I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4173 

To establish the Brownfield Redevelopment and Economic Development Innovative Financing program to promote urban renewal, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2014 

Ms. HAHN (for herself and Mr. GIBSON) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish the Brownfield Redevelopment and Economic 

Development Innovative Financing program to promote 

urban renewal, 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 ‘‘Brownfield Redevelop5 ment and Economic Development Innovative Financing 

6 Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC 

2 DEVELOPMENT INNOVATIVE FINANCING 

3 PROGRAM. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Secretary 

5 of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with 

6 the Secretary of the Treasury, shall establish a program, 

7 to be known as the Brownfield Redevelopment and Eco8 nomic Development Innovative Financing program, under 

9 which the Secretary may guarantee, and make commit10 ments to guarantee, the repayment of principal and inter11 est on loans made by lenders to local governments, local 

12 redevelopment agencies, or BRAC redevelopment projects 

13 for the purposes of carrying out projects for redeveloping 

14 brownfields and promoting urban renewal. 

15 (b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 (1) APPLICATION.—A local government, local 

17 redevelopment agency, or BRAC redevelopment 

18 project shall be eligible to receive a loan guarantee 

19 under the Program only if such government, agency, 

20 or project submits to the Secretary (at such time 

21 and in such form as the Secretary may require)— 

22 (A) a master plan that meets the require23 ments under subsection (c); 

24 (B) a certification from the Environmental 

25 Protection Agency, or an entity designated by 

26 the Environmental Protection Agency, that the 


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1 brownfield to be redeveloped under the master 

2 plan requires environmental remediation; and 

3 (C) any other information as the Secretary 

4 may require. 

5 (2) LOAN ELIGIBILITY.—A loan may be guar6 anteed under the Program only if the loan meets the 

7 following requirements: 

8 (A) USE.—Such loan shall be used for 

9 costs of carrying out a project to redevelop 

10 brownfields and promote urban renewal, which 

11 may include— 

12 (i) acquisition of a brownfield site; 

13 (ii) remediation of a brownfield site; 

14 (iii) relocation of existing facilities in 

15 operation on the redevelopment site; or 

16 (iv) site preparation, including the in17 stallation of utilities, sewers, storm drains, 

18 and transportation facilities. 

19 (B) CONTAMINATION.—A local govern20 ment, local redevelopment agency, or BRAC re21 development project may not receive a loan 

22 guarantee under the Program if the applying 

23 agency was responsible for contaminating a 

24 brownfield to be redeveloped using such loan. 


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1 (C) NUMBER OF LOANS.—A local govern2 ment, local redevelopment agency, or BRAC re3 development project may not at any time have 

4 more than one outstanding loan that is guaran5 teed under the Program. 

6 (D) AMOUNT OF PRINCIPAL.—The original 

7 principal amount of such loan shall not— 

8 (i) be less than $25,000,000; and 

9 (ii) exceed the lesser of— 

10 (I) the total cost of the redevel11 opment project for which the loan is 

12 to be used; or 

13 (II) $150,000,000. 

14 (E) INTEREST RATE.—Such loan shall 

15 bear interest at a rate negotiated between the 

16 lender and the borrower, subject to any limita17 tions that the Secretary may establish. 

18 (F) DURATION.—The term to maturity of 

19 such loan shall not be shorter than 20 years nor 

20 longer than 30 years. 

21 (G) REPAYMENT.—Such loan— 

22 (i) shall not require any repayment of 

23 principal or interest within 10 years after 

24 the date that the lender makes the loan to 

25 the borrower; and 


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1 (ii) shall require that repayment shall 

2 begin not later than 15 years after the 

3 date that such loan is made. 

4 (c) MASTER PLAN.—A master plan under this sub5 section shall describe the proposed brownfield redevelop6 ment project for which the loan guarantee is to be made, 

7 and shall include— 

8 (1) a description of the project to be funded by 

9 the loan, including a schedule of activities to be un10 dertaken and a budget for such project; 

11 (2) a demonstration that the brownfield redevel12 opment project will result in major redevelopment, 

13 based on economic development and environmental 

14 quality and restoration, in the community in which 

15 such project is located, which shall include informa16 tion regarding— 

17 (A) the extent of non-Federal funds com18 mitted to the project; 

19 (B) the number of long-term jobs created 

20 by the project; 

21 (C) the environmental remediation of 

22 brownfield sites due to the project; 

23 (D) a description of the environmental and 

24 economic impact of the project on the commu25 nity; 


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1 (E) the amount of affordable housing cre2 ated by the project; 

3 (F) the reduction of vehicle congestion and 

4 emissions expected to result from the project; 

5 (G) the extent of integration of green tech6 nology into developments and buildings created 

7 by the project; 

8 (H) the extent of improvement in air qual9 ity expected to result from the project; and 

10 (I) the extent to which complete streets 

11 planning and transit-oriented development is in12 corporated into the project; 

13 (3) evidence of the commitments of investment 

14 from non-Federal entities, established through zon15 ing or other documentation; and 

16 (4) a remediation action plan that has been ap17 proved by the Environmental Protection Agency, or 

18 its designee. 

