I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5044 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities relating 

to research for wood products, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Ms. SALINAS (for herself, Mr. DUARTE, Ms. PEREZ, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain 

activities relating to research for wood products, 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 ‘‘Timber Innovation for 

5 Building Rural Communities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec8 retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For9 est Service. 


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1 SEC. 3. FOREST AND WOOD PRODUCTS DATA PROVISION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in collaboration 

3 with the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation 

4 Service and in consultation with federally recognized In5 dian Tribes, State foresters, and private sector partners, 

6 shall establish a platform to provide measurement, moni7 toring, verification, and reporting data regarding the car8 bon emissions, sequestration, storage, and related atmos9 pheric impacts of forest management and wood products. 

10 (b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

11 Secretary shall source data, information, and data anal12 ysis from Department of Agriculture programs, includ13 ing— 

14 (1) the Forest Inventory and Analysis program; 

15 (2) the Timber Products Output survey; 

16 (3) Forest Service and Natural Resources Con17 servation Service soil carbon estimations; 

18 (4) Department of Agriculture entity-level guid19 ance; 

20 (5) the Forest Products Laboratory; 

21 (6) the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Com22 mons; 

23 (7) Department of Agriculture entity level 

24 guidelines; and 


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1 (8) other relevant programmatic data and infor2 mation sources, as they are published and made 

3 available. 

4 (c) PRIORITIES.—The platform established by sub5 section (a) shall provide tools that calculate— 

6 (1) the above- and below-ground forest carbon 

7 stocks and stock changes associated with species 

8 composition, forest management regime, and land9 owner types, including small area estimations for re10 gional and localized geographies across the United 

11 States, made available through Forest Inventory and 

12 Analysis updates and annual reports; 

13 (2) the embodied carbon involved in the manu14 facture of products, using data from published envi15 ronmental product declarations and life cycle assess16 ments, updated as new and more refined data be17 comes available; 

18 (3) the long-term stored carbon in manufac19 tured timber products; and 

20 (4) the carbon displacement of wood products, 

21 compared to other materials, using substitution fac22 tors. 

23 (d) TIMEFRAME.—To the maximum extent prac24 ticable, the Secretary shall establish the platform under 


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1 subsection (a) not later than 2 years after the date of en2 actment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 4. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

4 Section 8643 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 

5 2018 (7 U.S.C. 7655d) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘50 percent 

7 of’’ before ‘‘the amount’’; and 

8 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(c) TARGETING TO SUPPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOP11 MENT, ENHANCED BUILDING DESIGN, AND IMPACT AS12 SESSMENT.—In selecting among proposals of eligible enti13 ties under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may give pri14 ority to proposals for projects that— 

15 ‘‘(1) include the use or retrofitting (or both) of 

16 existing sawmill facilities located in counties in 

17 which the average annual unemployment rate ex18 ceeded the national average unemployment rate by 

19 more than 1 percent in the previous calendar year; 

20 ‘‘(2) recognize or enhance carbon reduction 

21 strategies in building design, including forest im22 pacts, which can be improved or incentivized by 

23 North American procurement; or 

24 ‘‘(3) report on the connection between their 

25 proposal and the resilience and economic benefits asVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5044.IH H5044

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1 sociated with wood products from anticipated wood 

2 supply areas, including wildfire risk reduction, in3 creased fiber flow, forest or mill jobs, and support 

4 for forested communities created because of forest 

5 management.’’. 

6 SEC. 5. WOOD BUILDING EDUCATION ACCELERATOR 

7 GRANT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti10 ty’’ means— 

11 (A) an engineering, architecture, or design 

12 school at an institution of higher education; or 

13 (B) a center of excellence that consists of 

14 1 or more partnerships between forestry, engi15 neering, architecture, or business schools at 1 

16 or more institutions of higher education. 

17 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary, acting through the Research and De19 velopment deputy area and the State, Private, and 

20 Tribal Forestry deputy area of the Forest Service. 

21 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

23 a program, to be known as the ‘‘Wood Building 

24 Education Accelerator Grant Program’’, to annually 

25 award grants to geographically diverse eligible entiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5044.IH H5044

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1 ties to support the development of curricula, pro2 grams, and best practices relating to the critical ele3 ments of designing and building with wood, includ4 ing the use of traditional wood products, mass tim5 ber, and other advanced wood products. 

