I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 653

To establish a Fund for Environmental Priorities to be funded by a portion 

of the consumer savings resulting from retail electricity choice, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2003

Mr. ANDREWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, 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 establish a Fund for Environmental Priorities to be funded by a portion of the consumer savings resulting from 

retail electricity choice, 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 ‘‘Environmental Prior5 ities Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. RECAPTURE OF SAVINGS FROM RETAIL ELEC2 TRICITY COMPETITION. 

3 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect for 

4 a consumer sector in any State on January 1 of the first 

5 year after all State regulated electric utilities and all non6 regulated electric utilities in that State have been deter7 mined by the Secretary of Energy to have established re8 tail electric service choice for customers in that sector, but 

9 not earlier than January 1, 2004. The Secretary shall an10 nually review the laws and regulations of each State relat11 ing to retail electric service regulation and make such de12 terminations on January 1, 2004, and January 1 of each 

13 year thereafter. 

14 (b) 10 PERCENT OF CONSUMER SAVINGS.—For each 

15 State, on December 31 of the first full calendar year fol16 lowing the effective date of this Act for any consumer sec17 tor in the State, and on December 31 of each subsequent 

18 calendar year, each provider of retail electric services in 

19 the State shall contribute to the fiscal agent for the Envi20 ronmental Priorities Board established under section 2 an 

21 amount equal to 10 percent of the total consumer savings 

22 for that sector for that calendar year. 

23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

24 (1) CONSUMER SAVINGS.—For any provider of 

25 retail electric services in a State, for any consumer 

26 sector in the State, the term ‘‘consumer savings’’ 
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1 means, for any calendar year, the amount (if any) 

2 by which the potential rate for electric energy pro3 vided by that provider to that sector exceeds the cur4 rent rate for that sector, multiplied by that sector’s 

5 total consumption (in kilowatt-hours) during that 

6 calendar year. 

7 (2) CURRENT RATE.—For any provider of retail 

8 electric services in a State, for any consumer sector 

9 in the State, the term ‘‘current rate’’ means, for the 

10 12 months following the effective date of this Act for 

11 that sector in that State, the average kilowatt-hour 

12 rate paid by customers of the provider in that con13 sumer sector in that State, as calculated by the pro14 vider and recalculated annually. 

15 (3) POTENTIAL RATE.—

16 (A) GENERAL RULE.—For any provider of 

17 retail electric services in a State, for any con18 sumer sector in the State, the term ‘‘potential 

19 rate’’ means, for each calendar year following 

20 the effective date of this act for that sector in 

21 that State, the average kilowatt-hour rate paid 

22 by the provider’s customers in that sector dur23 ing the 12-month period preceding the date on 

24 which retail electric service choice for customers 

25 in that sector was established, adjusted for in-
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1 flation. The adjustment for inflation shall be 

2 made using a methodology to be determined by 

3 the Secretary of Energy. The Secretary of En4 ergy shall recalculate the potential rate annu5 ally to adjust it for inflation. 

6 (B) SPECIAL RULES.— For all sectors not 

7 serviced by the provider during any period, the 

8 average kilowatt-hour rate for that sector shall 

9 be estimated or measured by the Secretary of 

10 Energy. In any case where retail choice in a 

11 State or sector did not all occur on one effective 

12 date but was phased-in over time, the Secretary 

13 of Energy shall establish regulations to fairly 

14 establish the potential rate. In any cases where, 

15 for the 12-month period preceding the date on 

16 which retail electric service choice for customers 

17 in that sector was established, a provider served 

18 a sector in the State but did not serve it for the 

19 full period, the Secretary of Energy shall estab20 lish regulations to fairly establish the potential 

21 rate. 

22 SEC. 3. USE OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL 

23 PRIORITIES. 

24 (a) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES

25 BOARD.—The Administrator of the Environmental Pro-
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1 tection Agency (hereinafter in this section referred to as 

2 the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall establish a National Environ3 mental Priorities Board to carry out the functions and re4 sponsibilities specified in this section. The Board shall be 

5 composed of 3 persons who are officers or employees of 

6 the United States, and 4 State commissioners nominated 

7 by the national organization of the State commissions and 

8 appointed by the Administrator. The Administrator shall 

9 appoint one member of the Board to serve as Chairman. 

