II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1521

To require the Secretary of Transportation, through the Congestion Mitigation

and Air Quality Program, to make a grant to a nonprofit private entity

for the purpose of developing a design for a proposed pilot program

relating to the use of telecommuting as a means of reducing emissions

of air pollutants that are precursors to ground level ozone.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

Mr. SANTORUM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Transportation, through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program, to make

a grant to a nonprofit private entity for the purpose

of developing a design for a proposed pilot program

relating to the use of telecommuting as a means of

reducing emissions of air pollutants that are precursors

to ground level ozone.

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 ‘‘National Telecom5 muting and Air Quality Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR DESIGN OF PILOT PROGRAM

2 REGARDING TELECOMMUTING AS MEANS OF

3 IMPROVING AIR QUALITY.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—

5 (1) GRANT FOR DESIGN OF PILOT PROGRAM.—

6 The Secretary of Transportation (in this section re7 ferred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall make a grant to

8 a nonprofit private entity that is knowledgeable on

9 matters relating to air quality for the purpose of de10 veloping a design for the proposed pilot program de11 scribed in subsection (b). The grant shall be made

12 to the National Environmental Policy Institute (a

13 nonprofit private entity incorporated under the laws

14 of and located in the District of Columbia), if such

15 Institute submits an application for the grant.

16 (2) ALTERNATIVE GRANTEE.—If the Institute

17 referred to in paragraph (1) does not submit an ap18 plication for a grant under that paragraph, the Sec19 retary shall make the grant to another appropriate

20 entity.

21 (3) ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM.—The Sec22 retary shall carry out this section (including sub23 section (c)(1)(D)) in collaboration with the Adminis24 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency and

25 the Secretary of Energy.
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1 (b) PROPOSED OZONE PRECURSOR CREDIT-TRADING

2 PILOT PROGRAM.—

3 (1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec4 tion:

5 (A) The term ‘‘participating employers’’

6 means employers that voluntarily authorize and

7 engage in telecommuting.

8 (B) The term ‘‘telecommuting’’ means the

9 use of telecommunications to perform work

10 functions under circumstances in which the use

11 of telecommunications reduces or eliminates the

12 need to commute.

13 (C) The term ‘‘regulated entities’’ means

14 entities that are regulated under the Clean Air

15 Act with respect to emissions of one or more

16 ozone precursors.

17 (D) The term ‘‘ozone precursors’’ means

18 air pollutants that are precursors of ground

19 level ozone.

20 (E) The term ‘‘VMTs’’ means vehicle21 miles-traveled.

22 (2) DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM.—For purposes

23 of subsection (a)(1) and other provisions of this sec24 tion, the proposed pilot program described in this
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1 subsection is a pilot program under which the fol2 lowing would occur:

3 (A) An exploration and evaluation would

4 be undertaken of the feasibility of developing

5 methods for calculating reductions in emissions

6 of ozone precursors that can be achieved as a

7 result of reduced VMTs by telecommuting em8 ployees of participating employers.

9 (B) The estimated reductions in such emis10 sions for the periods of time involved would be

11 deemed to be items that may be transferred by

12 such employers to other persons, and for such

13 purpose the employers would be issued certifi14 cates indicating the amount of the reductions

15 achieved for the periods (referred to in this sec16 tion as ‘‘emission credits’’) .

17 (C) A commercial trading and exchange

18 forum would be made available to the public for

19 trading and exchanging emission credits.

20 (D) Through the commercial trading and

21 exchange forum, or through direct trades and

22 exchanges with persons who hold the credits,

23 regulated entities would obtain emission credits.

24 (E) Regulated entities would present emis25 sion credits to the Federal Government or to
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1 the State involved (as applicable under the

2 Clean Air Act) and the amounts of reductions

3 in emissions of ozone precursors represented by

4 the credits would for purposes of the Clean Air

5 Act be deemed to assist in achieving compli6 ance.

7 (F) The Federal Government would ex8 plore means to facilitate the transfer of emis9 sion credits between participating employers

10 and regulated and other entities.

11 (c) SITES FOR OPERATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ensure

13 that the design developed under subsection (a) in14 cludes recommendations for carrying out the pro15 posed pilot program described in subsection (b) in

16 each of the following geographic areas:

17 (A) The greater metropolitan region of the

18 District of Columbia (including areas in the

19 States of Maryland and Virginia).

20 (B) The greater metropolitan region of Los

21 Angeles, California.

22 (C) The greater metropolitan region of

23 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (including sur24 rounding areas in New Jersey).
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1 (D) Two additional areas to be selected by

2 the Secretary, after consultation with the grant3 ee under subsection (a).

4 (2) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall re5 quire that, in carrying out paragraph (1) with re6 spect to a geographic area, the grantee under sub7 section (a) consult with local governments and busi8 ness organizations in the geographic area.

9 (d) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Secretary shall re10 quire that, in developing the design under subsection (a),

11 the grantee under such subsection study and report to the

12 Congress and to the Secretary the potential significance

13 of the proposed pilot program described in subsection (b)

14 as an incentive for expanding telecommuting and reducing

15 VMTs in the geographic areas for which the design is de16 veloped, and the extent to which the program would have

17 positive effects on—

18 (1) national, State, and local transportation and

19 infrastructure policies;

20 (2) energy conservation and consumption;

21 (3) national, State, and local air quality; and

22 (4) individual, family, and community quality of

23 life.

24 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

25 purpose of making the grant under subsection (a), there
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1 is authorized to be appropriated $250,000 for fiscal year

2 2000. Amounts appropriated under the preceding sentence

3 are available until expended.

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