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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5402 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5402

To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office of Environment, 
 Energy, and Climate Change and to establish the Climate Change Center 
and Clearinghouse to provide support and information on climate change 
                      to small business concerns.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2008

 Mr. Welch of Vermont (for himself, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Davis 
   of Illinois, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Mr. Van 
 Hollen, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Hall of New York, and Mr. Carnahan) introduced 
   the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 
                                Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office of Environment, 
 Energy, and Climate Change and to establish the Climate Change Center 
and Clearinghouse to provide support and information on climate change 
                      to small business concerns.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Climate Change Center and 
Clearinghouse Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) There are 26.8 million small business concerns in the 
        United States, and they are the backbone of the American 
        economy. However, small business concerns face overwhelming 
        obstacles in addressing climate change issues, such as reducing 
        their carbon footprint while balancing business needs to remain 
        economically competitive.
            (2) The United States Government is the largest purchaser 
        of goods and services in the world and plays a large role in 
        influencing the overall business marketplace. In 2006, the 
        United States Government spent over $417 billion on goods and 
        services in 8.3 million separate contract actions. Small 
        business concerns won approximately $80 billion in contracts 
        which is about 21.5 percent of the remaining prime contracts.
            (3) The Small Business Act of 1953 specified that small 
        business concerns should be given every opportunity to compete 
        fairly for the award of Federal contracts. Congress has long 
        recognized the value of small business concerns because they 
        are important sources of job creation and economic growth; 
        however, small business concerns are typically disadvantaged in 
        competing against large firms.
            (4) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has 
        created a directory to help small business concerns access 
        financial services by State or service type (i.e. loans, 
        consulting, credit, etc.) to help small business concerns 
        achieve energy efficiency through their Energy Star Small 
        Business--Financial Resources Directory.
            (5) The fusion of a powerful purchasing mechanism with 
        green business practices provides a small business concern with 
        significant incentives and opportunities for market penetration 
        of environmentally preferable products, for the development of 
        green services, and for the adoption of green practices in 
        their own facilities.
            (6) Many small business concerns have taken the first step 
        in incorporating sustainable practices into their own business, 
        however small business concerns face obstacles in comparing the 
        cost, performance, and life cycle environmental impacts of 
        alternatives. Most small business concerns do not have the 
        scientific and technical capability to fully assess the issues 
        and choices to address the impact of climate change. In 
        addition, small business concerns offering green products and 
        services often face barriers to market acceptance of 
        environmentally preferable products and services when competing 
        with products or service practices that have long-standing 
        market penetration.
            (7) It is vital for the competitiveness of the United 
        States that small business concerns, including small, minority-
        owned, women-owned, historically underutilized businesses 
        (HUBZones), and veteran-owned small business concerns be 
        provided greater opportunity to become a procurement source for 
        goods and services to Federal agencies. It is also critical 
        that small business concerns be encouraged to develop and 
        supply environmentally sound products and services.
            (8) By utilizing new energy efficient technologies and 
        whole building design practices, small business concerns can 
        save in long-term operating costs, become more competitive, 
        improve the productivity and health of employees, and reduce 
        their carbon footprint.
            (9) In the National Small Business Association's 2006 
        energy survey, the majority of owners of small business 
        concerns said they have been affected by rising energy prices 
        and that reducing energy costs would increase profitability. At 
        the same time, over half of these entrepreneurs have not 
        invested in energy efficient programs for their small business 
        concerns.
            (10) There are many ways to increase energy efficiency. For 
        example, an owner of a small business concern who replaces 
        twenty 100-watt incandescent bulbs with 27-watt compact 
        fluorescent bulbs would pay $400 up-front, but save $980 over 
        one year.
            (11) Today, buildings account for more than a third of the 
        carbon emissions in the United States. Whole building design 
        practices, also known as green buildings, have a positive 
        effect on the reduction of green house gases and the health of 
        the environment, increase production of workers, and improve 
        the water supply for communities. Studies have shown--
                    (A) a 2 to 16 percent increase in productivity in 
                buildings that incorporate whole building design 
                practices; and
                    (B) that an up-front investment of 2 percent in 
                whole building design practices, on average, results in 
                life cycle savings of 20 percent of the total 
                construction costs.
            (12) Some of the tools that a small business concern could 
        use to design are--
                    (A) green roofs, vegetated roof systems that 
                passively perform no less than eight highly beneficial 
                and cost-saving functions;
                    (B) daylighting, because people respond, 
                concentrate, and think better with diffuse, full-
                spectrum light provided by the sun;
                    (C) on-site renewable energy, produced from fuels 
                that have a stable, predictable supply such as solar, 
                wind, biomass, and ground sources;
                    (D) natural ventilation, which can replace all or 
                part of mechanical ventilation systems, improving 
                indoor air quality and occupant comfort; and
                    (E) integrated design, the method by which the 
                design team identifies systems early in the process to 
                provide a coordinated implementation of efficiency and 
                building methods, realizing an exponential gain in 
                savings and comfort.

