I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2485 

To establish in the Department of the Treasury an infrastructure accelerator 

program to facilitate investments in and financing of certain infrastructure projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2015 

Mrs. TORRES (for herself, Mrs. BUSTOS, and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish in the Department of the Treasury an infrastructure accelerator program to facilitate investments 

in and financing of certain infrastructure projects, 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 ‘‘Regional Infrastruc5 ture Accelerator Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purpose of this program is to facilitate and mobi8 lize investment in, and the long-term financing of, ecoVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 May 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2485.IH H2485

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1 nomically viable covered infrastructure projects of regional 

2 or national significance by providing funding for these 

3 projects, including through private sector financing, to ac4 celerate the delivery of high-quality, critical infrastructure 

5 through a self-sustaining regional infrastructure accel6 erator that mitigates risk with technical expertise and best 

7 practices. 

8 SEC. 3. REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCELERATOR PRO9 GRAM ESTABLISHED. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated 

11 under paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 8, the Secretary 

12 of Treasury may establish a regional infrastructure accel13 erator program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro14 gram’’) to provide grants to regional infrastructure accel15 erators to establish and administer a process for devel16 oping the priorities of and acquiring financing for covered 

17 infrastructure projects. 

18 (b) PROGRAM STRUCTURE.—The Program estab19 lished pursuant to this Act shall include— 

20 (1) an initial grant to a regional infrastructure 

21 accelerator that submits an application and a plan 

22 for promoting investment in covered infrastructure 

23 projects; and 

24 (2) a subsequent grant to a regional infrastruc25 ture accelerator for the purpose of awarding subVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 May 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2485.IH H2485

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1 grants to one or more State, local, or regional public 

2 entities to support covered infrastructure projects 

3 and within the geographic area represented by the 

4 regional infrastructure accelerator. 

5 SEC. 4. INITIAL GRANTS TO REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE 

6 ACCELERATORS. 

7 (a) APPLICATION.—A regional infrastructure accel8 erator that seeks a grant under this section shall submit 

9 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man10 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 

11 reasonably require, including a plan that describes how the 

12 regional infrastructure accelerator will promote invest13 ment in covered infrastructure projects by— 

14 (1) providing guidance and feedback to State, 

15 local, or regional public entities on infrastructure 

16 priorities, financing strategies, and other matters re17 lating to such projects; 

18 (2) evaluating and promoting innovative financ19 ing methods; 

20 (3) connecting sources of financing to the 

21 State, local, or regional public entities; 

22 (4) establishing standards to measure life-cycle 

23 costs of investments in such projects, defined as 

24 budgetary impacts of the design, development or 


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1 construction, operations, and maintenance of an in2 frastructure asset; 

3 (5) building capacity of State and local govern4 ments to evaluate and structure projects involving 

5 the investment of private capital; and 

6 (6) providing technical assistance and informa7 tion on best practices with respect to such projects 

8 which shall include— 

9 (A) identifying and selecting qualified advi10 sors such as infrastructure financial analysts 

11 and contract negotiators; 

12 (B) incorporating resiliency risk analyses 

13 into project planning and design; 

14 (C) preparing and reviewing requests for 

15 qualifications and proposals from private sector 

16 partners; and 

17 (D) applying standardized analyses and 

18 processes that provide quantitative data on in19 frastructure investments, or specifically a 

20 ‘‘value for money’’ analysis. 

21 (b) SELECTION.—From applications received under 

22 subsection (a), the Secretary shall select 5 regional infra23 structure accelerators from geographically diverse regions 

24 to receive a grant under this section. 


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1 (c) STRUCTURE OF REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AC2 CELERATORS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

4 grant under this Act, a regional infrastructure accel5 erator shall have a board of directors. 

6 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 

7 (A) COMPOSITION.—The board of directors 

8 of a regional infrastructure accelerator shall in9 clude at least one representative of each State, 

10 locality, or region in the area served by the re11 gional infrastructure accelerator, as nominated 

12 by a governing body participating in the re13 gional infrastructure accelerator and that par14 ticipated in submitting an application under 

15 subsection (a). 