6 (2) PROPOSALS.—To be eligible to receive a 

7 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

8 submit to the Secretary a proposal at such time, in 

9 such manner, and containing such information as 

10 the Secretary may require. 

11 (3) REVIEW AND AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 

12 review proposals submitted under paragraph (2), 

13 and award grants under this subsection, in consulta14 tion with nonprofit organizations, research organiza15 tions, or other private entities providing funding to 

16 eligible entities to support activities carried out 

17 using grants under this section. 

18 (c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re19 ceiving a grant under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity 

20 shall provide funds equal to the amount received by the 

21 eligible entity under the grant, to be derived from non22 Federal sources. 

23 (d) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The total amount of 

24 grants awarded under subsection (b)(1) shall be not more 

25 than $10,000,000 for each fiscal year. 


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1 (e) ALLOCATION.—Subject to the availability of ap2 propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec3 retary shall allocate to carry out this section not more 

4 than $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 

5 2028. 

6 SEC. 6. RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING PILOT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti10 ty’’ means— 

11 (A) a nonprofit organization; 

12 (B) a community-based organization; 

13 (C) a State, local, or municipal govern14 ment; 

15 (D) a tribally designated housing author16 ity; 

17 (E) a private entity, as determined by the 

18 Secretary; and 

19 (F) a consortium of 2 or more entities de20 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E). 

21 (2) PRODUCED AND ASSEMBLED IN THE

22 UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘produced and assem23 bled in the United States’’, with regard to wood ma24 terials, means that— 


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1 (A) the wood materials, if manufactured, 

2 were manufactured entirely in the United 

3 States; and 

4 (B) if the wood materials were produced, 

5 all production occurred entirely in the United 

6 States. 

7 (3) PUBLIC AGENCY.—The term ‘‘public agen8 cy’’ means a department, agency, other unit, or in9 strumentality of Federal, State, Tribal, or local gov10 ernment. 

11 (4) RURAL.—The term ‘‘rural’’ has the mean12 ing given the term in section 343(a) of the Consoli13 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 

14 1991(a)). 

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

16 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

17 Under Secretary for Rural Development, in con18 sultation with the Under Secretary for Natural Re19 sources and Environment. 

20 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

22 grants to eligible entities to carry out pilot projects 

23 to demonstrate the use of innovative wood products, 

24 systems, and technologies, such as mass timber, in 


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1 the construction and renovation of rural infrastruc2 ture and building projects. 

3 (2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

4 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

5 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 

6 in such manner, and containing such information as 

7 the Secretary may require. 

8 (c) PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—A pilot project car9 ried out using a grant received under subsection (b)(1) 

10 shall— 

11 (1) be not longer than 5 years; 

12 (2) include collaboration between 1 or more eli13 gible entities and 1 or more public agencies; 

14 (3) primarily use for construction materials 

15 wood products that are manufactured and prefab16 ricated offsite and assembled onsite as a ‘‘kit-of17 parts’’ or by assembling finished modules; 

18 (4) to the extent practicable, use wood mate19 rials that are produced and assembled in the United 

20 States; and 

21 (5) be located in or provide benefits to a rural 

22 community that, to the extent practicable, has a his23 tory in wood products manufacturing. 

24 (d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re25 ceiving a grant under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity 


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1 shall provide funds, to be derived from non-Federal 

2 sources— 

3 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), equal 

4 to the amount received by the eligible entity under 

5 the grant; or 

6 (2) in the case of a pilot project serving a popu7 lation of— 

8 (A) less than 19,000 residents, equal to 50 

9 percent of the amount received by the eligible 

10 entity under the grant; or 

11 (B) less than 2,500 residents, equal to 25 

12 percent of the amount received by the eligible 

13 entity under the grant. 

14 (e) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The total amount of 

15 grants awarded under subsection (b)(1) shall be not more 

16 than $10,000,000 for each fiscal year. 

17 (f) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall provide for an 

18 independent evaluation of pilot projects carried out under 

19 this section that includes— 

20 (1) a summary of the activities conducted under 

21 the pilot projects; 

22 (2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

23 project requirements described in subsection (c); and 


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1 (3) best practices regarding the use of public2 private partnerships for increased wood utilization to 

3 benefit rural communities. 

4 (g) ALLOCATION.—Subject to the availability of ap5 propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec6 retary shall allocate to carry out this section not more 

7 than $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 

8 2028. 

Æ 


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