I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2485 
To establish in the Department of the Treasury an infrastructure accelerator 
program to facilitate investments in and financing of certain infrastruc-
ture projects, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 20, 2015 
Mrs. TORRES (for herself, Mrs. BUSTOS, and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To establish in the Department of the Treasury an infra-
structure accelerator program to facilitate investments 
in and financing of certain infrastructure projects, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regional Infrastruc-
ture Accelerator Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purpose of this program is to facilitate and mobi-
lize investment in, and the long-term financing of, eco-
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nomically viable covered infrastructure projects of regional 
or national significance by providing funding for these 
projects, including through private sector financing, to ac-
celerate the delivery of high-quality, critical infrastructure 
through a self-sustaining regional infrastructure accel-
erator that mitigates risk with technical expertise and best 
practices. 
SEC. 3. REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ACCELERATOR PRO-
GRAM ESTABLISHED. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated 
under paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 8, the Secretary 
of Treasury may establish a regional infrastructure accel-
erator program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro-
gram’’) to provide grants to regional infrastructure accel-
erators to establish and administer a process for devel-
oping the priorities of and acquiring financing for covered 
infrastructure projects. 
(b) PROGRAM STRUCTURE.—The Program estab-
lished pursuant to this Act shall include— 
(1) an initial grant to a regional infrastructure 
accelerator that submits an application and a plan 
for promoting investment in covered infrastructure 
projects; and 
(2) a subsequent grant to a regional infrastruc-
ture accelerator for the purpose of awarding sub-
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grants to one or more State, local, or regional public 
entities to support covered infrastructure projects 
and within the geographic area represented by the 
regional infrastructure accelerator. 
SEC. 4. INITIAL GRANTS TO REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE 
ACCELERATORS. 
(a) APPLICATION.—A regional infrastructure accel-
erator that seeks a grant under this section shall submit 
an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man-
ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 
reasonably require, including a plan that describes how the 
regional infrastructure accelerator will promote invest-
ment in covered infrastructure projects by— 
(1) providing guidance and feedback to State, 
local, or regional public entities on infrastructure 
priorities, financing strategies, and other matters re-
lating to such projects; 
(2) evaluating and promoting innovative financ-
ing methods; 
(3) connecting sources of financing to the 
State, local, or regional public entities; 
(4) establishing standards to measure life-cycle 
costs of investments in such projects, defined as 
budgetary impacts of the design, development or 
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construction, operations, and maintenance of an in-
frastructure asset; 
(5) building capacity of State and local govern-
ments to evaluate and structure projects involving 
the investment of private capital; and 
(6) providing technical assistance and informa-
tion on best practices with respect to such projects 
which shall include— 
(A) identifying and selecting qualified advi-
sors such as infrastructure financial analysts 
and contract negotiators; 
(B) incorporating resiliency risk analyses 
into project planning and design; 
(C) preparing and reviewing requests for 
qualifications and proposals from private sector 
partners; and 
(D) applying standardized analyses and 
processes that provide quantitative data on in-
frastructure investments, or specifically a 
‘‘value for money’’ analysis. 
(b) SELECTION.—From applications received under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall select 5 regional infra-
structure accelerators from geographically diverse regions 
to receive a grant under this section. 
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(c) STRUCTURE OF REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AC-
CELERATORS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this Act, a regional infrastructure accel-
erator shall have a board of directors. 
(2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 
(A) COMPOSITION.—The board of directors 
of a regional infrastructure accelerator shall in-
clude at least one representative of each State, 
locality, or region in the area served by the re-
gional infrastructure accelerator, as nominated 
by a governing body participating in the re-
gional infrastructure accelerator and that par-
ticipated in submitting an application under 
subsection (a). 
(B) DUTIES.—The duties of the board of 
directors shall be to— 
(i) develop and approve of a regional 
infrastructure accelerator plan for their re-
spective regional infrastructure accelerator; 
(ii) select subgrantees for award of 
funds for predevelopment costs, as de-
scribed in section 5; and 
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(iii) approve of and submit a report to 
the Secretary as described in subsection 
(e). 
(C) REQUIREMENTS TO APPROVE PLAN.— 
In carrying out its duties under subparagraph 
(B)(i), the Board of Directors shall consider 
public stakeholder input from— 
(i) a public project sponsor with expe-
rience in infrastructure financing; 
(ii) an entity with the ability to fi-
nance covered infrastructure projects in 
the area served by the regional infrastruc-
ture accelerator, including private sector 
equity investors, public pension funds, en-
dowments, and other financial investment 
funds; 
(iii) a construction or real estate de-
velopment entity with the capacity to de-
velop covered infrastructure projects in the 
area served by the regional infrastructure 
accelerator; 
(iv) a representative of an organized 
labor association or an association of work-
ers representing labor and workplace 
standards; 
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(v) a legal expert with experience in 
contract development and execution of 
public private partnerships; and 
(vi) a representative of each Federal 
agency or department with jurisdiction 
over covered infrastructure projects. 
