I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1375 
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to establish an Office 
of Energy Equity, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2021 
Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to 
establish an Office of Energy Equity, 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 ‘‘Energy Equity Act 
of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF ENERGY EQUITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Department of En-
ergy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7131 et seq.) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 218. OFFICE OF ENERGY EQUITY. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 
the Department an Office of Energy Equity (referred to 
in this section as the ‘Office’). The Office shall be headed 
by a Director, who shall be appointed by the Secretary 
and compensated at a rate equal to that of level IV of 
the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
‘‘(b) DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.—The Director, in 
accordance with Executive Order 12898 (42 U.S.C. 4321 
note) and the purposes of this Act, shall provide, direct, 
foster, coordinate, and implement energy planning, edu-
cation, management, conservation, and delivery programs 
of the Department that— 
‘‘(1) promote an agency-wide environmental 
justice strategy and interagency collaboration; 
‘‘(2) reduce or stabilize energy costs within un-
derserved or disadvantaged communities; and 
‘‘(3) increase the availability of energy con-
servation measures within underserved or disadvan-
taged communities. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES.—The 
term ‘energy conservation measures’ means meas-
ures that improve energy efficiency, energy conserva-
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tion, or access to renewable energy sources, includ-
ing retrofit activities. 
‘‘(2) UNDERSERVED OR DISADVANTAGES COM-
MUNITY.—The term ‘underserved or disadvantaged 
community’ means— 
‘‘(A) a community located in a ZIP Code 
that includes a census tract that is identified 
as— 
‘‘(i) a low-income community; or 
‘‘(ii) a community of color; or 
‘‘(B) any other community that the Sec-
retary determines is disproportionately vulner-
able to, or bears a disproportionate burden of, 
any combination of economic, social, and envi-
ronmental stressors. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents of the Department of Energy Organization Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
217 the following: 
‘‘Sec. 218. Office of Energy Equity.’’. 
Æ 
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