II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 365 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary prizes for achievements in overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with 

hydrogen energy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 23, 2007 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. DORGAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘H-Prize Act of 2007’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) ADMINISTERING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘ad8 ministering entity’’ means the entity with which the 


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1 Secretary enters into an agreement under section 

2 3(c). 

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

4 means the Department of Energy. 

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

6 the Secretary of Energy. 

7 SEC. 3. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

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

9 program to competitively award cash prizes only in con10 formity with this Act to advance the research, develop11 ment, demonstration, and commercial application of hy12 drogen energy technologies. 

13 (b) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COMPETI14 TORS.— 

15 (1) ADVERTISING.—The Secretary shall widely 

16 advertise prize competitions to encourage broad par17 ticipation, including by individuals, universities (in18 cluding historically Black colleges and universities 

19 and other minority serving institutions), and large 

20 and small businesses (including businesses owned or 

21 controlled by socially and economically disadvan22 taged persons). 

23 (2) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL REG24 ISTER NOTICE.—The Secretary shall announce each 

25 prize competition by publishing a notice in the FedVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:08 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S365.IS S365

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1 eral Register. This notice shall include the subject of 

2 the competition, the duration of the competition, the 

3 eligibility requirements for participation in the com4 petition, the process for participants to register for 

5 the competition, the amount of the prize, and the 

6 criteria for awarding the prize. 

7 (c) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITIONS.—The Sec8 retary shall enter into an agreement with a private, non9 profit entity to administer the prize competitions, subject 

10 to the provisions of this Act. The duties of the admin11 istering entity under the agreement shall include— 

12 (1) advertising prize competitions and their re13 sults; 

14 (2) raising funds from private entities and indi15 viduals to pay for administrative costs and to con16 tribute to cash prizes; 

17 (3) working with the Secretary to develop the 

18 criteria for selecting winners in prize competitions, 

19 based on goals provided by the Secretary; 

20 (4) determining, in consultation with the Sec21 retary, the appropriate amount for each prize to be 

22 awarded; 

23 (5) selecting judges in accordance with section 

24 4(d), using criteria developed in consultation with 

25 the Secretary; and 


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1 (6) preventing the unauthorized use or disclo2 sure of a registered participant’s intellectual prop3 erty, trade secrets, and confidential business infor4 mation. 

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

6 consist of Federal appropriated funds and any funds pro7 vided by the administering entity (including funds raised 

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

9 Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies 

10 for such cash prizes. The Secretary may not give any spe11 cial consideration to any private sector entity or individual 

12 in return for a donation to the administering entity. 

13 (e) ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES.—The Secretary 

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

15 all the funds needed to pay out the announced amount 

16 of the prize have been appropriated or committed in writ17 ing by the administering entity. The Secretary may in18 crease the amount of a prize after an initial announcement 

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

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

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

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

23 amount of the increase have been appropriated or 

24 committed in writing by the administering entity. 


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1 (f) SUNSET.—The authority to announce prize com2 petitions under this Act shall terminate on September 30, 

3 2018. 

4 SEC. 4. PRIZE CATEGORIES. 

5 (a) CATEGORIES.—The Secretary shall establish 

6 prizes for— 

7 (1) advancements in components or systems re8 lated to— 

9 (A) hydrogen production; 

10 (B) hydrogen storage; 

11 (C) hydrogen distribution; and 

12 (D) hydrogen utilization; 

13 (2) prototypes of hydrogen-powered vehicles or 

14 other hydrogen-based products that best meet or ex15 ceed objective performance criteria, such as comple16 tion of a race over a certain distance or terrain or 

17 generation of energy at certain levels of efficiency; 

18 and 

19 (3) transformational changes in technologies for 

20 the distribution or production of hydrogen that meet 

21 or exceed far-reaching objective criteria, which shall 

22 include minimal carbon emissions and which may in23 clude cost criteria designed to facilitate the eventual 

24 market success of a winning technology. 

25 (b) AWARDS.— 


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1 (1) ADVANCEMENTS.—To the extent permitted 

2 under section 3(e), the prizes authorized under sub3 section (a)(1) shall be awarded biennially to the 

4 most significant advance made in each of the four 

5 subcategories described in subparagraphs (A) 

6 through (D) of subsection (a)(1) since the submis7 sion deadline of the previous prize competition in the 

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

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

10 such advance is significant enough to merit an 

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

12 less than $4,000,000 is available for a prize competi13 tion under subsection (a)(1), the Secretary may omit 

14 one or more subcategories, reduce the amount of the 

15 prizes, or not hold a prize competition. 

16 (2) PROTOTYPES.—To the extent permitted 

17 under section 3(e), prizes authorized under sub18 section (a)(2) shall be awarded biennially in alter19 nate years from the prizes authorized under sub20 section (a)(1). The Secretary is authorized to award 

21 up to one prize in this category in each 2-year pe22 riod. No such prize may exceed $4,000,000. If no 

23 registered participants meet the objective perform24 ance criteria established pursuant to subsection (c) 


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1 for a competition under this paragraph, the Sec2 retary shall not award a prize. 

