I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5044 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain activities relating 
to research for wood products, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2023 
Ms. SALINAS (for herself, Mr. DUARTE, Ms. PEREZ, and Ms. PINGREE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain 
activities relating to research for wood products, 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 ‘‘Timber Innovation for 
Building Rural Communities Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-
retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For-
est Service. 
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SEC. 3. FOREST AND WOOD PRODUCTS DATA PROVISION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in collaboration 
with the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation 
Service and in consultation with federally recognized In-
dian Tribes, State foresters, and private sector partners, 
shall establish a platform to provide measurement, moni-
toring, verification, and reporting data regarding the car-
bon emissions, sequestration, storage, and related atmos-
pheric impacts of forest management and wood products. 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall source data, information, and data anal-
ysis from Department of Agriculture programs, includ-
ing— 
(1) the Forest Inventory and Analysis program; 
(2) the Timber Products Output survey; 
(3) Forest Service and Natural Resources Con-
servation Service soil carbon estimations; 
(4) Department of Agriculture entity-level guid-
ance; 
(5) the Forest Products Laboratory; 
(6) the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Com-
mons; 
(7) Department of Agriculture entity level 
guidelines; and 
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(8) other relevant programmatic data and infor-
mation sources, as they are published and made 
available. 
(c) PRIORITIES.—The platform established by sub-
section (a) shall provide tools that calculate— 
(1) the above- and below-ground forest carbon 
stocks and stock changes associated with species 
composition, forest management regime, and land-
owner types, including small area estimations for re-
gional and localized geographies across the United 
States, made available through Forest Inventory and 
Analysis updates and annual reports; 
(2) the embodied carbon involved in the manu-
facture of products, using data from published envi-
ronmental product declarations and life cycle assess-
ments, updated as new and more refined data be-
comes available; 
(3) the long-term stored carbon in manufac-
tured timber products; and 
(4) the carbon displacement of wood products, 
compared to other materials, using substitution fac-
tors. 
(d) TIMEFRAME.—To the maximum extent prac-
ticable, the Secretary shall establish the platform under 
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subsection (a) not later than 2 years after the date of en-
actment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. WOOD INNOVATION GRANT PROGRAM. 
Section 8643 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 
2018 (7 U.S.C. 7655d) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘50 percent 
of’’ before ‘‘the amount’’; and 
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(c) TARGETING TO SUPPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOP-
MENT, ENHANCED BUILDING DESIGN, AND IMPACT AS-
SESSMENT.—In selecting among proposals of eligible enti-
ties under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may give pri-
ority to proposals for projects that— 
‘‘(1) include the use or retrofitting (or both) of 
existing sawmill facilities located in counties in 
which the average annual unemployment rate ex-
ceeded the national average unemployment rate by 
more than 1 percent in the previous calendar year; 
‘‘(2) recognize or enhance carbon reduction 
strategies in building design, including forest im-
pacts, which can be improved or incentivized by 
North American procurement; or 
‘‘(3) report on the connection between their 
proposal and the resilience and economic benefits as-
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sociated with wood products from anticipated wood 
supply areas, including wildfire risk reduction, in-
creased fiber flow, forest or mill jobs, and support 
for forested communities created because of forest 
management.’’. 
SEC. 
5. 
WOOD 
BUILDING 
EDUCATION 
ACCELERATOR 
GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) an engineering, architecture, or design 
school at an institution of higher education; or 
(B) a center of excellence that consists of 
1 or more partnerships between forestry, engi-
neering, architecture, or business schools at 1 
or more institutions of higher education. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary, acting through the Research and De-
velopment deputy area and the State, Private, and 
Tribal Forestry deputy area of the Forest Service. 
(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 
a program, to be known as the ‘‘Wood Building 
Education Accelerator Grant Program’’, to annually 
award grants to geographically diverse eligible enti-
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ties to support the development of curricula, pro-
grams, and best practices relating to the critical ele-
ments of designing and building with wood, includ-
ing the use of traditional wood products, mass tim-
ber, and other advanced wood products. 
(2) PROPOSALS.—To be eligible to receive a 
grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 
submit to the Secretary a proposal at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as 
the Secretary may require. 
(3) REVIEW AND AWARDS.—The Secretary shall 
review proposals submitted under paragraph (2), 
and award grants under this subsection, in consulta-
tion with nonprofit organizations, research organiza-
tions, or other private entities providing funding to 
eligible entities to support activities carried out 
using grants under this section. 
(c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of re-
ceiving a grant under subsection (b)(1), an eligible entity 
shall provide funds equal to the amount received by the 
eligible entity under the grant, to be derived from non- 
Federal sources. 
(d) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The total amount of 
grants awarded under subsection (b)(1) shall be not more 
than $10,000,000 for each fiscal year. 
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(e) ALLOCATION.—Subject to the availability of ap-
propriations made in advance for such purposes, the Sec-
retary shall allocate to carry out this section not more 
than $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 
2028. 
SEC. 6. RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND BUILDING PILOT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) a nonprofit organization; 
(B) a community-based organization; 
(C) a State, local, or municipal govern-
ment; 
(D) a tribally designated housing author-
ity; 
(E) a private entity, as determined by the 
Secretary; and 
(F) a consortium of 2 or more entities de-
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E). 
(2) PRODUCED
AND
ASSEMBLED
IN
THE 
UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘produced and assem-
bled in the United States’’, with regard to wood ma-
terials, means that— 
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(A) the wood materials, if manufactured, 
were manufactured entirely in the United 
States; and 
(B) if the wood materials were produced, 
all production occurred entirely in the United 
States. 
(3) PUBLIC AGENCY.—The term ‘‘public agen-
cy’’ means a department, agency, other unit, or in-
strumentality of Federal, State, Tribal, or local gov-
ernment. 
(4) RURAL.—The term ‘‘rural’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 343(a) of the Consoli-
dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
1991(a)). 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 
Under Secretary for Rural Development, in con-
sultation with the Under Secretary for Natural Re-
sources and Environment. 
(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 
grants to eligible entities to carry out pilot projects 
to demonstrate the use of innovative wood products, 
systems, and technologies, such as mass timber, in 
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