Title: A bill to require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United States, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
This bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to (1) implement the recommendations in a specified report to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure, and (2) conduct a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of adopting such technology in sustainable infrastructure.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 384 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 384

 To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate 
 the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United 
                    States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 7, 2019

Mrs. Capito (for herself and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to help facilitate 
 the adoption of composite technology in infrastructure in the United 
                    States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FACILITATING THE ADOPTION OF COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY IN 
              INFRASTRUCTURE.

    (a) Research.--The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 
Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall 
implement the recommendations contained in the December 2017 report 
entitled ``Road Mapping Workshop Report on Overcoming Barriers to 
Adoption of Composites in Sustainable Infrastructure'', as appropriate, 
to help facilitate the adoption of composite technology in 
infrastructure in the United States. In implementing such 
recommendations, the Secretary, acting through the Director shall, with 
respect to the use of composite technology in infrastructure--
            (1) not later than 9 months after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, develop a design for a data clearinghouse to 
        identify, gather, validate, and disseminate existing design 
        criteria, tools, guidelines, and standards in a timely manner;
            (2) not later than 18 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, establish the data clearinghouse 
        described in paragraph (1); and
            (3) develop methods and resources required for testing and 
        evaluating safe and appropriate uses of composite materials for 
        infrastructure, including--
                    (A) conditioning protocols, procedures and models;
                    (B) screening and acceptance tools; and
                    (C) minimum allowable design data sets that can be 
                converted into design tools.
    (b) Standards Coordination.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Director, shall assure that the appropriate Institute staff consult 
regularly with standards developers, members of the composites 
industry, institutions of higher education, and other stakeholders in 
order to facilitate the adoption of standards for use of composite 
materials in infrastructure that are based on the research and testing 
results and other information developed by the Institute.
    (c) Pilot Program.--
            (1) In general.--Commencing not later than 1 year after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National 
        Institute of Standards and Technology shall, in consultation 
        with the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers 
        Program of the National Science Foundation, conduct a pilot 
        program to assess the feasibility and advisability of adopting 
        composite technology in sustainable infrastructure.
            (2) Duration.--The Director shall carry out the pilot 
        program during the 4-year period beginning on the date of the 
        commencement of the pilot program.
            (3) Reports.--
                    (A) Preliminary report.--Not later than the date 
                that is 2 years after the date of the commencement of 
                the pilot program, the Director shall submit to the 
                Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
                the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                Technology of the House of Representatives a report on 
                the preliminary findings of the Director with respect 
                to the pilot program.
                    (B) Final report.--Not later than the date that is 
                90 days after the date of the completion of the pilot 
                program, the Director shall submit to the committees 
                referred to in subparagraph (A) a report on the 
                findings of the Director with respect to the pilot 
                program.
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