II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2040 

To establish a working group on electric vehicles, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WYDEN, 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a working group on electric vehicles, 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 ‘‘Electric Transpor5 tation Commission and National Strategy Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELECTRIC VEHICLE WORKING GROUP. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF WORKING GROUP.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary of Transportation and the Secretary of EnVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2040.IS S2040

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1 ergy (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secre2 taries’’) shall jointly establish a working group (re3 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘working group’’) to 

4 make recommendations on the development, adop5 tion, and integration of electric vehicles into the 

6 transportation and energy systems of the United 

7 States. 

8 (2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The working group 

10 shall be composed of— 

11 (i) the Secretaries (or designees), who 

12 shall be co-chairs of the working group; 

13 and 

14 (ii) not more than 25 members to be 

15 appointed by the Secretaries, of whom— 

16 (I) not more than 6 shall be Fed17 eral stakeholders as described in sub18 paragraph (B); and 

19 (II) not more than 19 shall be 

20 non-Federal stakeholders as described 

21 in subparagraph (C). 

22 (B) FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS.—The 

23 working group— 

24 (i) shall include not less than 1 rep25 resentative of each of— 


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1 (I) the Department of Transpor2 tation; 

3 (II) the Department of Energy; 

4 (III) the Environmental Protec5 tion Agency; and 

6 (IV) the General Services Admin7 istration; and 

8 (ii) may include a representative of 

9 any other Federal agency the Secretaries 

10 consider to be appropriate. 

11 (C) NON-FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS.—The 

12 working group— 

13 (i) shall include not less than 1 rep14 resentative of each of— 

15 (I) a manufacturer of electric ve16 hicles or the relevant components of 

17 electric vehicles; 

18 (II) an owner, operator, or manu19 facturer of electric vehicle charging 

20 equipment; 

21 (III) the public utility industry; 

22 (IV) a public utility regulator or 

23 association of public utility regulators; 

24 (V) the transportation fueling 

25 distribution industry; 


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1 (VI) the energy provider indus2 try; 

3 (VII) the automotive dealing in4 dustry; 

5 (VIII) the passenger transpor6 tation industry; 

7 (IX) an organization representing 

8 a unit of local government; 

9 (X) a regional transportation or 

10 planning agency; 

11 (XI) an organization representing 

12 State departments of transportation; 

13 (XII) an organization rep14 resenting State departments of energy 

15 or State energy planners; 

16 (XIII) an expert in intelligent 

17 transportation systems and tech18 nologies; 

19 (XIV) organized labor; 

20 (XV) the trucking industry; 

21 (XVI) Tribal governments; and 

22 (XVII) the property development 

23 industry; and 


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1 (ii) may include a representative of 

2 any other non-Federal stakeholder that the 

3 Secretaries consider to be appropriate. 

4 (3) MEETINGS.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The working group 

6 shall meet not less frequently than once every 

7 120 days. 

8 (B) REMOTE PARTICIPATION.—A member 

9 of the working group may participate in a meet10 ing of the working group via teleconference or 

11 similar means. 

12 (b) REPORT AND STRATEGY ON ELECTRIC VEHICLE

13 ADOPTION, OPPORTUNITIES, AND CHALLENGES.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The working group shall 

15 submit to Congress by each of the deadlines de16 scribed in paragraph (2)— 

17 (A) a report on the status of electric vehi18 cle adoption and opportunities for and chal19 lenges to expanding adoption of electric vehi20 cles, including— 

21 (i) a description of the barriers and 

22 opportunities to scaling up electric vehicle 

23 adoption nationwide, including issues relat24 ing to— 

25 (I) consumer behavior; 


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1 (II) charging infrastructure 

2 needs, including standardization; 

3 (III) manufacturing and battery 

4 costs; 

5 (IV) the adoption of electric vehi6 cles for low- and moderate-income in7 dividuals and underserved commu8 nities, including charging infrastruc9 ture access and vehicle purchase fi10 nancing; 

11 (V) business models for charging 

12 electric vehicles outside the home; 

13 (VI) charging infrastructure per14 mitting and regulatory issues; 

15 (VII) cybersecurity of charging 

16 infrastructure; 

17 (VIII) secondary markets and re18 cycling for batteries; 

19 (IX) grid integration; 

20 (X) energy storage; and 

21 (XI) specific regional or local 

22 issues that— 

23 (aa) are associated with— 


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1 (AA) the issues de2 scribed in subclauses (I) 

3 through (X); or 

4 (BB) urban or rural en5 vironments; and 

6 (bb) may not appear nation7 wide, but hamper a nationwide 

8 adoption or coordination of elec9 tric vehicles; 

10 (ii) examples of successful public and 

11 private models and demonstration projects 

12 that encourage electric vehicle adoption; 

13 and 

14 (iii) an analysis of current efforts to 

15 overcome the barriers described in clause 

16 (i); and 

17 (B) a strategy that describes how the Fed18 eral Government, States, units of local govern19 ment, and industry can— 

20 (i) overcome the barriers described in 

21 subparagraph (A)(i); 

22 (ii) identify areas of opportunity in re23 search and development to improve battery 

24 manufacturing, mineral mining, recycling 


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1 costs, material recovery, and battery per2 formance for electric vehicles; 