(d) USE OF FUNDS.—A regional infrastructure accel-
erator that is awarded a grant under this section shall 
use such grant to— 
(1) assess regional approaches to advancing in-
novative 
investment 
in 
covered 
infrastructure 
projects; 
(2) develop strategies for— 
(A) transparency in the analysis of covered 
infrastructure projects to ensure protection of 
the public interest; 
(B) the bundling of smaller scale and rural 
projects into a larger transaction for invest-
ment; and 
(C) reducing transaction costs; 
(3) facilitatate the creation of a catalog of cov-
ered infrastructure projects available for investment; 
and 
(4) analyze and apply procurement methods for 
covered infrastructure projects, including— 
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(A) assessing taxpayer benefits of contrac-
tual agreements for the management and allo-
cation of risks in infrastructure procurement; 
(B) measuring the speed and quality of 
project completion; 
(C) assessing the use of contracting strate-
gies in which teams provide design, construc-
tion, financing, and maintenance solutions for 
performance outcomes; and 
(D) complete the report described in sub-
section (e). 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after receipt 
of a grant under this section each regional infrastructure 
accelerator shall submit to the Secretary a report, which 
shall include— 
(1) an update on the implementation of the 
plan described in subsection (a); 
(2) a description of the infrastructure needs of 
the region to be served by the regional infrastructure 
accelerator; 
(3) a proposal of covered infrastructure projects 
to be accomplished through a subsequent grant 
awarded under section 4; and 
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(4) the procurement strategies the regional in-
frastructure accelerator intends to use for such cov-
ered infrastructure projects. 
(f) SELECTION FOR SUBSEQUENT GRANT.—The Sec-
retary shall review the reports submitted under subsection 
(e) and select not fewer than 4 regional infrastructure ac-
celerators to receive a subsequent grant pursuant to sec-
tion 4. 
SEC. 5. SUBSEQUENT GRANTS TO REGIONAL INFRASTRUC-
TURE ACCELERATORS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 
Secretary reviews the report submitted under section 4(e), 
and from amounts appropriated under section 8(2), the 
Secretary shall award grants to the regional infrastructure 
accelerators selected under section 4(f). A regional infra-
structure accelerator may use a grant awarded under this 
section to make subgrants to State, local, or regional pub-
lic entities for predevelopment costs. 
(b) RESTRICTIONS ON SUBGRANTS.—Regional infra-
structure accelerators may make subgrants to State, local, 
or regional public entities for predevelopment costs in an 
amount not to exceed $300,000 or 75 percent of the 
project costs, whichever is less. The subgrantee shall pro-
vide, or shall secure from other sources, funding for re-
maining balance of the project costs. Funds made avail-
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able under this section for predevelopment costs cannot 
be used to pay for work already completed. 
(c) APPLICATION.—A State, local, or regional public 
entity may submit an application for a subgrant to a re-
gional infrastructure accelerator that receives a grant 
under subsection (a) at such time, in such manner, and 
containing such information as the regional infrastructure 
accelerator may reasonably require. 
(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Eligible costs shall include the 
following costs associated with covered infrastructure 
projects: 
(1) Project planning, feasibility studies, eco-
nomic assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and public 
benefit studies. 
(2) ‘‘Value-for-money’’ analyses. 
(3) Design and engineering. 
(4) Financial planning (including the identifica-
tion of funding and financing options). 
(5) Permitting, environmental review, and regu-
latory processes. 
(6) Assessment of the impacts of potential 
projects on the area, including the effect on commu-
nities and environment. 
(7) The workforce and wages and benefits, as 
well as assessment of infrastructure vulnerability 
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and resilience to the impacts of climate change and 
other risks. 
(8) Public outreach and community engage-
ment. 
SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re-
port on the effectiveness of the Program established under 
this Act. The report shall include an overview of the Pro-
gram and findings related to the effectiveness of regional 
collaboration on infrastructure investment, infrastructure 
finance, and the utilization of procurement methods (as 
described in section 4(d)(4)). 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the following definitions shall apply: 
(1) COVERED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT.—In 
this Act, the term ‘‘covered infrastructure project’’ 
means an infrastructure project— 
(A) that is sponsored by a State, local, or 
regional public entity; and 
(B) that involves the construction, consoli-
dation, alteration, or repair of any of the fol-
lowing: 
(i) Intercity passenger or freight rail 
lines. 
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