II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3620 

To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department of Housing and 

Urban Development for the cleanup and economic redevelopment of 

brownfields. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2006 

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. REED, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. 

VOINOVICH, and Mr. MARTINEZ) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development for the cleanup and 

economic redevelopment of brownfields. 

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 ‘‘Brownfields Redevelop5 ment Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) grants under the Brownfields Economic De2 velopment Initiative of the Department of Housing 

3 and Urban Development provide local governments 

4 with a flexible source of funding to pursue 

5 brownfields redevelopment through land acquisition, 

6 site preparation, economic development, and other 

7 activities; 

8 (2) to be eligible for such grant funds, a com9 munity must be willing to pledge community devel10 opment block grant funds as partial collateral for a 

11 loan guarantee under section 108 of the Housing 

12 and Community Development Act of 1974, and this 

13 requirement is a barrier to many local communities 

14 that are unable or unwilling to pledge such block 

15 grant funds as collateral; and 

16 (3) by providing grants for the economic devel17 opment of brownfield sites independent from section 

18 108 loan guarantees and the related pledge of com19 munity development block grant funds, more com20 munities will have access to funding for redevelop21 ment of brownfield sites. 

22 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

23 units of general local government and Indian tribes with 

24 increased accessibility to brownfields redevelopment funds 

25 by permitting the Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:56 Jul 04, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3620.IS S3620

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1 opment to make grants for brownfields development inde2 pendent from section 108 loan guarantees. 

3 SEC. 3. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

4 Title I of the Housing and Community Development 

5 Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is amended by add6 ing at the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 123. BROWNFIELDS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

9 under this section, on a competitive basis as specified in 

10 section 102 of the Department of Housing and Urban De11 velopment Reform Act of 1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545), only to 

12 eligible public entities (as such term is defined in section 

13 108(o) of this title) and Indian tribes for carrying out 

14 projects and activities to assist the development and rede15 velopment of brownfield sites, which shall include mine16 scarred lands. 

17 ‘‘(b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Amounts from 

18 grants under this section— 

19 ‘‘(1) shall be used, as provided in subsection (a) 

20 of this section, only for activities specified in section 

21 105(a) in connection with a brownfield site; 

22 ‘‘(2) shall be subject to the same requirements 

23 that, under section 101(c) and paragraphs (2) and 

24 (3) of section 104(b), apply to grants under section 

25 106; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) shall not be provided or used in a manner 

2 that reduces the financial responsibility of any non3 governmental party that is responsible or potentially 

4 responsible for contamination on any real property 

5 and the provision of assistance pursuant to this sec6 tion shall not in any way relieve any party of liabil7 ity with respect to such contamination, including li8 ability for removal and remediation costs. 

9 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

10 shall not require, for eligibility for a grant under this sec11 tion, that such grant amounts be used only in connection 

12 or conjunction with projects and activities assisted with 

13 a loan guaranteed under section 108. 

14 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for assistance 

15 under this subsection shall be in the form and in accord16 ance with the procedures established by the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(e) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab19 lish criteria for awarding assistance under this sub20 section. 

21 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The criteria established under 

22 paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 ‘‘(A) the extent of need for such assist24 ance; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the level of distress in the community 

2 to be served and in the jurisdiction applying for 

3 assistance; 

4 ‘‘(C) the quality of the plan proposed and 

5 the capacity or potential capacity of the appli6 cant to successfully carry out the plan; and 

7 ‘‘(D) such other factors as the Secretary 

8 determines to be appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION OF BROWNFIELD SITE.—For pur10 poses of this section, the term ‘brownfield site’— 

11 ‘‘(1) has the meaning given such term in sec12 tion 101(39) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

13 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 

14 (42 U.S.C. 9601(39)); and 

15 ‘‘(2) includes a site that meets the requirements 

16 under subparagraph (D) of such section for inclu17 sion as a brownfield site for purposes of section 

18 104(k) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)). 

19 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated for grants under this 

21 section $50,000,000, for each of fiscal years 2007, 2008, 

22 2009, 2010, and 2011.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO ALLOW USE OF CDBG 

2 FUNDS TO ADMINISTER RENEWAL COMMU3 NITIES. 

4 Section 105(a)(13) of the Housing and Community 

5 Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(13)) is 

6 amended by inserting ‘‘and renewal communities’’ after 

7 ‘‘enterprise zones’’. 

8 SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 

9 The amendments made by this Act shall apply only 

10 with respect to amounts made available for fiscal year 

11 2007 and fiscal years thereafter for use under the provi12 sions of law amended by this Act. 

Æ 


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