3 (iii) enhance Federal interagency co4 ordination to promote electric vehicle adop5 tion; 

6 (iv) promote electric vehicle knowledge 

7 and expertise within State and local gov8 ernments; 

9 (v) prepare the workforce for the 

10 adoption of electric vehicles, including 

11 through collaboration with labor unions, 

12 colleges and other educational institutions, 

13 and relevant manufacturers; 

14 (vi) expand electric vehicle and charg15 ing infrastructure— 

16 (I) knowledge and use among 

17 Federal, State, and local governments, 

18 school districts, and private entities; 

19 and 

20 (II) adoption among the fleets of 

21 the entities described in subclause (I); 

22 (vii) expand knowledge of the benefits 

23 of electric vehicles among the general pub24 lic; 


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1 (viii) maintain the global competitive2 ness of the United States in the electric ve3 hicle and charging infrastructure markets; 

4 (ix) provide clarity in regulations to 

5 improve national uniformity with respect to 

6 electric vehicles; and 

7 (x) ensure the sustainable integration 

8 of electric vehicles into the national electric 

9 grid. 

10 (2) DEADLINES.—A report under paragraph 

11 (1) shall be submitted by— 

12 (A) for the first report, not later than 1 

13 year after the date on which the working group 

14 is established under subsection (a)(1); 

15 (B) for the second report, not later than 2 

16 years after the date on which the first report is 

17 required to be submitted under subparagraph 

18 (A); and 

19 (C) for the third report, not later than 2 

20 years after the date on which the second report 

21 is required to be submitted under subparagraph 

22 (B). 

23 (c) ELECTRIC VEHICLE RESOURCE GUIDE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The working group shall de25 velop, publish, and update a resource guide to proVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2040.IS S2040

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1 vide information to increase knowledge about electric 

2 vehicles and necessary charging infrastructure for 

3 consumers, State, local, and Tribal governments (in4 cluding transit agencies or authorities, public tolling 

5 authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, 

6 public utility commissions, and public service compa7 nies), and businesses that sell motor vehicles. 

8 (2) INCLUSIONS.—A resource guide under para9 graph (1) shall include— 

10 (A) information on— 

11 (i) the general characteristics of elec12 tric vehicles (including passenger vehicles, 

13 electric vehicles for public transportation, 

14 school buses, and electric vehicles for com15 mercial use); and 

16 (ii) the types of charging solutions 

17 available to consumers, including, to the 

18 maximum extent practicable, a digitally ac19 cessible compilation of existing mapping of 

20 publicly available charging stations in the 

21 United States; 

22 (B) information on electrifying business 

23 and government vehicle fleets; 

24 (C) information on Federal grant pro25 grams available to State and local governments 


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1 for the purchase of electric vehicles for public 

2 transportation; 

3 (D) a description of current financial and 

4 nonfinancial incentives for electric vehicles; and 

5 (E) any other information that— 

6 (i) a representative of industry or 

7 State or local government requests to be 

8 included; and 

9 (ii) the working group determines to 

10 be appropriate. 

11 (3) USE OF EXISTING GUIDES.—In developing, 

12 publishing, and maintaining the resource guide 

13 under paragraph (1), the working group shall con14 sider existing Federal, State, local, private sector, 

15 and academic guides relating to electric vehicles and, 

16 to the maximum extent practicable, coordinate with 

17 the entities publishing those guides— 

18 (A) to prevent duplication of efforts by the 

19 Federal Government; and 

20 (B) to leverage existing complementary ef21 forts. 

22 (4) RESOURCE GUIDE OUTREACH.—The work23 ing group shall conduct outreach to consumers, 

24 State, local, and Tribal governments (including tran25 sit agencies or authorities, public tolling authorities, 


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1 metropolitan planning organizations, public utility 

2 commissions, and public service companies), and 

3 businesses that sell motor vehicles via the internet, 

4 social media, and other methods— 

5 (A) to provide the resource guide under 

6 paragraph (1) to interested stakeholders, in7 cluding relevant consumer groups and transpor8 tation-related organizations; 

9 (B) to promote the use of electric vehicles 

10 in both government and industry fleets; and 

11 (C) to educate individuals involved in the 

12 sale of motor vehicles about the benefits of elec13 tric vehicles. 

14 (5) SUBSEQUENT RESOURCE GUIDES.—Not less 

15 frequently than every 2 years for the duration of the 

16 working group, the working group shall publish an 

17 update to the resource guide under paragraph (1), 

18 as appropriate based on technological innovation and 

19 subsequent information. 

20 (6) ACCESSIBILITY.—The Secretaries shall each 

21 maintain the resource guide under paragraph (1) on 

22 a designated website, which may be an existing 

23 website, of each Secretary relating to electric vehi24 cles. 


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1 (d) COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent prac2 ticable, the Secretaries and the working group shall carry 

3 out this section using all available existing resources, 

4 websites, and databases of Federal agencies, such as the 

5 Alternative Fuels Data Center. 

6 (e) FUNDING.—The Secretaries shall carry out this 

7 section using existing funds made available to the Secre8 taries and not otherwise obligated. 

9 (f) TERMINATION.—The working group shall termi10 nate on the date on which the third report under sub11 section (b) is submitted. 

Æ 


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