II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3055 

To require the Secretary of Commerce to award grants to municipalities 

to carry out community greening initiatives, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2010 

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

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Commerce to award grants to 

municipalities to carry out community greening initiatives, 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 ‘‘Green Communities 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) Landscaping adds to the economic value 

2 and sales appeal of commercial real estate and in3 creases office occupancy rates. 

4 (2) Greening can change people’s perceptions of 

5 their neighborhoods, reduce violence and crime, and 

6 increase neighborhood stability. 

7 (3) Planting new trees, improving streetscapes, 

8 and cleaning vacant lots increases property values. 

9 (4) People will stay longer and shop more in 

10 shopping districts that are well landscaped. 

11 (5) Improvements to neighborhood parks in12 crease the value of single-family homes in the sur13 rounding community. 

14 (6) Homes adjacent to vacant lots that are 

15 greened have a much higher property value than 

16 homes adjacent to vacant lots that have not been 

17 greened. 

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol19 lows: 

20 (1) To promote investment in greening projects 

21 and programs as effective economic development 

22 tools. 

23 (2) To connect urban economic development ini24 tiatives with environmental initiatives. 

25 (3) To improve quality of life for city residents. 


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1 (4) To encourage public-private partnerships. 

2 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

3 In this Act: 

4 (1) COMMUNITY GREENING INITIATIVE.—The 

5 term ‘‘community greening initiative’’ means a pro6 gram that increases economic development by im7 proving the environment. A community greening ini8 tiative may include the following: 

9 (A) Revitalizing municipal parks and pub10 lic spaces. 

11 (B) Landscaping community gateways and 

12 key corridors. 

13 (C) Tree plantings and urban forestry 

14 projects. 

15 (D) Comprehensive planning for open 

16 space preservation. 

17 (E) Education, training, and volunteer 

18 management concerning community green ini19 tiatives. 

20 (F) Green roof construction. 

21 (G) Green stormwater infrastructure. 

22 (H) Vacant lot management. 

23 (2) GREEN ROOF.—The term ‘‘green roof’’ 

24 means a roof consisting of vegetation and soil or a 


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1 growing medium planted over a waterproofing mem2 brane. 

3 (3) GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

4 The term ‘‘green stormwater infrastructure’’ means 

5 systems and practices that use or mimic natural 

6 processes to infiltrate, evapotranspirate, or reuse 

7 stormwater on the site where it occurs rather than 

8 transporting the water to a stream or treatment fa9 cility. 

10 (4) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

11 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 

12 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev13 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under sec14 tion 501(a) of such Code. 

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

16 the Secretary of Commerce. 

17 (6) URBAN FORESTRY.—The term ‘‘urban for18 estry’’ means an integrated citywide or neighbor19 hood-wide approach to the planting, care, and man20 agement of trees in the city or the neighborhood in 

21 order to ensure environmental and social benefits for 

22 residents. 

23 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY GREENING INITIATIVES. 

24 (a) GRANTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that funds are 

2 available, the Secretary shall, acting through the As3 sistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Devel4 opment, award grants to eligible municipalities to 

5 carry out community greening initiatives. 

6 (2) GRANT AMOUNT.—The Secretary may not 

7 award a grant under this section in an amount that 

8 exceeds $2,000,000. 

9 (b) ELIGIBLE MUNICIPALITIES.—For purposes of 

10 this section, an eligible municipality is any municipality 

11 that meets— 

12 (1) the criteria described by section 209(b) of 

13 the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 

14 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3149(b)); and 

15 (2) the circumstances described by section 

16 209(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3149(c)). 

17 (c) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.— 

18 (1) APPLICATION.—An eligible municipality 

19 seeking a grant under this section for a community 

20 greening initiative shall submit to the Secretary an 

21 application therefor in such form and in such man22 ner as the Secretary considers appropriate. 