SEC. 3. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

    The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by 
redesignating section 37 as section 38, and by inserting after section 
36 the following:

``SEC. 38. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is established within the Small 
Business Administration an office to be known as the Office of 
Environment, Energy, and Climate Change headed by an Assistant 
Administrator for Environment, Energy, and Climate Change, who shall be 
appointed by, and report to, the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration.
    ``(b) Duties.--The Office of Environment, Energy, and Climate 
Change shall--
            ``(1) oversee and administer the Climate Change Center and 
        Clearinghouse established under subsection (c);
            ``(2) promote energy efficiency efforts for small business 
        concerns;
            ``(3) promote efforts to reduce energy costs of small 
        business concerns; and
            ``(4) oversee efforts by small business concerns to develop 
        renewable energy technologies.
    ``(c) Climate Change Center and Clearinghouse.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--There is established within the 
        Office of Environment, Energy, and Climate Change an office to 
        be known as the Climate Change Center and Clearinghouse 
        (hereinafter in this section referred to as the `Center').
            ``(2) Duties of the center.--The Center shall--
                    ``(A) provide scientific, economic, and technical 
                information to small business concerns on--
                            ``(i) assessing and managing the technical, 
                        economic, and business impacts of climate 
                        change; and
                            ``(ii) cost savings and revenue gains made 
                        possible through carbon credit trading 
                        opportunities and Federal and State renewable 
                        energy and energy efficiency tax relief 
                        programs, purchase incentives, and rebate 
                        programs;
                    ``(B) ensure that the information described in 
                subparagraph (A) is available to small business 
                concerns by--
                            ``(i) placing the information on a website 
                        accessible by small business concerns; and
                            ``(ii) developing and carrying out 
                        nationwide workshops for small business 
                        concerns, with such workshops recorded and made 
                        available to small business concerns on a 
                        website and, if practicable, broadcast live on 
                        the internet;
                    ``(C) coordinate any efforts which are undertaken 
                by the Department of Energy's Ombudsman, the 
                Environmental Protection Agency's Small Business 
                Ombudsman, the National Institute of Standards and 
                Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the 
                Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement 
                Ombudsman, the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 
                Business Utilization within each Federal agency having 
                procurement powers, and other appropriate Federal 
                departments and agencies to provide technical, 
                scientific, and engineering support to small business 
                concerns for the purpose of maintaining competitiveness 
                while--
                            ``(i) developing green products or 
                        services;
                            ``(ii) implementing green business 
                        practices; or
                            ``(iii) reducing the amount of pollution 
                        produced by the small business concern;
                    ``(D) develop a baseline study--
                            ``(i) that provides a broad analysis that 
                        aggregates small business energy consumption 
                        and emissions;
                            ``(ii) that includes, but is not limited 
                        to, an analysis of the energy consumption and 
                        greenhouse gas emissions from processes, 
                        practices, and product developments of small 
                        business concerns;
                            ``(iii) the development of which the Center 
                        shall coordinate with similar efforts 
                        undertaken by other Federal agencies; and
                            ``(iv) which upon completion is made 
                        available to the public on a website.
                    ``(E) raise awareness among small business concerns 
                of the information, technical support, and network 
                opportunities made available through the Energy Star 
                Program to reduce energy waste and energy costs;
                    ``(F) develop a carbon footprint website that 
                contains--
                            ``(i) educational and technical information 
                        on how small business concerns can reduce their 
                        carbon footprint;
                            ``(ii) links to tools and information 
                        relating to carbon footprints available on 
                        other websites; and
                            ``(iii) a carbon footprint calculator which 
                        can calculate a rough estimate of a small 
                        business concern's carbon emissions based on, 
                        but not limited to, the concern's electricity 
                        usage, heating fuel usage, and fleet mileage; 
                        and
                    ``(G) develop a marketing plan and coordinate with 
                the Office of Small Business Development Centers to 
                raise awareness among small business concerns of the 
                Center's duties and available resources.
            ``(3) Duties of the heads of departments and agencies.--The 
        head of each Federal department or agency shall provide 
        information to the Center, upon request, unless otherwise 
        prohibited by law.
    ``(d) Interagency Working Group.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President shall establish an 
        interagency working group, which shall be co-chaired by the 
        Assistant Administrator for Environment, Energy, and Climate 
        Change and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
        Agency and shall include representatives from--
                    ``(A) the National Institute of Standards and 
                Technology;
                    ``(B) the Department of Energy;
                    ``(C) the Department of Transportation;
                    ``(D) the Office of Small Business Development 
                Centers;
                    ``(E) small business concerns; and
                    ``(F) any additional agency that the President may 
                designate.
            ``(2) Advisors.--The co-chairs of the interagency working 
        group may appoint representatives from environmental groups and 
        groups concerned with climate change to advise the working 
        group.
            ``(3) Duties.--The interagency working group shall--
                    ``(A) establish goals and priorities for the 
                Center; and
                    ``(B) provide for interagency coordination, 
                including budget coordination, of activities undertaken 
                by the Center.
    ``(e) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Green products or services and green business 
        practices.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
        Administration shall, in consultation with the Environmental 
        Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, and 
        other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, specify a 
        detailed definition for the terms `green products or services' 
        and `green business practices' for purposes of this section.
            ``(2) Greenhouse gas.--For purposes of this section, the 
        term `greenhouse gas' means--
                    ``(A) carbon dioxide;
                    ``(B) methane;
                    ``(C) nitrous oxide;
                    ``(D) hydrofluorocarbons;
                    ``(E) perfluorocarbons; or
                    ``(F) sulfur hexafluoride.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
section.''.
                                 <all>
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