19 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall es20 tablish criteria for selecting local governments, local rede21 velopment agencies, and BRAC redevelopment projects to 

22 receive loan guarantees under the Program. Such criteria 

23 shall take into consideration the information required 

24 under subsection (c)(2). Such criteria shall provide that 

25 existing BRAC redevelopment projects having existing 


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1 Federal grants, loans, or other assistance or commitments 

2 for Federal grants, loans, or other assistance, shall be 

3 given additional favorable consideration toward such selec4 tion. 

5 (e) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—The full faith and 

6 credit of the United States is pledged to the payment of 

7 all guarantees made under this section. Any such guar8 antee made by the Secretary shall be conclusive evidence 

9 of the eligibility of the obligations for such guarantee with 

10 respect to principal and interest, and the validity of any 

11 such guarantee so made shall be incontestable in the 

12 hands of a holder of the guaranteed obligations. 

13 (f) PROTECTION AGAINST LIABILITY FOR ENVIRON14 MENTAL REMEDIATION.—The Federal Government shall 

15 not be liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Re16 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

17 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) or any other Federal, State, or local 

18 law as a result of a loan guarantee made under this sec19 tion. 

20 (g) PROCESSING; REPAYMENT AND COLLATERAL; 

21 CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.— 

22 (1) PROCESSING.—The Secretary shall con23 sider, process, and approve all requests for loan 

24 guarantees under this section using an approval 

25 process that is substantially identical to the approval 


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1 process used for loan guarantees provided under sec2 tion 108 of the Housing and Community Develop3 ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5308). 

4 (2) REPAYMENT SCHEDULE AND

5 COLLATERALIZATION.—To be eligible for a loan 

6 guarantee under this section, an applicant shall 

7 demonstrate a viable repayment schedule and shall 

8 provide sufficient collateral to ensure repayment of 

9 loans so guaranteed, which may be in the form of 

10 a pledge of grants for which the applicant may be11 come eligible under title I of the Housing and Com12 munity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 

13 et seq.), except that the Secretary may not require 

14 a pledge of such grants as collateral and shall pro15 vide for applicants to provide collateral in other 

16 forms, at the option of the applicant. 

17 (3) CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.—Before final 

18 approval of any loan guarantee under this section, 

19 the Secretary shall notify the Committees on Finan20 cial Services and Appropriations of the House of 

21 Representatives and Committees on Banking, Hous22 ing, and Urban Affairs and Appropriations of the 

23 Senate of such approval. 

24 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section the 

25 following definitions shall apply: 


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1 (1) BRAC REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT.—The 

2 term ‘‘BRAC redevelopment project’’ means a 

3 project to redevelop a site that has been designated 

4 as a Base Realignment and Closure Site by the Sec5 retary of Defense, through the Defense Base Closure 

6 and Realignment Commission, and is listed on the 

7 website of the Department of Defense as such a site. 

8 (2) BROWNFIELD.—The term ‘‘brownfield’’ has 

9 the meaning given such term in section 101(39) of 

10 the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com11 pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 

12 9601(39). 

13 (3) LOCAL REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY.—The 

14 term ‘‘local redevelopment agency’’ means any agen15 cy, office, or division of a State government whose 

16 purpose includes improving blighted, deteriorated, or 

17 otherwise economically depressed areas. 

18 (4) REMEDIATION ACTION PLAN.—The term 

19 ‘‘remediation action plan’’ means, with respect to a 

20 brownfield redevelopment project, a document that 

21 describes how the project site will be remediated, 

22 what technology will be used to accomplish such re23 mediation, and when the remediation actions will 

24 take place. 


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1 (5) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

2 the Brownfield Redevelopment and Economic Devel3 opment Innovative Financing program established 

4 under this section. 

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

6 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

7 (i) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 

8 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 

9 issue regulations as may be necessary to carry out the 

10 Program. 

11 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

13 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2015 for costs (as such term 

14 is defined in section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform 

15 Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a)) of loans guaranteed under 

16 this section, which amounts shall remain available through 

17 fiscal year 2019. 

Æ 


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