United States HR 8447: Community Health and Clean Transit Act of 2020

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 8447
To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to provide loans for the
acquisition of electric or fuel cell buses and related infrastructure.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, and Mr. LOWENTHAL) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to provide loans
for the acquisition of electric or fuel cell buses and
related infrastructure.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Health 4
and Clean Transit Act of 2020’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act— 7
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(1) the term ‘‘covered loan’’ means a direct loan 1
made by the Secretary under section 4; 2
(2) the term ‘‘electric bus’’ means a bus that is 3
a zero emission vehicle (as defined in section 4
5339(c)(1) of title 49, United States Code) that is 5
fully battery-powered; 6
(3) the term ‘‘eligible area’’ means an area that 7
is— 8
(A) designated as a nonattainment area 9
for ozone or carbon monoxide under section 10
107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 11
7407(d)); or 12
(B) any area that was nonattainment and 13
subsequently designated to attainment in ac-14
cordance with section 107(d)(3) of that Act (42 15
U.S.C. 7407(d)(3)) and that is subject to a 16
maintenance plan under section 175A of that 17
Act (42 U.S.C. 7505a); 18
(4) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an eligible 19
recipient, as described in section 5339(a)(4) of title 20
49, United States Code; 21
(5) the term ‘‘eligible project’’ has the meaning 22
given the term in section 5339(c)(1) of title 49, 23
United States Code, except that— 24
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(A) that definition shall be applied by sub-1
stituting ‘‘electric or fuel cell buses’’ for ‘‘low or 2
no emission vehicles’’; and 3
(B) an eligible project only includes a 4
project in an eligible area (as defined in this 5
section); 6
(6) the term ‘‘eligible project cost’’— 7
(A) means the cost of an eligible project; 8
and 9
(B) includes (and in the case of an eligible 10
project described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of 11
section 5339(c)(1)(B), means only)— 12
(i) the incremental cost of acquiring 13
an electric or fuel cell bus necessary to 14
meet the needs of the eligible entity, as 15
compared to the average cost of a diesel 16
bus; and 17
(ii) the cost of technical assistance for 18
the acquisition, financing, and operation of 19
an electric or fuel cell bus and related in-20
frastructure, including technical assistance 21
for route electrification, technology selec-22
tion, and vehicle-to-grid interfacing; 23
(7) the term ‘‘fuel cell’’ means a method to pro-24
pel by power derived from 1 or more cells which con-25
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vert chemical energy directly into electricity by com-1
bining oxygen with hydrogen fuel which is stored on 2
board the vehicle in any form and may or may not 3
require reformation prior to use; 4
(8) the term ‘‘Secretary’’, except as otherwise 5
provided in this Act, means the Secretary of Trans-6
portation; and 7
(9) the term ‘‘subsidy amount’’ means the 8
amount of budget authority sufficient to cover the 9
estimated long-term cost to the Federal Government 10
of a covered loan— 11
(A) calculated on a net present value basis; 12
and 13
(B) excluding administrative costs and any 14
incidental effects on governmental receipts or 15
outlays in accordance with the Federal Credit 16
Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.). 17
SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 18
The purpose of this Act is to help entities that pro-19
vide or finance public transportation to choose and be able 20
to afford the best vehicles for their needs, and to achieve 21
fuel and maintenance cost savings, by providing loans to 22
eligible entities to acquire electric or fuel cell buses and 23
related infrastructure. 24
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SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE. 1
The Secretary may make a direct loan to an eligible 2
entity for eligible project costs. 3
SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS.