I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3221 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for energy 

efficiency upgrades to existing buildings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 14, 2011 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. COURTNEY, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. OLVER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. 

WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to provide loan guarantees for energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings. 

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 ‘‘Job Creation and En5 ergy Efficiency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LOAN PROGRAM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY UP2 GRADES TO EXISTING BUILDINGS. 

3 Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

4 U.S.C. 16511 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1706. BUILDING RETROFIT FINANCING PROGRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) CREDIT SUPPORT.—The term ‘credit sup9 port’ means a guarantee or commitment to issue a 

10 guarantee or other forms of credit enhancement to 

11 ameliorate risks for efficiency obligations. 

12 ‘‘(2) EFFICIENCY OBLIGATION.—The term ‘effi13 ciency obligation’ means a debt or repayment obliga14 tion incurred in connection with financing a project, 

15 or a portfolio of such debt or repayment obligations. 

16 ‘‘(3) PROJECT.—The term ‘project’ means the 

17 installation and implementation of efficiency, ad18 vanced metering, distributed generation, or renew19 able energy technologies and measures for a building 

20 (or for multiple buildings on a given property) that 

21 are expected to increase the energy efficiency of the 

22 building (including fixtures) in accordance with cri23 teria established by the Secretary. 

24 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 

26 1703 and 1705, the Secretary may provide credit 


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1 support under this section, in accordance with sec2 tion 1702. 

3 ‘‘(2) INCLUSIONS.—Buildings eligible for credit 

4 support under this section include commercial, mul5 tifamily residential, industrial, municipal, govern6 ment, institution of higher education, school, and 

7 hospital facilities that satisfy criteria established by 

8 the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(c) GUIDELINES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec12 retary shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) establish guidelines for credit support 

14 provided under this section; 

15 ‘‘(B) publish the guidelines in the Federal 

16 Register; and 

17 ‘‘(C) provide for an opportunity for public 

18 comment on the guidelines. 

19 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines estab20 lished by the Secretary under this subsection shall 

21 include— 

22 ‘‘(A) standards for assessing the energy 

23 savings that could reasonably be expected to re24 sult from a project; 


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1 ‘‘(B) examples of financing mechanisms 

2 (and portfolios of such financing mechanisms) 

3 that qualify as efficiency obligations; 

4 ‘‘(C) the threshold levels of energy savings 

5 that a project, at the time of issuance of credit 

6 support, shall be reasonably expected to achieve 

7 to be eligible for credit support; 

8 ‘‘(D) the eligibility criteria the Secretary 

9 determines to be necessary for making credit 

10 support available under this section; and 

11 ‘‘(E) notwithstanding subsections (d)(3) 

12 and (g)(2)(B) of section 1702, any lien priority 

13 requirements that the Secretary determines to 

14 be necessary, in consultation with the Director 

15 of the Office of Management and Budget, which 

16 may include— 

17 ‘‘(i) mechanisms to preserve prior lien 

18 positions of mortgage lenders and other 

19 creditors in buildings eligible for credit 

20 support; 

21 ‘‘(ii) remedies available to the Sec22 retary under chapter 176 of title 28, 

23 United States Code, in the event of default 

24 on the efficiency obligation by the bor25 rower; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) measures to limit the exposure 

2 of the Secretary to financial risk in the 

3 event of default, such as— 

4 ‘‘(I) the collection of a credit sub5 sidy fee from the borrower as a loan 

6 loss reserve, taking into account the 

7 limitation on credit support under 

8 subsection (d); 

9 ‘‘(II) minimum debt-to-income 

10 levels of the borrower; 

11 ‘‘(III) minimum levels of value 

12 relative to outstanding mortgage or 

13 other debt on a building eligible for 

14 credit support; 

15 ‘‘(IV) allowable thresholds for the 

16 percent of the efficiency obligation rel17 ative to the amount of any mortgage 

18 or other debt on an eligible building; 

19 ‘‘(V) analysis of historic and an20 ticipated occupancy levels and rental 

21 income of an eligible building; 

22 ‘‘(VI) requirements of third-party 

23 contractors to guarantee energy sav24 ings that will result from a retrofit 

25 project, and whether financing on the 


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1 efficiency obligation will amortize 

2 from the energy savings; 

3 ‘‘(VII) requirements that the ret4 rofit project incorporate protocols to 

5 measure and verify energy savings; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(VIII) recovery of payments 

8 equally by the Secretary and the ret9 rofit. 

10 ‘‘(3) EFFICIENCY OBLIGATIONS.—The financing 

11 mechanisms qualified by the Secretary under para12 graph (2)(B) may include— 

13 ‘‘(A) loans, including loans made by the 

14 Federal Financing Bank; 

15 ‘‘(B) power purchase agreements, including 

16 energy efficiency power purchase agreements; 

17 ‘‘(C) energy services agreements, including 

18 energy performance contracts; 

19 ‘‘(D) property assessed clean energy bonds 

20 and other tax assessment-based financing mech21 anisms; 

22 ‘‘(E) aggregate on-meter agreements that 

23 finance retrofit projects; and 

24 ‘‘(F) any other efficiency obligations the 

25 Secretary determines to be appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PRIORITIES.—In carrying out this section, 

2 the Secretary shall prioritize— 

3 ‘‘(A) the maximization of energy savings 

4 with the available credit support funding; 

5 ‘‘(B) the establishment of a clear applica6 tion and approval process that allows private 

7 building owners, lenders, and investors to rea8 sonably expect to receive credit support for 

9 projects that conform to guidelines; 

10 ‘‘(C) the distribution of projects receiving 

11 credit support under this section across States 

12 or geographical regions of the United States; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(D) projects designed to achieve whole15 building retrofits. 

16 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding section 1702(c), 

17 the Secretary shall not issue credit support under this sec18 tion in an amount that exceeds— 

19 ‘‘(1) 90 percent of the principal amount of the 

20 efficiency obligation that is the subject of the credit 

21 support; or 

22 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for any single project. 

23 ‘‘(e) AGGREGATION OF PROJECTS.—To the extent 

24 provided in the guidelines developed in accordance with 

25 subsection (c), the Secretary may issue credit support on 


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1 a portfolio, or pool of projects, that are not required to 

2 be geographically contiguous, if each efficiency obligation 

3 in the pool fulfills the requirements described in this sec4 tion. 

5 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 

7 credit support under this section, the applicant shall 

8 submit to the Secretary an application at such time, 

9 in such manner, and containing such information as 

10 the Secretary determines to be necessary. 

11 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

12 under this section shall include assurances by the 

13 applicant that— 

14 ‘‘(A) each contractor carrying out the 

15 project meets minimum experience level criteria, 

16 including local retrofit experience, as deter17 mined by the Secretary; 

18 ‘‘(B) the project is reasonably expected to 

19 achieve energy savings, as set forth in the appli20 cation using any methodology that meets the 

21 standards described in the program guidelines; 

22 ‘‘(C) the project meets any technical cri23 teria described in the program guidelines; 


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1 ‘‘(D) the recipient of the credit support 

2 and the parties to the efficiency obligation will 

3 provide the Secretary with— 

4 ‘‘(i) any information the Secretary re5 quests to assess the energy savings that re6 sult from the project, including historical 

7 energy usage data, a simulation-based 

8 benchmark, and detailed descriptions of 

9 the building work, as described in the pro10 gram guidelines; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) permission to access information 

12 relating to building operations and usage 

13 for the period described in the program 

14 guidelines; and 

15 ‘‘(E) any other assurances that the Sec16 retary determines to be necessary. 

17 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 90 days 

18 after receiving an application, the Secretary shall 

19 make a final determination on the application, which 

20 may include requests for additional information. 

21 ‘‘(g) FEES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the fees re23 quired by section 1702(h)(1), the Secretary may 

24 charge reasonable fees for credit support provided 

25 under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Fees collected under this 

2 section shall be subject to section 1702(h)(2). 

3 ‘‘(h) UNDERWRITING.—The Secretary may delegate 

4 the underwriting activities under this section to 1 or more 

5 entities that the Secretary determines to be qualified. 

6 ‘‘(i) STATUS REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 commencement of the program, the Secretary shall submit 

8 to the Congress a report that describes in reasonable de9 tail— 

10 ‘‘(1) the manner in which this section is being 

11 carried out; 

12 ‘‘(2) the number and type of projects sup13 ported; 

14 ‘‘(3) the types of funding mechanisms used to 

15 provide credit support to projects; 

16 ‘‘(4) the energy savings expected to result from 

17 projects supported by this section; 

18 ‘‘(5) any tracking efforts the Secretary is using 

19 to calculate the actual energy savings produced by 

20 the projects; and 

21 ‘‘(6) any plans to improve the tracking efforts 

22 described in paragraph (5). 

23 ‘‘(j) BUY AMERICAN REPORT.—The Secretary shall 

24 submit to the Congress an annual report that estimates 


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1 the percentage of American-made materials used in con2 ducting retrofit activities funded pursuant to this section. 

3 ‘‘(k) FUNDING.— 

4 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

6 this section $15,000,000,000 for the period encom7 passing fiscal years 2012 through 2021. 

8 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 

9 1 percent of any amounts made available to the Sec10 retary for carrying out this section may be used by 

11 the Secretary for administrative costs incurred in 

12 carrying out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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