16 (B) DUTIES.—The duties of the board of 

17 directors shall be to— 

18 (i) develop and approve of a regional 

19 infrastructure accelerator plan for their re20 spective regional infrastructure accelerator; 

21 (ii) select subgrantees for award of 

22 funds for predevelopment costs, as de23 scribed in section 5; and 


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1 (iii) approve of and submit a report to 

2 the Secretary as described in subsection 

3 (e). 

4 (C) REQUIREMENTS TO APPROVE PLAN.— 

5 In carrying out its duties under subparagraph 

6 (B)(i), the Board of Directors shall consider 

7 public stakeholder input from— 

8 (i) a public project sponsor with expe9 rience in infrastructure financing; 

10 (ii) an entity with the ability to fi11 nance covered infrastructure projects in 

12 the area served by the regional infrastruc13 ture accelerator, including private sector 

14 equity investors, public pension funds, en15 dowments, and other financial investment 

16 funds; 

17 (iii) a construction or real estate de18 velopment entity with the capacity to de19 velop covered infrastructure projects in the 

20 area served by the regional infrastructure 

21 accelerator; 

22 (iv) a representative of an organized 

23 labor association or an association of work24 ers representing labor and workplace 

25 standards; 


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1 (v) a legal expert with experience in 

2 contract development and execution of 

3 public private partnerships; and 

4 (vi) a representative of each Federal 

5 agency or department with jurisdiction 

6 over covered infrastructure projects. 

7 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A regional infrastructure accel8 erator that is awarded a grant under this section shall 

9 use such grant to— 

10 (1) assess regional approaches to advancing in11 novative investment in covered infrastructure 

12 projects; 

13 (2) develop strategies for— 

14 (A) transparency in the analysis of covered 

15 infrastructure projects to ensure protection of 

16 the public interest; 

17 (B) the bundling of smaller scale and rural 

18 projects into a larger transaction for invest19 ment; and 

20 (C) reducing transaction costs; 

21 (3) facilitatate the creation of a catalog of cov22 ered infrastructure projects available for investment; 

23 and 

24 (4) analyze and apply procurement methods for 

25 covered infrastructure projects, including— 


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1 (A) assessing taxpayer benefits of contrac2 tual agreements for the management and allo3 cation of risks in infrastructure procurement; 

4 (B) measuring the speed and quality of 

5 project completion; 

6 (C) assessing the use of contracting strate7 gies in which teams provide design, construc8 tion, financing, and maintenance solutions for 

9 performance outcomes; and 

10 (D) complete the report described in sub11 section (e). 

12 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after receipt 

13 of a grant under this section each regional infrastructure 

14 accelerator shall submit to the Secretary a report, which 

15 shall include— 

16 (1) an update on the implementation of the 

17 plan described in subsection (a); 

18 (2) a description of the infrastructure needs of 

19 the region to be served by the regional infrastructure 

20 accelerator; 

21 (3) a proposal of covered infrastructure projects 

22 to be accomplished through a subsequent grant 

23 awarded under section 4; and 


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1 (4) the procurement strategies the regional in2 frastructure accelerator intends to use for such cov3 ered infrastructure projects. 

4 (f) SELECTION FOR SUBSEQUENT GRANT.—The Sec5 retary shall review the reports submitted under subsection 

6 (e) and select not fewer than 4 regional infrastructure ac7 celerators to receive a subsequent grant pursuant to sec8 tion 4. 

9 SEC. 5. SUBSEQUENT GRANTS TO REGIONAL INFRASTRUC10 TURE ACCELERATORS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

12 Secretary reviews the report submitted under section 4(e), 

13 and from amounts appropriated under section 8(2), the 

14 Secretary shall award grants to the regional infrastructure 

15 accelerators selected under section 4(f). A regional infra16 structure accelerator may use a grant awarded under this 

17 section to make subgrants to State, local, or regional pub18 lic entities for predevelopment costs. 

19 (b) RESTRICTIONS ON SUBGRANTS.—Regional infra20 structure accelerators may make subgrants to State, local, 

21 or regional public entities for predevelopment costs in an 

22 amount not to exceed $300,000 or 75 percent of the 

23 project costs, whichever is less. The subgrantee shall pro24 vide, or shall secure from other sources, funding for re25 maining balance of the project costs. Funds made availVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 May 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2485.IH H2485

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1 able under this section for predevelopment costs cannot 

2 be used to pay for work already completed. 

