I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4664
To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to establish sustain-
ability centers, charged with developing and implementing integrated 
environmental, economic, and social sustainability programs through ad-
ministrative and operational practices as well as multidisciplinary re-
search, education, and outreach at institutions of higher education. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 23, 2004
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. 
GREENWOOD, and Mr. WU) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to 
establish sustainability centers, charged with developing 
and implementing integrated environmental, economic, 
and social sustainability programs through administrative 
and operational practices as well as multidisciplinary re-
search, education, and outreach at institutions of higher 
education.
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 ‘‘Higher Education Sus-
tainability Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Progress on sustainable development re-
quires the simultaneous achievement of a well func-
tioning environmental system, economic viability 
that creates new jobs and livable communities that 
provide access to all for participation in their gov-
ernance. 
(2) The Nation has improved some challenging 
environmental conditions through application of best 
technologies, but serious problems persist that re-
quire new science, technologies, and innovative policy 
approaches that are flexible, and use market mecha-
nisms, and engage relevant stakeholders from the 
private and public sectors. 
(3) Achieving long-term economic prosperity re-
quires opportunities for employment and the mainte-
nance of a healthy environment for the workers. 
(4) The Nation’s institutions of higher edu-
cation have a unique role to play in fostering new 
knowledge, evaluating policies, and discovering new 
technologies to address the persistent and often
linked environmental, social and economic problems 
that exist. 
(5) The Nation’s higher education institutions 
are places where approaches that integrate the envi-
ronmental, social and economic dimensions can be 
designed, tested, and refined for application to real 
world settings in collaboration with industry, govern-
ment and the nonprofit sector. 
(6) The Nation’s higher education institutions 
are uniquely positioned to prepare the future labor 
force for successful careers in the private and public 
sectors that contribute to economic, environmental, 
and social sustainability. 
(7) The Nation’s higher education institutions 
are uniquely situated to be models of sustainable 
management and operations that can provide exam-
ples to industry and government of operational 
strategies that integrate the basic principles of envi-
ronmental, economic, and social sustainability. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to provide support to faculty, staff, and stu-
dents at institutions of higher education to establish 
both administrative and educational sustainability 
programs on campus;
(2) to promote and enhance research by faculty 
and students at institutions of higher education in 
sustainability practices and innovations that assist 
and improve sustainability; and 
(3) to provide support to institutions of higher 
education to work with community partners from the 
business, government, and nonprofit sectors to de-
sign and implement sustainability programs for ap-
plication in the community and workplace. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 
Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 is 
amended by adding at the end the following new part: 
‘‘PART E—UNIVERSITY SUSTAINABILITY 
CENTERS 
‘‘SEC. 771. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make grants 
to eligible entities to establish sustainability centers to de-
sign and implement sustainability practices including in 
the areas of energy management, green building, waste 
management, purchasing, transportation, and toxics man-
agement other aspects of sustainability that integrate 
campus operations with multidisciplinary educational pro-
grams and are applicable to the private and government 
sectors.
‘‘(b) PERIOD OF GRANT.—The provision of payments 
under a grant under subsection (a) may extend over a pe-
riod of not more than 4 fiscal years. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For pur-
poses of this part, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a com-
prehensive college or university that grants 4-year under-
graduate degrees and masters and doctoral degrees. 
‘‘SEC. 772. APPLICATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To receive a grant under section 
771(a), an eligible entity shall submit an application to 
the Secretary at such time, in such form, and containing 
such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. 
‘‘(b) ASSURANCES.—Such application shall include 
assurances that the eligible entity—
‘‘(1) has developed or shall develop a plan, in-
cluding an evaluation component, for the program 
component established pursuant to section 773; 
‘‘(2) shall use Federal funds received from a 
grant under section 771(a) to supplement, not sup-
plant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be 
available for projects funded under such section; 
‘‘(3) shall provide, with respect to any fiscal 
year in which such entity receives funds from a 
grant under section 771(a), non-Federal funds or an 
in kind contribution in an amount equal to 20 per-
cent of funds from such grant, for the purpose of 
carrying out the program component established in 
section 773; and 
‘‘(4) shall collaborate with business, govern-
ment, and the nonprofit sectors in the development 
and implementation of its sustainability plan. 
‘‘SEC. 773. USE OF FUNDS. 
‘‘Grants made under section 771 may be used by an 
eligible entity only for establishing a sustainability pro-
gram—
‘‘(1) to develop and implement administrative 
and operations practices at institutions of higher 
education that test, model, and analyze principles of 
sustainability; 
‘‘(2) to establish multidisciplinary education, re-
search, and outreach programs at institutions of 
higher education that address the environmental, so-
cial, and economic dimensions of sustainability; 
‘‘(3) to support research and teaching initia-
tives that focus on multidisciplinary and integrated 
environmental, economic, and social elements; 
‘‘(4) to establish initiatives in the areas of en-
ergy management, green building, waste manage-
ment, purchasing, toxics management, transpor-
tation, and other aspects of sustainability; and
‘‘(5) to support student, faculty, and staff work 
at institutions of higher education to implement, re-
search, and evaluate sustainable practices. 
‘‘SEC. 774. REPORTS. 
‘‘An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 
section 771(a) shall submit to the Secretary, for each fis-
cal year in which the entity receives amounts from such 
grant, a report that describes the work conducted pursu-
ant to section 773, research findings and publications, ad-
ministrative savings experienced, and an evaluation of the 
program. 
‘‘SEC. 775. ALLOCATION REQUIREMENT. 
‘‘The Secretary may not make grants under section 
771(a) to any eligible entity in an amount totaling more 
than 10 percent appropriated under section 776. 
‘‘SEC. 776. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out section 771(a) $50,000,000 for fiscal 
year 2005 and such sums as may be necessary for each 
of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 
‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 
subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.’’.
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