23 (2) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall, in con24 sultation with the nonprofit organizations that re25 ceive a grant or enter into a contract with the SecVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:24 Mar 01, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3055.IS S3055

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1 retary under section 5(a), select to receive grants 

2 under this section 80 eligible municipalities that 

3 have successfully developed and planned a commu4 nity greening initiative, as determined by the Sec5 retary. 

6 (3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not 

7 award a grant under this section to an eligible mu8 nicipality for a community greening initiative that 

9 the Secretary determines will require more than 2 

10 years to complete. 

11 (d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—Each eligible munici12 pality receiving a grant under this section shall, with tech13 nical assistance and training provided under section 5(c), 

14 use the grant to carry out the community greening initia15 tive for which the grant is received. 

16 (e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible munici17 pality seeking a grant under this section for a community 

18 greening initiative shall agree to make available non-Fed19 eral funds to carry out the community greening initiative 

20 in an amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the 

21 grant awarded to such eligible municipality under this sec22 tion. 

23 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after an eligible 

24 municipality that receives a grant under this section for 

25 a community greening initiative completes such initiative, 


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1 the eligible nonprofit organization that assisted such mu2 nicipality with such initiative under subsection (d) shall 

3 submit to the Secretary a report assessing the implemen4 tation of such initiative. 

5 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING FOR MU6 NICIPALITIES. 

7 (a) GRANTS OR CONTRACTS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that funds are 

9 available, the Secretary shall award grants to, or 

10 enter into contracts with, 5 eligible nonprofit organi11 zations to provide technical assistance and training 

12 to municipalities that receive grants under section 4. 

13 (2) DURATION.—A grant or contract under 

14 paragraph (1) shall be for a period of 5 years. 

15 (b) ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—For 

16 purposes of this section, an eligible nonprofit organization 

17 is any nonprofit organization that has experience with the 

18 following: 

19 (1) Planning and implementing projects con20 cerning urban open space, landscape management, 

21 and community greening initiatives. 

22 (2) Land and water conservation. 

23 (3) Working with communities. 

24 (4) Forming partnerships or regional consor25 tiums. 


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1 (5) Urban ecology. 

2 (6) Such other experience as the Secretary con3 siders appropriate. 

4 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible nonprofit orga6 nization receiving a grant or entering into a contract 

7 under subsection (a) shall provide technical assist8 ance and training to municipalities receiving grants 

9 under section 4 to assist such municipalities in car10 rying out the community greening initiatives for 

11 which such grants were awarded. 

12 (2) ACTIVITIES.—Technical assistance and 

13 training under paragraph (1) may include the fol14 lowing: 

15 (A) Developing, planning, implementing, 

16 and assessing community greening initiatives. 

17 (B) Developing and implementing training 

18 and workshops for municipal agencies and local 

19 partners. 

20 (C) Evaluating a community greening ini21 tiative. 

22 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the end 

23 of each fiscal year for which amounts are made available 

24 for grants under this section, the Secretary shall submit 

25 to Congress a report on the technical assistance and trainVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:24 Mar 01, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3055.IS S3055

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1 ing provided under this section. Each report shall describe 

2 the actions taken by the Secretary to ensure that technical 

3 assistance and training provided under this section is re4 sponsive to the needs of municipalities that receive grants 

5 under section 4. 

6 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro8 priated to carry out this Act— 

9 (1) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010, 

10 2013, and 2014; and 

11 (2) $90,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

12 and 2012. 

13 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.— 

14 (1) GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY GREENING INI15 TIATIVES.—Not less than 66 percent of the amounts 

16 made available to carry out this Act for each of fis17 cal years 2011 and 2012 shall be made available for 

18 the awarding of grants under section 4. 

19 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.— 

20 Of the amounts made available to carry out this Act, 

21 amounts shall be made available for technical assist22 ance and training under section 5 as follows: 

23 (A) For each of fiscal years 2010, 2013, 

24 and 2014, 85 percent of such amounts. 


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1 (B) For each of fiscal years 2011 and 

2 2013, 28 percent of such amounts. 

3 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Funds made available under this 

4 Act shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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