3 (c) APPLICATION.—A State, local, or regional public 

4 entity may submit an application for a subgrant to a re5 gional infrastructure accelerator that receives a grant 

6 under subsection (a) at such time, in such manner, and 

7 containing such information as the regional infrastructure 

8 accelerator may reasonably require. 

9 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Eligible costs shall include the 

10 following costs associated with covered infrastructure 

11 projects: 

12 (1) Project planning, feasibility studies, eco13 nomic assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and public 

14 benefit studies. 

15 (2) ‘‘Value-for-money’’ analyses. 

16 (3) Design and engineering. 

17 (4) Financial planning (including the identifica18 tion of funding and financing options). 

19 (5) Permitting, environmental review, and regu20 latory processes. 

21 (6) Assessment of the impacts of potential 

22 projects on the area, including the effect on commu23 nities and environment. 

24 (7) The workforce and wages and benefits, as 

25 well as assessment of infrastructure vulnerability 


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1 and resilience to the impacts of climate change and 

2 other risks. 

3 (8) Public outreach and community engage4 ment. 

5 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

6 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re8 port on the effectiveness of the Program established under 

9 this Act. The report shall include an overview of the Pro10 gram and findings related to the effectiveness of regional 

11 collaboration on infrastructure investment, infrastructure 

12 finance, and the utilization of procurement methods (as 

13 described in section 4(d)(4)). 

14 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act, the following definitions shall apply: 

16 (1) COVERED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.—In 

17 this Act, the term ‘‘covered infrastructure project’’ 

18 means an infrastructure project— 

19 (A) that is sponsored by a State, local, or 

20 regional public entity; and 

21 (B) that involves the construction, consoli22 dation, alteration, or repair of any of the fol23 lowing: 

24 (i) Intercity passenger or freight rail 

25 lines. 


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1 (ii) Intercity passenger rail facilities 

2 or equipment. 

3 (iii) Intercity freight rail facilities or 

4 equipment. 

5 (iv) Intercity passenger bus facilities 

6 or equipment. 

7 (v) Public transportation facilities or 

8 equipment. 

9 (vi) Highway facilities, including 

10 bridges and tunnels. 

11 (vii) Airports. 

12 (viii) Air traffic control systems. 

13 (ix) Port or marine terminal facilities, 

14 including approaches to marine terminal 

15 facilities or inland port facilities. 

16 (x) Port or marine equipment, includ17 ing fixed equipment to serve approaches to 

18 marine terminals or inland ports. 

19 (xi) Ports of entry or border crossing 

20 infrastructure. 

21 (xii) Transmission or distribution 

22 pipelines. 

23 (xiii) Inland waterways. 


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1 (xiv) Intermodal facilities or equip2 ment related to 2 or more of the sectors 

3 described in clauses (i) through (xiii). 

4 (xv) Water treatment and solid waste 

5 disposal facilities, including drinking water 

6 facilities. 

7 (xvi) Storm water management sys8 tems. 

9 (xvii) Dams and levees. 

10 (xviii) Facilities or equipment for en11 ergy transmission, distribution or storage. 

12 (2) REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCEL13 ERATOR.—The term ‘‘regional infrastructure accel14 erator’’ means a multi-jurisdictional organization or15 ganized and dedicated to provide technical assist16 ance, financing options, and resources for covered 

17 infrastructure projects within the jurisdictions rep18 resented in such organization. 

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

20 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

21 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

22 the several States, the District of Columbia, Puerto 

23 Rico, and any territory or possession of the United 

24 States. 


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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 the Program established under this Act $25,000,000, of 

4 which— 

5 (1) $11,500,000 shall be used for initial grants 

6 to regional infrastructure accelerator under section 

7 3, to be expended not later than 9 months after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act; 

9 (2) $13,000,000 shall be used for subgrants to 

10 covered entities under section 4, to be expended not 

11 later than 6 months after the submission of the final 

12 report required under section 4(e); and 

13 (3) $500,000 shall be used for administrative 

14 costs of the Program. 

Æ 


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