7 gram under subsection (b).

8 (b) LOAN PROGRAM.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with section

10 6, the Secretary shall establish a program to loan

11 amounts from the Bank to any agency that submits

12 an application satisfactory to the Secretary in order

13 to finance an energy efficiency project.

14 (2) PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING FUNDING.—

15 To the extent practicable, an agency shall not sub16 mit a project for which performance contracting

17 funding is available.

18 (3) PURPOSES OF LOAN.—

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—A loan under this sec20 tion may be made to pay the costs of—

21 (i) an energy efficiency project; or

22 (ii) development and administration of

23 a performance contract.

24 (B) LIMITATION.—An agency may use not

25 more than 15 percent of the amount of a loan
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1 under subparagraph (A)(i) to pay the costs of

2 administration and proposal development (in3 cluding data collection and energy surveys).

4 (4) REPAYMENTS.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—An agency shall repay

6 to the Bank the principal amount of the energy

7 efficiency project loan plus interest at a rate de8 termined by the President, in consultation with

9 the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treas10 ury.

11 (B) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive

12 the requirement of subparagraph (A) if the Sec13 retary determines that payment of interest by

14 an agency is not required to sustain the needs

15 of the Bank in making energy efficiency project

16 loans.

17 (5) AGENCY ENERGY BUDGETS.—Until a loan

18 is repaid, an agency budget submitted to Congress

19 for a fiscal year shall not be reduced by the value

20 of energy savings accrued as a result of the energy

21 conservation measure implemented with funds from

22 the Bank.

23 (6) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—An agency shall

24 not rescind or reprogram funds made available by

25 this Act. Funds loaned to an agency shall be re-
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1 tained by the agency until expended, without regard

2 to fiscal year limitation.

3 SEC. 6. SELECTION CRITERIA.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish cri5 teria for the selection of energy efficiency projects to be

6 awarded loans in accordance with subsection (b).

7 (b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary may make

8 loans only for energy efficiency projects that—

9 (1) are technically feasible;

10 (2) are determined to be cost-effective using life

11 cycle cost methods established by the Secretary by

12 regulation;

13 (3) include a measurement and management

14 component to—

15 (A) commission energy savings for new

16 Federal facilities; and

17 (B) monitor and improve energy efficiency

18 management at existing Federal facilities; and

19 (4) have a project payback period of 3 years or

20 less.

21 SEC. 7. REPORTS AND AUDITS.

22 (a) REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY.—Not later than

23 1 year after the installation of an energy efficiency project

24 that has a total cost of more than $1,000,000, and each
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1 year thereafter, an agency shall submit to the Secretary

2 a report that—

3 (1) states whether the project meets or fails to

4 meet the energy savings projections for the project;

5 and

6 (2) for each project that fails to meet the sav7 ings projections, states the reasons for the failure

8 and describes proposed remedies.

9 (b) AUDITS.—The Secretary may audit any energy

10 efficiency project financed with funding from the Bank to

11 assess the project’s performance.

12 (c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—At the end of each fis13 cal year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report

14 on the operations of the Bank, including a statement of

15 the total receipts into the Bank, and the total expenditures

16 from the Bank to each agency.

17 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

19 as are necessary to carry out this Act.

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