3 (3) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES.—To 

4 the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec5 retary shall announce one prize competition author6 ized under subsection (a)(3) as soon after the date 

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

8 offered under this paragraph shall be not less than 

9 $10,000,000, paid to the winner in a lump sum, and 

10 an additional amount paid to the winner as a match 

11 for each dollar of private funding raised by the win12 ner for the hydrogen technology beginning on the 

13 date the winner was named. The match shall be pro14 vided for 3 years after the date the prize winner is 

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

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

17 elect to have the match amount paid to another enti18 ty that is continuing the development of the winning 

19 technology. The Secretary shall announce the rules 

20 for receiving the match in the notice required by sec21 tion 3(b)(2). The Secretary shall award a prize 

22 under this paragraph only when a registered partici23 pant has met the objective criteria established for 

24 the prize pursuant to subsection (c) and announced 

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


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1 $10,000,000 in Federal funds may be used for the 

2 prize award under this paragraph. The admin3 istering entity shall seek to raise $40,000,000 to4 ward the matching award under this paragraph. 

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

6 by this Act, the Secretary shall consult with— 

7 (1) the Department’s Hydrogen Technical and 

8 Fuel Cell Advisory Committee; 

9 (2) other Federal agencies, including the Na10 tional Science Foundation; and 

11 (3) private organizations, including professional 

12 societies, industry associations, and the National 

13 Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of 

14 Engineering. 

15 (d) JUDGES.—For each prize competition, the Sec16 retary shall assemble a panel of qualified judges to select 

17 the winner or winners on the basis of the criteria estab18 lished under subsection (c). Judges for each prize competi19 tion shall include individuals from outside the Depart20 ment, including from the private sector. A judge may 

21 not— 

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

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

24 that is a registered participant in the prize competi25 tion for which he or she will serve as a judge; or 


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1 (2) have a familial or financial relationship with 

2 an individual who is a registered participant in the 

3 prize competition for which he or she will serve as 

4 a judge. 

5 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY. 

6 To be eligible to win a prize under this Act, an indi7 vidual or entity— 

8 (1) shall have complied with all the require9 ments in accordance with the Federal Register no10 tice required under section 3(b)(2); 

11 (2) in the case of a private entity, shall be in12 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi13 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in14 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

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

16 for permanent residence in, the United States; and 

17 (3) shall not be a Federal entity, a Federal em18 ployee acting within the scope of his employment, or 

19 an employee of a national laboratory acting within 

20 the scope of his employment. 

21 SEC. 6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. 

22 The Federal Government shall not, by virtue of offer23 ing or awarding a prize under this Act, be entitled to any 

24 intellectual property rights derived as a consequence of, 

25 or direct relation to, the participation by a registered parVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:08 Jan 24, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S365.IS S365

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1 ticipant in a competition authorized by this Act. This sec2 tion shall not be construed to prevent the Federal Govern3 ment from negotiating a license for the use of intellectual 

4 property developed for a prize competition under this Act. 

5 SEC. 7. LIABILITY. 

6 (a) WAIVER OF LIABILITY.—The Secretary may re7 quire registered participants to waive claims against the 

8 Federal Government and the administering entity (except 

9 claims for willful misconduct) for any injury, death, dam10 age, or loss of property, revenue, or profits arising from 

11 the registered participants’ participation in a competition 

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

13 waiver required under this subsection in the notice re14 quired by section 3(b)(2). The Secretary may not require 

15 a registered participant to waive claims against the admin16 istering entity arising out of the unauthorized use or dis17 closure by the administering entity of the registered par18 ticipant’s intellectual property, trade secrets, or confiden19 tial business information. 

20 (b) LIABILITY INSURANCE.— 

21 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Registered participants 

22 shall be required to obtain liability insurance or 

23 demonstrate financial responsibility, in amounts de24 termined by the Secretary, for claims by— 


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

2 or property damage or loss resulting from an 

3 activity carried out in connection with participa4 tion in a competition under this Act; and 

5 (B) the Federal Government for damage or 

6 loss to Government property resulting from 

7 such an activity. 

8 (2) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INSURED.—The 

9 Federal Government shall be named as an additional 

10 insured under a registered participant’s insurance 

11 policy required under paragraph (1)(A), and reg12 istered participants shall be required to agree to in13 demnify the Federal Government against third party 

14 claims for damages arising from or related to com15 petition activities. 

16 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 (1) AWARDS.—There are authorized to be ap19 propriated to the Secretary for the period encom20 passing fiscal years 2008 through 2017 for carrying 

21 out this Act— 

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

23 section (4)(a)(1); 

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

25 section 4(a)(2); and 


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

2 in section 4(a)(3). 

3 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—In addition to the 

4 amounts authorized in paragraph (1), there are au5 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for each 

6 of fiscal years 2008 through 2017 $2,000,000 for 

7 the administrative costs of carrying out this Act. 

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

9 prize awards under this Act shall remain available until 

10 expended, and may be transferred, reprogrammed, or ex11 pended for other purposes only after the expiration of 10 

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

13 originally appropriated. No provision in this Act permits 

14 obligation or payment of funds in violation of section 1341 

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

16 to as the Anti-Deficiency Act). 

17 SEC. 9. NONSUBSTITUTION. 

18 The programs created under this Act shall not be 

19 considered a substitute for Federal research and develop20 ment programs. 

Æ 


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