10 (b) RULES.—Within 180 days after the enactment of 

11 this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate a final rule 

12 containing the rules and procedures of the Board, includ13 ing the rules and procedures for selecting a non-Federal 

14 fiscal agent under subsection (e). The Administrator shall 

15 have oversight responsibilities over the Board. 

16 (c) ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES PROGRAM.—

17 (1) REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days after the 

18 promulgation of the Administrator’s rules under 

19 subsection (b), the Board shall institute a pro20 ceeding to establish regulations governing creation 

21 and administration of an Environmental Priorities 

22 Program. Such regulations shall include criteria and 

23 methods of selecting State projects to receive sup24 port under the Program. Such support may include 

25 direct loans, loan guarantees, grants, capitalization 
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1 grants for State revolving funds, and other assist2 ance. The State projects may include—

3 (A) lowering borrowing costs for municipal 

4 and regional governments constructing waste5 water treatment plants; 

6 (B) increasing the use of filter strips and 

7 riparian buffers in protecting rivers and 

8 streams; 

9 (C) mitigating the deleterious effect of 

10 electricity production on air quality; 

11 (D) supporting the preservation of open 

12 space for resource conservation, wildlife protec13 tion, or recreation; and 

14 (E) such other projects furthering national 

15 environmental priorities as may be established 

16 by the Board. 

17 (2) AGENT.—The Board shall enter into ar18 rangements with a non-Federal fiscal agent who 

19 shall be authorized to receive the contributions made 

20 under section 2(b) and to disburse such contribu21 tions as provided in subsection (d). 

22 (3) PROGRAMS.—Any State in which retail elec23 tric service choice has been established for any con24 sumer sector may establish one or more public pur25 pose programs and apply for matching funding 
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1 under this section for projects to be funded under 

2 such program. A participating State may use match3 ing funds received under this section only to support 

4 one or more eligible environmental priorities pro5 grams meeting the selection criteria established 

6 under paragraph (1). The Board shall regularly 

7 audit the expenditures of matching funds received by 

8 a participating State under this section. 

9 (4) STATE OPTION.—At no time shall a State 

10 be required, pursuant to this section, to participate 

11 in the Environmental Priorities Program, nor may a 

12 State be required by the Board to fund a particular 

13 project. 

14 (d) FUND FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES.—

15 (1) DISTRIBUTION.—The fiscal agent shall dis16 tribute contributions received by the fiscal agent 

17 under section 2(b) to States (or entities designated 

18 by the States) under this subsection in accordance 

19 with the criteria established by the Board under sub20 section (c) to carry out eligible projects under envi21 ronmental priorities programs established by the 

22 States. For each calendar year after the year 2002, 

23 the Board shall solicit applications from States for 

24 matching funds to carry out eligible environmental 

25 priorities programs. The applications for assistance 
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1 during any calendar year must be received by the 

2 Board before the commencement of such year. In its 

3 application, the State shall certify that the moneys 

4 will be used for one or more eligible public purpose 

5 programs and shall specify the amount of State sup6 port which is projected for the coming calendar year 

7 for the programs concerned. 

8 (2) CALCULATION.—Upon receipt of all State 

9 requests for matching funds submitted pursuant to 

10 paragraph (1) for any calendar year, the Board shall 

11 calculate the funds necessary to match the level of 

12 projected States funds for eligible environmental pri13 orities programs for that calendar year. 

14 (3) REDUCTION.—Following the calculation of 

15 the amount of matching funds required under para16 graph (2) for all States requesting funds for any cal17 endar year, the Board shall communicate that 

18 amount to the fiscal agent. Expenditures by the fis19 cal agent for any calendar year may not exceed the 

20 total balance. To the extent the matching funds re21 quested by all such States for a calendar year exceed 

22 the total amount received by the fiscal agent during 

23 the prior calendar year and available to the fiscal 

24 agent at the commencement of the calendar year 

25 concerned, the matching funds distributed to each 
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1 such State shall be reduced pro rata so that the per2 centage of State funds matched by funds provided 

3 under this section is the same for all States request4 ing funds. 

5 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—The fiscal agent shall dis6 tribute matching funds to the States (or to an entity 

7 or entities designated by the State to receive pay8 ments) to be used for eligible environmental prior9 ities programs designated under subsection (c). All 

10 funds received shall be used only for the eligible en11 vironmental priorities programs designated by the 

12 State.

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