I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1259 

To increase the use and research of sustainable building design technology, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 1, 2007 

Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. DICKS, Mr. 

SERRANO, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

MARKEY, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. 

RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, and Mr. INSLEE) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Science and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To increase the use and research of sustainable building 

design technology, 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 ‘‘High-Performance 

5 Buildings Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCLUDING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN HOUS2 ING STRATEGY. 

3 Section 105(b) of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 

4 Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12705(b)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

7 (19); 

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para9 graph (20) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

10 (3) and by inserting after paragraph (20) the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(21) describe the jurisdiction’s strategies to 

13 encourage sustainable development for affordable 

14 housing, as measured by— 

15 ‘‘(A) greater energy efficiency; 

16 ‘‘(B) increased conservation and reuse of 

17 resources; 

18 ‘‘(C) more effective use of existing infra19 structure; 

20 ‘‘(D) use of building materials and meth21 ods that are healthier for residents of the hous22 ing; and 

23 ‘‘(E) such other criteria as the Secretary 

24 determines are in accordance with the purposes 

25 of this paragraph.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE SUSTAINABLE LOW2 INCOME COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CAPAC3 ITY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

5 Urban Development may make grants to nonprofit organi6 zations to use for any of the following purposes: 

7 (1) Training, educating, supporting, or advising 

8 an eligible community development organization in 

9 improving energy efficiency, resource conservation 

10 and reuse, and effective use of existing infrastruc11 ture in affordable housing and economic develop12 ment activities in low-income communities. 

13 (2) Providing loans, grants, or predevelopment 

14 assistance to eligible community development organi15 zations to carry out energy efficiency improvements, 

16 resource conservation and reuse, and effective use of 

17 existing infrastructure in affordable housing and 

18 economic development activities in low-income com19 munities. 

20 (3) Such other purposes as the Secretary deter21 mines are in accordance with the purposes of this 

22 subsection. 

23 (b) APPLICATION REQUIREMENT.—To be eligible for 

24 a grant under this section, a nonprofit organization shall 

25 prepare and submit to the Secretary an application at 


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1 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa2 tion as the Secretary may require. 

3 (c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—A grant made under 

4 this section may not exceed the amount that the nonprofit 

5 organization receiving the grant certifies, to the Secretary, 

6 will be provided (in cash or in kind) from non-govern7 mental sources to carry out the purposes for which the 

8 grant is made. 

9 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) The term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ has the 

11 meaning given such term in section 104 of the Cran12 ston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 

13 U.S.C. 12704). 

14 (2) The term ‘‘eligible community development 

15 organization’’ means— 

16 (A) a unit of general local government (as 

17 defined in section 104 of the Cranston-Gonzalez 

18 National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 12704)); 

20 (B) a community housing development or21 ganization (as defined in section 104 of the 

22 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous23 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704)); or 


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1 (C) a tribal government (as defined in sec2 tion 421 of the Congressional Budget Act of 

3 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658)). 

4 (3) The term ‘‘low-income community’’ means a 

5 census tract in which 50 percent or more of the 

6 households have an income which is less than 80 

7 percent of the greater of— 

8 (A) the area median gross income for such 

9 year for the area in which such census tract is 

10 located; or 

11 (B) the median gross income for such year 

12 for the State in which such census tract is lo13 cated. 

14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

16 out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

17 through 2012. 

18 SEC. 4. SUSTAINABLE BUILDING INSTITUTE. 

19 The National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 

20 U.S.C. 1861 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

21 the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 17. SUSTAINABLE BUILDING INSTITUTE. 

23 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 

24 the Foundation a Sustainable Building Institute (herein25 after in this section referred to as the ‘Institute’). 


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1 ‘‘(b) DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) UNDERTAKING AND SUPPORTING RE3 SEARCH AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.—The Institute 

4 shall undertake, or support through providing 

5 grants, loans, or other forms of assistance— 

6 ‘‘(A) research regarding the relationships 

7 among indoor environmental quality, human 

8 health, and human productivity; and 

9 ‘‘(B) research, development, and commer10 cial application of energy efficiency and renew11 able energy technologies for buildings, includ12 ing— 

13 ‘‘(i) water heating systems and light14 ing systems; 

15 ‘‘(ii) building insulation technology; 

16 ‘‘(iii) technology and methods for im17 proving the cost effectiveness of fuel cells; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(iv) technology and methods for re20 ducing the installation costs of solar photo21 voltaic energy systems. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION TO AVOID DUPLICATION.— 

23 The Institute shall consult with other Federal agenVerDate Aug 31 2005 17:40 Mar 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1259.IH H1259

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1 cies to avoid duplication of activities authorized 

2 under this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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